Gastonia Conference Center to reopen this month

GASTONIA, N.C. — Structural repairs at the Gastonia Conference Center will be completed soon, allowing the beleaguered building to reopen by the end of the month.

Gastonia City Council members made the announcement during their regular meeting Tuesday night. The news came about a month after the city’s decision to close the brand new, $10 million center and cancel all events there indefinitely out of concerns about structural flaws and public safety.

Some of the work needed to bring the building up to an acceptable standard and ensure safety of occupants has already been completed. The rest will be finished by March 31, said Mayor John Bridgeman.

It was a welcome declaration for city leaders, who had feared how long the repairs might take, as well as what damage might be done to the facility’s reputation.

"I like good news," said Bridgeman. "It beats bad news all to pieces."

The engineering inspections and structural repairs that have stemmed from all the unforeseen problems have cost Gastonia about $40,000. The city has paid that tab up-front. But it will continue to hash out who should be responsible for what costs in future discussions with architects, engineers and contractors involved in the building’s design and construction, Bridgeman said.

Not long after the conference center opened in November, people who attended events with dancing complained about the floor “bouncing and vibrating” on the second-level ballroom. That issue prompted the city to have two separate engineering firms inspect the building.

One of those firms documented design flaws and structural problems with the conference center, though there were no safety concerns identified with the ballroom floor.

Disagreement between the two engineering firms and uncertainty about the safety of the building lingered. So in February, the city elected to cancel all events at the center indefinitely while the problems and possible corrections could be worked out. A third engineering firm was hired to help reach a resolution.

One of the safety concerns involved a suspended ceiling on a first-floor drive-thru area. Beam Construction of Cherryville, the general contractor, has already paid to install additional bracing there, said City Manager Ed Munn.

A second concern involved the way the building’s exterior walls are attached to the steel frame. Work to correct that structural flaw, at a cost of about $19,000, is under way now and will be completed by next week, Munn said.

Even though the stability of the "bouncing" ballroom floor during dancing events is not a safety issue, the city still plans to do address it. But those upgrades will be able to be made after the center reopens, according to the city.

Rather than immediately getting into a finger-pointing game with architects and engineers, and prompting anyone to “lawyer-up,” Munn said the city’s focus has been making the repairs that need to be made. It has paid the $40,000 in expenses out of pocket to ensure the center can open as quickly as possible.

The Wilderman Group, the firm hired by the city to manage the conference center, has worked to find alternate sites for groups that had events booked. Many of those groups have been complimentary of the assistance and understanding of the city’s precarious dilemma.

Wilderman vice president Fred Julius thanked city leaders and staff members for their support.

“It was very difficult handling day-to-day operations of moving groups during the shutdown,” he said. “But we’re looking forward very much to resuming our efforts.”

City Councilman Walter Kimble also thanked the Wilderman Group and everyone involved for working hard to overcome the “difficult times.”

"A number of our staff members literally had to drop everything else, to help get this center up and running just as soon as possible, in the most expedient manner," he said.
Munn said the other question of cost will involve the revenue the conference center has lost due to down time and canceled events. The city will ultimately have to assess what those losses are, and how to cover them, he said.

WSOC