JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A contract engineer for the city of Jackson says, God willing, Thalia Mara Hall will reopen on January 18.
City officials gave an update Monday on efforts to reopen the Municipal Auditorium on Pascagoula Street, months after the facility was shut down due to mold growth.
Emad Al-Turk, the city’s contract engineer, said the city had awarded a contract to clean the hall, and that work is expected to begin on Wednesday.
“There [are] several components associated with this. One is the environmental remediation. So, the environmental remediation includes, not only mold, but we also discovered there is some asbestos and some lead,” he said. “So, all of this will be taken care of.”
“God willing, we’ll be open on January 18.”
Meanwhile, Al-Turk said the city is working to address the root causes of the mold growth, including repairing the roof and getting the new chiller operational.
As for the new chiller, Al-Turk says it is working and is sufficient to cool the facility. Even so, an additional chiller is expected to be brought on later, he said.
Crews have also wrapped up what he called a “roof scan,” to better determine repair needs. He says that work will go on alongside other remediation efforts.
“There’s a lot of water pondering that we’re going to be also cleaning and completing. And then there’s a fire marshal report that came up that also requires some improvement in this area,” he said.
The hall closed on August 1, after microbial growth was detected there. The growth began after Thalia Mara’s air conditioning system went down for a long weekend. The heat, coupled with the excessive moisture in the building, led to the growth.
Last month, the Mississippi State Fire Marshal temporarily shut down the hall after an inspection there revealed multiple fire code violations. The city submitted a plan to address those concerns on September 25.
One of the biggest concerns of the fire marshal was the fire curtain, which Al-Turk says has been in place for some 65 years.
“This curtain… is full of asbestos and… is really obsolete,” he said. “We have to replace it as well.”
Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.
Copyright 2024 WLBT. All rights reserved.
‘ www.wlbt.com ‘
Add Comment