Barely two days before officials cut the ribbon on the District’s $45 million New Beginnings juvenile hall, the campus was flooded by last week’s rainstorms, The Examiner has learned.
City officials blamed clogged drains for the deluge at the new juvenile hall and promised that the problem would be remedied. Pictures obtained by The Examiner show the campus was under several inches of brackish water, which flooded staff cars in a nearby lot.
“I don’t know how they’re going to fix it,” said Tasha Williams, chairwoman of the corrections officers union at New Beginnings. “I’m not sure it’s going to be resolvable.”
At least three offices were flooded and one of the main building’s roofs is leaking, Williams said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency rates the River Road site as a “low to moderate” risk for flooding. Williams said the campus was built low against the road and that the previous building on the site was constantly flooded.
D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles blamed the flooding on contractor Tompkins Builders. He said the company would be forced to pay for any damage and the cleanup.
“It’s unacceptable,” Nickles said.
Tompkins spokesman James Tolbert declined comment Monday. Two weeks ago, his company successfully blocked a $133 million contract for the city’s forensic laboratory, arguing that Tompkins could build the facility faster and cheaper.
The flooding represents another controversy for the beleaguered D.C. Office of Property Management, which supervised the construction.
Property spokesman Bill Rice said the blocked drains were “part of the normal project close-out procedures.”
“All damage resulting from the flooding, as well as any other conditions that may have contributed to it, will be addressed by the contractor who is still on site addressing final punch list items,” Rice said in an e-mail.
