Chandler Center for the Arts renovation on track despite monsoon water damage

CHANDLER, AZ — Chandler Center for the Arts has been closed since June 15 as part of a planned multi-million-dollar renovation.

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Crews have been installing new seating, flooring, and lighting, and upgrading systems including sprinklers, rigging, and electrical.

In mid-August, a monsoon storm hit downtown Chandler hard. The city says the storm compromised the roof and left water damage inside the building. Reporter Molly Hudson saw crews on the roof of the building the very next afternoon.

“We had water intrusion, water damage, ceiling tiles, paint, carpet, flooring, obviously,” said Mike Hollingsworth, the city’s fleet and facilities director.

Hollingsworth said the damage added to the work, but the project has stayed on track overall.

“We are still on track; it didn’t really disrupt that at all. It added to the scope, obviously, but we are still able to work without our current schedule,” said Hollingsworth.

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This week brought more rain, but Hollingsworth said it did not cause significant additional setbacks.

“It kind of re-wet the existing, that had already been wet before, so it didn’t really cause any additional damage. We had anticipated that storm coming through already, so we didn’t get anything started that we couldn’t go back and redo or have to redo,” said Hollingsworth.

Fans and equipment used to dry out the building were still on site. Crews were back on the roof Wednesday with a goal of having it sealed and repaired by this weekend.

The Chandler Cultural Foundation’s annual fundraiser is set for October 17, just 2 days after the center’s planned reopening. The city says it is planning to be ready.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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