EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) -
The main entrance to the Ford Center remains blocked off to the public on Monday afternoon.
Officials say some glass on the slope of the Ford Center came loose Friday night, but what caused it to happen, is still being investigated.
Officials at the Ford Center as well as the Evansville Vanderburgh County Building Authority hope to have some answers, possibly on Tuesday.
But right now, they say this $127 million building is safe.
If you didn't already know a glass panel had broken above the Ford Center's main entrance, you probably wouldn't even notice the small sheet of plastic there now.
But when it broke almost two weeks ago David Rector with the Building Authority said, "We came around front and the glass was actually just hanging and suspended from the silicone caulk and was just swaying in the wind."
Rector says that hanging glass was extremely dangerous, and at this point, he's still not sure what caused it to break.
"We just don't really know and that's why we've taken this cautious step," said Rector.
The step he's talking about is blocking off the main entrance to the Ford Center, that's been closed since last Friday. But that was more than a week after the break happened in the first place.
The Ford Center's Executive Director Scott Schoenike explains why they didn't close the entrance earlier.
"It wasn't an immediate danger situation, and then actually, when we were trying to replace it is when we ran into some of the safety concerns and thought that was the safest course to protect the public is just to block it off until we know more," said Schoenike.
In a press release last Friday, the Ford Center said that, "The slope of the glass curtain wall possibly exceeds building code requirement."
But on Monday, both the Ford Center and Building Authority say they have no reason to believe the building isn't safe and up to code.
"It's a slope by 15 degrees and it is 15 degrees so it's not a construction issue. It's more a what's the right product issue," said Schoenike. "You know our assumption is that is in compliance and we've got something else going on whether it's an impact, whether it's heat, whether vibration."
14 News asked both Rector and Schoenike point blank if the Ford Center is safe. Both men say it is, and that this is more a precautionary measure than anything.
We hope to learn more about what caused that glass to break Tuesday afternoon.
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