Several surface cracks have appeared at the Sports Pavilion Lawrence facility, 100 Rock Chalk Lane.

The poured concrete building, unadorned except for white block letters reading “Sports Pavilion Lawrence,” has another feature city leaders want to keep an eye on.

There are 61 cracks, most hairline but some wide enough for caulking, marking the city recreation center’s exterior walls. Inside, some of the panels of the polished concrete flooring are interrupted by cracks as well. Parks and Recreation officials said the cracking is not out of the ordinary, but some city leaders are more wary.

Parks and Recreation Interim Director Ernie Shaw said that other than a “handful of small hairline” cracks, most of the cracks occurred right after the 3-year-old facility was built. Shaw said the cracks are normal and can be treated by caulking and grouting.

A crack on the floor is pictured outside the main office of Sports Pavilion Lawrence.

“All facilities regardless move: Your sidewalks move, your facilities move with freezing, thawing,” Shaw said. “You have foundations, they set and move with the world, so that’s the reason little cracks occur on concrete on the sidewalks, on your driveways, in your foundations, whatever. That’s part of the normal process of maintenance on your facilities.”

Though there are entire swaths of wall free of cracks, passersby may notice the exceptions. Many of the cracks on the exterior of the 181,000-square-foot building spread in diagonals from the corners of windows or doors, some stretching the length of the panel.

Mayor Leslie Soden said she thinks the number and width of the cracks should be carefully monitored and documented. In addition, she said she thinks the city needs to have an outside inspector ensure that the building, which she noted is built into a steep slope, is done settling.

“We need to have an independent person look at it and see if it is going to continue to shift or if it has already gone through its original settling,” Soden said. “… If the building has already settled and everything is stable now, we just need to keep an eye on the cracks and verify that new ones don’t appear and any current ones don’t get larger.”

The approximately $12 million facility was under a one-year warranty, but in 2014 city commissioners asked staff members to discuss a possible extension of the building’s warranty to provide the city protection against additional concrete cracking. City officials previously have referenced warranty work being done at Sports Pavilion Lawrence, but when the Journal-World asked to see documents related to any warranty claims made on the building, City Attorney Toni Wheeler said that no claims had been made.

Cracks are pictured on an exterior wall of Sports Pavilion Lawrence.

Shaw said the cracks have not required maintenance since work done in 2014 by the building’s general contractor, Lawrence-based Gene Fritzel Construction Co., and the various subcontractors. Six weeks after its grand opening in 2014, the pavilion’s exterior walls and mezzanine level — the polished concrete area with balcony overlooking the basketball courts — already had dozens of cracks. Those cracks were attributed to shrinkage and a failure to cut joints in the concrete.

“The contractor originally went back on some of those and saw cut them and used whatever appropriate caulking was approved at that time,” Shaw said.

Shaw said the facility has not had issues with water leaking from the windows or roof since the initial repairs were made, and that he doesn’t think the cracks are a long-term maintenance concern. Like other recreation centers, Shaw said the cracks will be monitored and sealed and grouted when necessary. He added there a lots of positive things about the pavilion.

“We have a fantastic facility there that is performing and doing more than we ever projected it ever to do,” Shaw said. “And it’s getting high reviews, high usage.”

A crack is pictured on an exterior wall of Sports Pavilion Lawrence.

The facility has an indoor track, soccer field, gymnastics room, weight room, exercise equipment, eight indoor basketball courts (that can be converted into 16 volleyball courts), and outdoor tennis courts. Since it opened, the pavilion has exceeded projections by hosting more than 30 tournaments per year, which bring in revenue for the city. A grand opening was also recently held for the trail system adjacent to the facility, which connects to the Lawrence Loop trail that will eventually encircle the city.

Soden said she thinks the city should look into whether the contractor should come back to address the cracks, especially if most of them date from the opening of the facility as Shaw said. She said the city should try to see if anything is covered by warranty.

“It seems to me that any cracks should have been documented from the very beginning and checked on a regular basis for widening or deepening,” Soden said. “I’m confused that we haven’t submitted any warranty claims and I don’t know if it’s too late to do that.”

Commissioner Mike Amyx also said he’s interested in seeing if any repairs would be covered, and that either way he thinks the city needs to keep an eye on the cracks to make sure they don’t become significant.

“If it requires additional work, you know, let’s see what has to be done,” Amyx said. “I think that we need to stay on top of it.”