Aug 13, 2018 2 min read

CALIFORNIA – California University of Pennsylvania was sold a construction technology for its parking garage that was supposed to be resilient and last longer than those built with steel reinforcement rods.

The general contractor, Manheim Corp of Pittsburgh, would go on to embed carbon fibers in the decking on the Vulcan garage, a portion of which collapsed and closed the structure two years ago, a university official said Monday.

“The facility does not meet the standards,” said Robert Thorn, vice president of administration and finance at Cal U.

“What they promised up was not delivered,” Thorn said regarding a lawsuit the university filed last week in Washington County Court of Common Pleas against Manheim seeking damages.

No one was injured when a section of the second-floor deck suddenly collapsed on move-in day in August 2016. The section of concrete about 2 feet wide and 20 feet long came close to crushing vehicles, Thorn said Monday.

“We were very fortunate,” he said. “That could have easily been a different story.”

He said inspections have since identified cracking in various locations in the five-story garage that cost the university nearly $10.5 million. The school is still paying down the debt for the structure.

The university wanted the building constructed with steel rebar reinforcing the concrete when it sought requests for proposals for the project in 2009, Thorn said.

Manheim returned a proposal that replaced the steel with carbon fibers and the university accepted the contract, he said.

The decision to change the contract “predated me,” Thorn said.

He said the university invested a “considerable amount of time discussing what happened,” and it was too soon to determine if the best solution is to demolish the garage.

“We want what we paid for,” Thorn said.

Manheim has not returned messages seeking comment about the lawsuit.