Vulcan garage to reopen Monday
After being shuttered for more than five years when a large chunk of concrete fell on move-in day, the Vulcan Parking Garage at California University of Pennsylvania will reopen Monday.
“The garage has been under repair since September 2020,” said Fawn Petrosky, vice president for finance at Cal U. “Those repairs have been completed, and the facility has been inspected, tested and deemed safe for use.”
The five-story garage – also known as Lot 22 in Cal U.’s managed parking system – will reopen with new “pay in lane” stations that accept credit cards and a cash pay station on the third floor.
A limited number of student parking permits will be available, and students may place their names on a wait-list to reserve a spot. Faculty and staff also may apply to park in the facility. The garage has about 660 spots, some of which are set aside for campus visitors.
The garage has been closed since Aug. 26, 2016 – move-in day for the fall semester – when a section of concrete about 2 feet wide and 20 feet long broke off from the second floor and fell to ground level. No one was injured.
“We were very fortunate,” Robert Thorn said in 2018, when he was vice president of administration and finance. “That could have easily been a different story.”
A subsequent inspection revealed additional safety hazards, such as cracking in various locations in the $13 million garage, which was opened in 2010.
The university filed a lawsuit against the contractor, Manheim Corp. of Mt. Lebanon, and its bond holder, Travelers Casualty and Surety Co. of America, in Washington County Court. The university claimed Manheim built the garage with precast concrete as opposed to steel-reinforced concrete that officials specified in their request for proposals for the project.
A $3.75 million settlement reached in 2020 called for $2.4 million to make full repairs to the garage. The remainder was used to cover legal fees, engineering costs and lost parking revenue, which Cal U. estimated at $275,000 per year.
Contractor Howard Shockey and Sons Inc. performed the repairs, which included inspecting and re-welding key connections, and fortifying beams with additional rebar to add strength.
Global engineering firm Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates and independent testing agency Construction Engineering Consultants Inc. performed inspections and testing during all phases of the repairs. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry also inspected the garage and issued an occupancy permit.
“Bringing this parking structure safely back online provides greater flexibility not only for day-to-day parking needs, but also for special events that bring families and other visitors to campus,” Petrosky said. “We look forward to putting the Vulcan garage back into service.”