Nevada sues architects behind stadium redesign, says stadium needs $4M in fixes to be ADA complaint
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com, July 16, 2019
By: Nick Bromberg
The University of Nevada has filed a lawsuit against the architectural firm that did the redesign of Mackay Stadium because the school says it’s had to make millions in changes for the stadium to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The school will ask its board of regents to approve moving ahead with the lawsuit on Friday. Nevada says its contract with the WorthGroup stipulates that the firm should be held responsible for the $3.9 million in costs incurred to make the changes to meet ADA standards.
From the Reno Gazette Journal:
UNR will ask the Board of Regents, the elected body over the state’s public colleges, at a meeting Friday to approve moving forward with litigation in federal court.
UNR said its contract with the WorthGroup stipulates the architecture firm is responsible for costs of construction that results in negligent errors.
The university said it asked the WorthGroup to pay for the renovations to fix both botched redesigns but the architect firm refused.
Nevada says the changes necessary are so drastic that the stadium won’t be completely compliant until the summer of 2020.
Mackay Stadium was redesigned ahead of the 2016 season but, as you can tell, the process has been far from flawless. The architectural firm had to come back with fixes to problems from the redesign in 2017 and a Gazette Journal investigation in the fall of 2018 detailed $2 million in changes on top of $700,000 previously spent that the school was having to make to the stadium to be ADA compliant.
Some of the ADA violations included wheelchair seating that didn’t provide views of the field and less-than-friendly entrances to the stadium. The story also detailed instances of long elevator waits for fans in wheelchairs and an instance at a September game where a wheelchair lift broke, forcing a family to carry their daughter down steps to get to their seat while leaving her wheelchair at the top of the stairs.
Mackay Stadium originally opened in the fall of 1966.
