UI facing ‘near-total window replacement’ for Children’s Hospital

IOWA CITY — The cost of faulty and flawed windows installed up and down the University of Iowa’s 14-story Stead Family Children’s Hospital continues to grow as the campus has asked to spend another $7.5 million on a “near-total window replacement effort.”

That bigger window replacement budget — if approved by the Board of Regents next week — will bring the total cost to replace cracking and damaged windows encasing the eight-year-old hospital to $52.5 million. The increase represents a 16 percent hike from the $45 million budget approved in 2023 and a fivefold spike over the original $10 to $15 million regents approved spending in 2021 to replace what was then just two floors of windows.

“The hospital was completed in 2017. Since the completion, window issues have resulted in a near-total window replacement effort,” according to a UI request made public this week seeking regent approval for the budget increase. “These issues include the development of delamination and cracking that present potential safety hazards.”

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UIHC learned of the worsening problems through “continued active monitoring,” according to board documents. The additional concerns relate specifically to “slot windows” — which run parallel up the tower, separating horizontal sections of patient windows — and warrant replacement “to maintain both safety and building envelop integrity.”

The window replacement expense adds to the growing total cost of the Children’s Hospital — which was plagued by delays, design changes, mismanagement and defects, as reported by The Gazette in 2018.

Related to the project’s problems and subsequent spending increase, the university for years was locked in litigation with contractors and developers — aggravating the blown budget to more than $400 million from an original $270.8 million.

‘Establish causes’

Concerns over the new hospital’s windows emerged shortly after its opening in 2017, prompting UIHC in 2019 to hire a consultant to investigate the cracking and delamination “in anticipation of potential litigation.”

Based on the consultant’s findings, the university brought its initial window replacement request to the board — while promising further investigation.

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“We are and will continue the efforts to establish causes related to this and intend to hold responsible the causing parties,” UI Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations Rod Lehnertz told regents in 2021 when the board OK’d the $10-$15 million window replacement spend.

To a regent question of whether “this is going to be on any other floors,” Lehnertz said, “Possibly yes.”

“The work that we're doing is wider than just the windows that are impacted,” Lehnertz said at the time. “We will continue to monitor and investigate any other occurrences. But it is not just the windows that are visibly damaged, but rather more widespread.”

Having closed the Children’s Hospital playground as a precaution and installed a temporary film to keep the windows secure until permanent replacement could begin, the university in June 2022 sued Missouri-based Cupples International Inc. and Iowa City-based Knutson Construction Services — blaming them for the hospital’s defective “curtainwall system” rife with faulty and cracking “insulated glass units.”

“As (UIHC) continued to observe defects, it was required to undertake mitigation efforts to protect its patients, guests, employees and the general public from potential life safety issues associated with the defective conditions, specifically the potential for falling glass,” according to the lawsuit, which sought to recover the cost of investigating, mitigating, securing, and replacing the windows — along with attorneys fees.

That case went to arbitration in September 2022 and — after a year without resolution — received a court extension to continue backroom discussions, with a trial to occur no later than Dec. 31, 2024. After that date came and went, the court in January dismissed the case “without prejudice” — meaning the university can refile the case later.

UIHC officials told The Gazette the case remains ongoing and in arbitration. They did not immediately respond to questions about how much the university has spent to date on the litigation.

Window replacement work on levels 3 through 11 and on a connector bridge to the main hospital campus began in 2023, and work is expected to continue into late 2026, according to board documents.

The hospital is planning to cover the costs with patient-generated revenue.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com