The Courier of Montgomery County reports that the city of Conroe continues to deal with construction and structural issues at their $40 million 87,000 square foot community center following its opening.
Assistant Director of the City’s Community Development Office, Charles Purvis, informed councilmembers Thursday, “We’ve had quite a few issues over there, and we are still taking care of them.” He says Conroe is still in the warranty time period for the construction.
At the meeting, Purvis pointed out the design of the building contributes to the current issues. The problems include mold in its crawl space and a recent failure of plumbing at the center during a basketball tournament.
Councilwoman Kristin Hoisington asked for the reason the building had mold issues.
Purvis told her the inside building temperature combined with the outside air moving underneath it causes the moisture. He said, in this location in Texas, “It’s just the nature of having a crawlspace.”
Some of the issues regarding the building, according to Councilwoman Shana Arthur are “alarming.” She inquired about its safety, especially the roof. According to the city, without using proper wind-load restraints the rooftop mechanical equipment was installed. Equipment could come loose during high winds, without the correct wind restraints, which could cause damage to the building or hurt someone.
Arthur asked, “Is it safe for people to be in there, even while these repairs are being done?”
According to Purvis, it is a safe building and it can be put into active use.
Three years following the breaking of ground for the building in July of 2023, questions arose about the building. However, construction was stopped because of electrical issues. Deputy City Administrator at the time, Nancy Mikeska, said the design of the building was missing electrical elements required by Entergy Texas. She captioned the project “a royal mess.”
In October of 2024 the council approved spending over $850,000 to fix the electrical issues. For each day of delay, the city had to pay Brookstone Construction $3,200,
