Firm to fix design flaws, make UNLV center quake-ready

The design firm that bungled the seismic readiness of UNLV's new student recreation center has agreed to design a retrofit of the building at its own expense, the university's general counsel has reported to a subcommittee of the state Legislature.

The UNLV lawyer, Richard Linstrom, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Thursday he is "cautiously optimistic that this can be settled short of litigation."

The firm -- DMJM Design, which has since been acquired by AECOM, a global enterprise -- is already drawing up the retrofit plans. AECOM has designated a new team of personnel to plan the retrofit, according to Linstrom.

It is not yet clear who will pay to actually carry out the retrofit of the UNLV Student Recreation & Wellness Center, the university's lawyer admitted. And that cost is still unknown, as the university has temporarily suspended its process of requesting retrofit proposals from outside designers.

But, Linstrom added, UNLV is working toward an outcome that will cause either the original designer or AECOM or their insurance companies to pick up the tab for bringing the 2-year-old building up to code for withstanding earthquakes. Filing suit is still an option, he said. "It's like the nuclear option. You don't take it off the table" until a serious disagreement is solved.

As well, the university is negotiating to have those same parties reimburse UNLV for the $2.75 million it recently agreed to pay the building's general contractor, Kitchell Contractors of Arizona, for change orders and delays that occurred during construction, and were caused by other, unrelated design errors.

The Interim Finance Committee's subcommittee that deals with public works met in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It heard reports on the UNLV building from representatives of the state's public works board -- which originally approved the faulty plans -- and from UNLV. The subcommittee's chair, Sen. Bob Coffin (D-Las Vegas), said he encountered some resistance, from parties he did not name, when he added the UNLV building to the meeting's agenda.

" 'Seismic' is on everybody's mind," Coffin said at the meeting's start, referring to recent devastating quakes in Haiti and Chile. "Anytime safety (in state-owned buildings) comes up, we have to consider the obligation we have to the public."

The fitness building opened on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas in 2007. The state building official has allowed it to remain open before the retrofit occurs. Taxpayers did not pay to put up the center; students are paying for it, through student fees that amount to about $300 a head per year, according to Coffin. The student money goes toward the costs of constructing the fitness center and expanding the nearby student union.

AECOM spokesman Paul Gennaro, a senior vice president, did not respond Thursday to a newspaper request for comment. Also on Thursday, Coffin told the newspaper he would like to see more and larger warning signs posted at the fitness center's entrances.

"The building is not safe, in my opinion," he said. "But trying to determine how unsafe is the dilemma," as science cannot predict the time or magnitude of the next quake felt in Las Vegas.

Contact reporter Joan Whitely at jwhitely @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0268.