Council demands repairs, oversight after repeated failures at new Lowell High athletic center

Lowell City Council members on Jan. 7 directed the city manager and school officials to produce a report and increase oversight after multiple speakers described recurring equipment failures, leaks and safety problems at the new Lowell High School athletic center.

The complaints—delivered by a school committee member, the high school athletic director and several councilors—covered a range of problems they said have persisted since the building opened, including bleachers that Serrano said "cannot be pulled out without tearing the floor," a mechanical fitting that flooded a locker room, malfunctioning elevators that have trapped people, locks and door handles failing, and repeated small defects that staff say add up to routine disruption.

The testimony prompted Councilor Jeunesse to ask that the city manager and appropriate departments prepare a formal report on "recent and continued failures in the new high school athletic center as well as an action plan for repair and holding the developer accountable for this building and the rest of the project." The council later approved a motion to convene a facilities subcommittee and have city staff coordinate meetings with the contractor and the School Building Committee, and asked staff to provide weekly or regular summaries of OAC (owner–architect–contractor) meetings to the council.

Why it matters: Speakers said the center is a major capital investment for the city and that continuing failures both disrupt student programming and risk larger, more expensive repairs if problems are not addressed promptly. Council members pressed for clearer oversight, faster repairs and more frequent walkthroughs until persistent issues are resolved.

What speakers said

Fred Bahu, a member of the school committee, said the new athletic complex already has bleachers that "cannot be pulled out without tearing the floor" and reported a leak that left the boys' locker room unusable. "We have a brand new building that's only 18 months old, and, unfortunately, we're not able to use the boys' locker room," Bahu said.

Scott Ouellette, Lowell High athletic director, described repeated daily failures and said the district needs a city-paid facilities expert to "go in there and go top to bottom through it with a better eye than what I have." He said routine problems—locked bathrooms, stuck elevators, and shot clocks that fail—compound into major disruptions for teams and events.

Councilor Jeunesse and others said walk-throughs with school operations staff identified problems across three categories: design/architecture/equipment failures (for example, a failed victaulic fitting above a locker room), fit-and-finish issues (misinstalled mirrors, cracked concrete, missing caulking), and operational challenges (inconsistent training and unclear procedures for the building controls and touch panels).

Contractor and administration responses

A Suffolk representative (identified in the meeting as Mr. Dowd) told the council the locker-room leak "was not a roof leak. It was a victaulic fitting as part of the HVAC system. It was addressed the day of the [incident] and they immediately ... started the repairs on the ceiling."

Assistant City Manager Machado said the city and project team hold weekly OAC meetings and that many of the active issues are on a running punch list. Machado agreed to provide summaries of those weekly OAC meetings to the School Building Committee and the city council.

Formal actions and direction

- Motion (5.4): Councilor Jeunesse moved, Councilor Mercia seconded, that the city manager and relevant departments prepare a report and action plan addressing the athletic center failures. The motion was taken out of order and placed on the meeting record; the council requested the report. (Direction: formal report requested; outcome: accepted for follow-up.)

- Facilities subcommittee: Council approved creating a facilities subcommittee and asked the city manager to coordinate a subcommittee meeting that includes Suffolk (the contractor) and school representatives so councilors can question the contractor directly. (Outcome: motion passed.)

- OAC summaries and meeting minutes: City staff agreed to supply the School Building Committee with summaries of the weekly owner–architect–contractor calls and to provide those summaries to the council on request.

Clarifying details and numbers

- Project cost cited: speakers referred to large project figures while discussing scale and oversight. Fred Bahu told the council the project is "to $450,000,000." At other points the administration described the project as a roughly $381,000,000 project.

- Timeline and use: speakers said the athletic center has been in use since roughly mid‑2023 ("about 18 months" reported by a speaker); council requested more frequent walkthroughs (proposed weekly or monthly) until issues stabilize.

Speakers (attributed exactly as in the meeting record)

- Fred Bahu, school committee member and resident (spoke during public comment) - Scott Ouellette, Lowell High School athletic director (school employee) - Councilor Jeunesse, City Council member (maker of motion 5.4) - Councilor Mercia, City Council member (seconded motion 5.4) - Mr. Dowd, Suffolk representative (contractor) - Assistant City Manager Machado (city administration) - Mr. Underwood, School Department facilities (school operations)

Proper names and organizations

- Lowell High School (school) - Suffolk (contractor) - School Building Committee / OPM (owner project management) - City of Lowell, Department of Public Works (DPW) - Mass School Building Authority (MSBA) (referenced in discussion about OPM oversight)

Meeting context

The topic drew extended public comment and council discussion—several speakers and multiple councilors participated. Councilors described the engagement level as high and directed staff to provide more frequent updates and to schedule a subcommittee meeting with the contractor. Implementation risk was judged medium because many fixes depend on contractor action and warranty work; council sought documentation and meeting minutes to reduce that risk.

Ending

Council members said they would monitor progress and expect periodic written updates until the principal defects are corrected and the building is functioning reliably for athletics and school programming.