Peak Center flooding investigation remains at a standstill

There is no update in the Peak Innovation Center flooding investigation a month after the Fort Smith Public School Board approved hiring a law firm to pursue potential lawsuits related to construction of the workforce development center. It’s been almost year since the the first investigation was launched.

Following an executive session, in which the school board had “a good discussion regarding pre-litigation and real property,” the board voted on Aug. 27 to authorize FSPS administration to engage San Antonio-based Pearson Legal PC to advise the district on its potential claims related to the construction defects at Peak Innovation Center.

“Following the engagement of Pearson Legal, PC at our Aug. 27 board meeting, the law firm has been conducting pre-litigation due diligence. No reports have been made available to the school board since our August meeting,” said School Board President Dalton Person.

District administration confirmed Oct. 1 that there are no updates involving the matter.

An independent investigation into flooding issues at Peak Innovation Center found that a lack of detailed plans for the building and multiple code violations caused problems with the rainwater drainage system that led to flooding.

Envista Forensics, hired by the district to find out the cause of multiple instances of flooding at Peak, presented a report on their more than five-month investigation on March 26. At that meeting, Envista confirmed it did not contact any company associated with the project other than the school district as part of the investigation.

At least four of the firms involved with the planning and construction of the Peak Center contacted the district after being asked if they wished to respond, in order to disagree with the findings. Documents in response to that FSPS request, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Talk Business & Politics, shows that the main architects, the project manager, the contraction manager at risk and another architect for the project disagreed with the Envista report.

FSPS has invested more than $20.363 million, including millage funds, public and private grants, and other sources of funding, in Peak, “a place where career and college-bound students develop real-world skills and earn industry-specific certifications to create a future workforce that will drive success across industry and beyond.”

The subject of an independent investigation into the flooding issues was broached after two companies involved with the construction of the center – Fort Smith-based Turn Key Construction, the construction manager at risk for the Peak project, and Halff Associates (formerly Morrison-Shipley Engineers, Inc.), engineers for the project – wrote letters to the school board raising concerns about the building and water issues. A June 1, 2023, letter from Halff to the school district noted that because of a “loss of trust with FSPS staff” they would no longer provide design services on the Peak project.