Mike Jahner was in the Wisconsin Dells when the early August 1,000-year flood ruined parts of Milwaukee, and damaged Marquette’s campus.
That, coupled with the high water levels, was why the Menomonee River Valley was inaccessible and Jahner heard about Valley Fields’s damage only through overhead pictures from the North 16th Street viaduct.
But it was enough that Jahner, Marquette’s senior director of facilities management and university engineer, immediately knew Valley Fields was in need of a repair job — the third in his time at Marquette.
By the time the water resided a few days later, and Jahner and his team could physically visit the sports complex, the situation was much clearer — at least more than the sewage, which had risen to 8-10 inches, leaving behind distinct markings for how high the water rose. Proof of the scale of disaster.
“It was deep,” Jahner said.
As he and his team began inspecting the Valley, they found how much got damaged. The gatehouse and the maintenance buildings on the east side of the property, closer to downtown, were safe. Same with the actual fields — both real grass and artificial turf; because the water was just sitting on the field with no current, they just needed to be raked and blowdried.
The pavilion and the grandstand, though? Not so lucky.
That meant along with the bowels of Valley Fields, both soccer programs’ locker rooms, an officials’ and coaches’ locker room, a training room and public restrooms were left damaged.
Because the grandstand is a metal building, it was easy for Jahner and his team to clean up. They took the tables and chairs underneath outside, washed and sanitized them and left them to dry for a few days.
“We’re back in there the next weekend,” Jahner said.
The pavilion was a different story, something obvious from the first time Jahner went down.
“We accepted the fact that was going to be a little longer term,” he said.
First, after the contractor came and inspected, the facilities team started throwing out the lockers damaged to the point they could not be cleaned. Then they began pulling out the drywall and floors.
Once the locker rooms were completely gutted down to the studs, a week after the flooding, they began the rebuild process — which is still ongoing and will include a potential redesign to minimize future repairs.
In the meantime, both soccer programs have been using the away locker rooms underneath the main grandstand, something a Marquette athletics spokesperson said will likely continue through the entire soccer season.
“There’s probably a level of access that the soccer teams can still use it, and there’s a level of finish, so you probably get back in there,” Jahner said. “But it won’t be done-done, and we’re still working through what that might look like.”
Jahner said along with an unclear timeline, it’s also unknown how much the repairs will cost when it’s all said and done.
Other campus buildings damaged
Along with Valley Fields, Jahner said the buildings on the main part of campus were damaged as well.
According to Jahner, the following buildings had enough damage for the university to call for help from one of their restoration contractors:
- 1700 Building
- Abbotsford Hall
- APHRC
- Coughlin Hall
- Cramer Hall
- Lalumiere Hall
- McCabe Hall
- Old Gym
- Valley Fields
Jahner said Marquette handled the following buildings internally:
- 707 Building
- Al McGuire Center
- AMU
- Art Museum
- Cobeen Hall
- Eckstein Tower
- Cudahy Hall
- Holthusen Hall
- Humphrey Hall
- Mashuda Hall
- O’Donnell Hall
- Physician Assistants Building
- Rec Plex
- Schroeder Hall
- Straz Hall
- Structure 1
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.