(Jackson, Miss.) – In an effort to ensure a strict adherence to public health requirements, city officials now expect Thalia Mara Hall to reopen next week. Recent air quality tests came back positive in some areas and negative in others. One area of particular concern is the foyer/lobby. Thus, the recommendation was made to fumigate those areas. The fumigation requires that nobody be in the building. It also means all work stops for two days.
The fumigation began at 3 p.m. Tuesday and is expected to be completed this afternoon. Additional air quality tests will be done afterwards. If the results are favorable, work can resume this afternoon. The lost work time obviously has an impact on the completion date. Still, crews plan to work through the weekend and MLK holiday.
In addition, it was also discovered that a major pipe needed to be replaced – estimated to cost about $19,000. Officials are currently gathering proposals for this replacement and plan to obtain a Purchase Order immediately to prevent any further delays.
“While we were hopeful to reopen Thalia this Friday, that was always the most optimistic projection,” said Mayor Lumumba. “Given the circumstances and underlying importance of adhering to strict public health and safety requirements, we understand the delay and look forward to the reopening very soon.”
In spite of these unexpected delays, we expect everything to be completed next week. We will CONTINUE to provide additional updates as they are made available.
Here’s what is happening in a nutshell:
- Fumigation (in-progress)
- More validation (testing)
- Visit(s) from State Fire Marshal
- Completion of minor punch list items
- Replacement of pipe