Stadium Cracks Noticed By Allen ISD In 2012

ALLEN (CBSDFW.COM) - Since news broke of cracks in Allen ISD's stadium, the focus has been on the project contractor, Pogue Construction and PBK Architects, the firm that designed the stadium.

But the CBS 11 I-Team found there was a third party company brought in during construction to conduct testing and then submit report results to the city, Allen ISD and the contractors. Investigative Reporter Mireya Villarreal got a hold of a letter from that company written back in 2012, that says there were items out of compliance.

"I do believe, clearly, all the steps were taken, the proper steps, by process and procedure," Superintendent Lance Hindt said in a press conference Thursday. "We just have a stadium that wasn't designed right or constructed right."

Superintendent Hindt is quick to defend Allen ISD's decision making, even though he's only been with the district for four months. What he won't talk about, are reports and inspections conducted on the stadium back in 2012, when it first opened.

"I can't tell you what was submitted three years ago," Hindt told reporters.

But the I-Team can tell you what was submitted.

• In November 2009, Allen ISD awarded Pogue Construction the contract to build the new $59.6 million stadium.

• In September 2010, construction started.

• For more than a year, reports from Professional Service Industries, Inc (PSI), a third party testing agency, were submitted to Pogue Construction, Allen ISD and the City of Allen.

• On August 20th and September 20th of 2012, Kurt Casson, Allen's Chief Building Official, signed off on Temporary Certificates of Occupancy even though "foundation and structural steel letters had not been received" by the city.

"We noticed, the district noticed there were issues in September of 2012, cracking in the concourse. Initially we were told that, that was normal," Hindt admitted.

A letter was written around the same time, September 26, 2012, from PSI to Allen ISD's Facilities Director. Copies were also sent to the City of Allen and Pogue Construction. It says PSI found items "out of compliance with project plans" and told Pogue and Allen ISD they'd needed to schedule retesting.

A month later, after four home football games had already been played, city inspectors noted everything was on file and the Allen's Building Inspection Department issued a final Certificate of Occupancy.

The PSI letter does not say exactly what issues were out of compliance back in 2012. But we do know once that Certificate of Occupancy was issued by the city, no one went back to reinspect the cracking issues until the district decided to hire an outside agency about six months ago.

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