The University of Pittsburgh expects to spend nearly $3.7 million to replace the Petersen Events Center's leaking, 3-year-old roof, more than double the original roof's cost, project documents and city records show.

	John Beale, Post-Gazette Pitt said yesterday that it will cost about $3.7 million to replace the roof of the Petersen Events Center. Work could begin next week. Click photo for larger image. Previous coverage Pitt replacing Petersen Center roof already (6/16/05) Special Report: The Money Pit at Pitt (4/11/04)

Pitt, which is suing firms involved in the original job, hopes to begin work as soon as Monday. The arena opened in October 2002 and was built partly with state funds.

Pitt spokesman Robert Hill declined for a second day yesterday to release a cost estimate, the contractor's name or how the work will be financed, saying a committee of trustees has scheduled an 8 a.m. meeting Wednesday to address the replacement project.

But a May 2 building permit issued by the city sheds light on the expense and identifies the contractor as A.C. Dellovade Inc. of Canonsburg, said John Jennings, assistant chief of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Building Inspection.

The original roof contract awarded to G&W Roofing of Eighty Four totaled approximately $1.3 million. Cost overruns of $334,752, which added about 25 percent to the original contract price, brought the total roof cost to $1,656,752, according to Petersen center project documents.

Jennings said the building permit filed on behalf of Pitt puts the new installation cost at $3,664,210. The document describes the undertaking as "replacing [the] existing standing seam metal roof."

By the time of its completion, the $119 million center, home to Pitt's men's and women's basketball teams, had tripled in price from when it was proposed in 1992, and the taxpayers' share of the work grew fivefold, to $66 million.

Hill, the Pitt spokesman, would not comment on the roof's cost or the building permit yesterday. He said the matter was the purview of the Pitt trustees' property and facilities committee, whose public meeting Wednesday will be conducted via conference call.

It's unclear how much of the extra cost is tied to dismantling and discarding the existing structure or to water damage. The roof consists of 3 inches of insulation, a waterproof membrane and rolls of aluminum. Invoices from the Petersen center's construction describe the roof's color as champagne gold.

"It's not like a shingle roof where you can replace right over it," said Jennings. "You have to actually remove the existing roof and then replace it."

Patrick Riley, A.C. Dellovade vice president, said through an employee yesterday that his firm had no comment about the replacement project. He suggested Dellovade might have something to say in a few days.

Pitt, the state and several contractors are now involved in lawsuits over problems with the Petersen center.

Lawsuits by Pitt and the state Department of General Services, which built the center, allege that defective architectural designs and bad workmanship led to more than 200 holes in the roof, missing roof fasteners, pipe failures and heating and ventilation problems.

The architects, a joint venture of Mount Washington-based Apostolou Associates and Atlanta-based Rosser International, responded that the state and Pitt were responsible for the problems by repeatedly changing the project and rejecting proposals to trim costs while adding features that drove up the price.

Pitt and the General Services Department also sued Havens Steel, which installed the frame and metal decking to which the roof was attached. G&W, the roofing company, claims among other faults that Havens constructed the steel roof trusses at incorrect elevations, "a severe defect which introduces undesirable stresses and prevents the roof system from functioning properly."