Southeast : Wonder if King Tut Had This Problem

In less than nine months, The Pyramid has become an emblem for Cal State Long Beach. The $22-million athletic center’s stark Egyptian lines and striking metal roof looms over the campus like a blue beacon.

But student athletes have a problem that Tutankhamen never had. This Pyramid leaks, and nobody’s quite sure how to stop it.

“We have a unique product here to say the least,” said Scott Charmack, associate vice president for facilities management.

The university is withholding almost $1 million in retention fees from the general contractor, San Diego-based Nielsen Construction Co., until the problem can be solved.

According to Charmack, water has puddled on the beechwood slats of the main basketball floor, where the school’s 49er’s basketball team plays its games. Some drywall and insulation have had to be torn out, he said.

The New Mexico State game was almost postponed in January, when maintenance staff had to put buckets under half a dozen drips. Luckily, the rain stopped just before game time. “We’ve been very fortunate,” Charmack said. “But we don’t want to trust our fortunes to luck.”

Workers have tried caulking vertical seams in the ridged sheet-metal roof, which has a factory-applied indigo finish. But the leaks keeps coming. “We’ve pulled out the insulation on the south side so we can watch it happening firsthand,” Charmack said.

It’s a design problem, contends Neilsen Vice President Tim Kelley. “We’re letting the university sort this out with their designers,” he said.

But school officials say it’s the contractor’s problem. “The facility leaks,” said athletics director Dave O’Brien, “and that needs to be addressed before we accept the building.”