Water ruins stadium's club

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The University of Illinois is cleaning up after a burst water pipe caused damage to the newly remodeled Memorial Stadium.

On Dec. 23, a contractor discovered several inches of water on the floor of the Colonnades Club, the third-floor lounge and seating area in the stadium.

Apparently a water pipe on the fifth level of the stadium's west side froze, then later burst, causing water to gush down through the ceiling and to the levels below, according to UI Division of Intercollegiate Athletics spokesman Kent Brown.

The water has been pumped out of the Colonnades Club. The room's ceiling will need to be repaired and the carpet will have to be replaced, Brown said.

Most of the damage appeared to be at both ends of the club room.

None of the suites on the floors above the club room was damaged. Some water reached the first floor of the west end of the stadium, but that floor is concrete, Brown said.

When the pipe burst is not known. And exactly how it happened, how much the repairs will cost and whether the university or a contractor is liable for the damages are all to be determined, Brown said.

"We're trying to assess ... what needs to be done," he said.

Brown called it a domestic pipe, which is a pipe that carried drinking water throughout the stadium. The pipe presumably froze because it was in an area where it was exposed to the cold air, according to Brown.

Memorial Stadium recently underwent a $121 million renovation, billed as Illinois Renaissance, and reopened to fans this fall.

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