The garage still looks new from the outside and rises impressively for five stories above California University of Pennsylvania, a vestige of when any development seemed possible given enrollment growth and the school's ambition.
But these days, the 8-year-old Vulcan garage in the heart of campus is silent and empty, protected by signage intended to ward off even pedestrians.
Though it is costing the state-owned university millions in debt service and other yearly obligations, the garage has not collected a parking fee in nearly two years because the school does not allow cars to occupy any of its 650 spaces.
The reason, Cal U now alleges in court, is that "the garage and its components are defective and unfit for their intended purpose."
Claiming breach of contract, Cal U is suing general contractor Manheim Corp. of Pittsburgh, which built the garage, and Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America of Hartford, Conn., which Cal U says is responsible for any expenses if the contractor fails to perform agreed-to work.
It's not clear how a garage that the state says must have met its construction code, since it received an occupancy permit, can now be so unstable that it already has had a partial collapse -- narrowly missing individuals during campus move-in August 2016 -- and is being propped up against what Cal U asserts is another imminent collapse.
It's also not entirely clear what Cal U believes it will need to be made whole.
The university is seeking compensatory damages and says great expense will be required to make the garage safe, but officials also have declined to say if Cal U ultimately will seek to reopen a garage of the same size.
Even when its enrollment was 9,400 the year the garage opened in 2010, costs to operate the facility outstripped revenue, according to the university. As of last fall, Cal U's enrollment was 17 percent smaller at 7,788 students.
“We’re still exploring all of our options,” said Robert Thorn, Cal U Vice President for Administration and Finance.
Briefing reporters Monday afternoon, he said the university entered a contract with Manheim because it was led to believe that the load-bearing approach advocated by the firm was “innovative, more resilient, more corrosion resistant.” He said that was not the case and, in fact, the garage as built is inadequate for the intended load.
“We want what we paid for,” he said. “We want a facility that meets the original design specifications.”
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Washington County Common Pleas Court, raises issues that include the type of construction materials used in the garage versus what Cal U says was called for in the request for proposals (RFP) from contractors. Manheim ultimately secured a $10.5 million contract to oversee design and construction.
“Rather than using the metal structural concrete reinforcement specified in the RFP,” Manheim and subcontractors used “double tee members reinforced with a carbon fiber grid, known as C-Grid.” The lawsuit said Manheim touted C-Grid as “an innovative breakthrough in precast concrete technology” whose benefits would include less corrosion and weight, and would last longer.
After the collapse, “an ensuing inspection of the garage revealed many cracked and failed precast concrete double tee members, one of which remains supported by a metal pole to this day in order to prevent imminent collapse similar to that which occurred during student move-in day,” according to the lawsuit.
“The double tee failures and resulting safety hazard have made clear that the double tees’ internal C-Grid reinforcement utilized by Manheim and its subcontractors was not sufficient to support specified loads,” the complaint alleges.
Calls to Manheim Friday and on Monday have not been returned.
The garage plus $8 million in other parking improvements date to the administration of then-university President Angelo Armenti Jr., who oversaw rapid growth at Cal U but was fired by the State System of Higher Education in May 2012 as the school's finances became strained.
Parking revenue from the new garage was supposed to cover overhead including debt service, given that the construction was considered an auxiliary project.
But revenues, even when the garage was open, did not cover those obligations.
In recent years, a full accounting has been unavailable from the university. But in 2013, Cal U said that $1,551,357 in yearly debt service plus $510,100 in operating costs meant a shortfall of $743,041 in 2010-11, even with $1,318,416 in revenue as the campus transitioned to a pay parking system.
Things got worse after the state Supreme Court ruled faculty were improperly charged for parking. The university had to return $242,000.
An occupancy permit for the garage was issued in August 2010 by the state Department of Labor and Industry's Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety. Agency spokeswoman Theresa Elliott has said the building would have had to meet construction code requirements but declined to discuss anything about what the inspection entailed.
The lawsuit says Manheim “proposed” using the pre-cast support but does not say to whom the proposal was made. It also asserts without elaborating that Manheim did not obtain appropriate approval from “governing building officials” for the substitution. Approval, it says, was among the requirements to comply with American Concrete Institute specifications.
Mr. Thorn said Manheim proposed use of the carbon grid in its response to the RFP. He said the university accepted the proposal and awarded Manheim the job, indicating Cal U was aware of the approach.
He said he did not know what the university’s attorneys meant by the firm not having approval to use carbon fiber support but also could not say who on campus okayed it, saying it pre-dated his involvement with the garage.
He said then President Armenti would have been the only official authorized at the time to do so “if it was even brought to his attention.”
Mr. Armenti could not immediately be reach for a response.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @Bschackner.
First Published: August 13, 2018, 3:56 p.m.
