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Inspections find issues with Principal Park concrete

Falling concrete in the concourse of Principal Park, the home of the Iowa Cubs, is causing Des Moines officials to schedule further inspections.

Falling concrete in the concourse of Principal Park, the home of the Iowa Cubs (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League), is causing Des Moines officials to schedule further inspections.

The issue: Last week chunks of concrete fell from the concourse level of the ballpark; a subsequent inspection found more concrete issues on the mezzanine. All issues were located in precast concrete installed during a 1990s renovation of the ballpark. The firm that did the renovation is now out of business, so it may be hard to track down records relating to that renovation.

There doesn't appear to any deeper structural issues with the ballpark, however; the issues appear to all be related to the precast concrete. So for the time being plywood has been laid under the problem areas while more inspections and planning sessions are scheduled.

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