JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A consultant says it could be the end of the month before Thalia Mara Hall reopens after more asbestos was found in the facility.
The 2,000-seat auditorium was expected to reopen on January 17.
However, that was before contractors potentially disturbed some asbestos flooring found under the auditorium’s carpeting.
“It was anticipated that we would be able to say we are officially open today, and we said everything was tracking on schedule, and that was, in fact, true. We said the only thing that could hold us up was an unforeseen occurrence,” Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said on Friday.
“Unfortunately, I stand before you because there are some unforeseen circumstances that have delayed us… [for] what we believe is just a short period of time.”
The hall closed in August after microbial growth was found in the facility. The growth came about after the air conditioning system there shut down over a long weekend.
Crews have been working for months to clean up the decades-old facility, and testing was done earlier this week to see if it was safe for patrons and city employees to return there.
City Contract Engineer Emad Al-Turk said improvements at the facility are “substantially complete,” but testing earlier this week revealed some remnants of mold growth.
“We shut down the facility for a few days, fogged it, and in the haste of doing it, the contractor assumed the problem came from the carpet,” City Contract Engineer Emad Al-Turk said. “A visual inspection from what was under the carpet appears to be asbestos.”
“We sent sampling to the lab. We’re hoping to get some results sometime this evening. If the results are negative, we can move forward and get everything completed next week… If the results are positive, [we are going] to take another week to contain the asbestos.”
Al-Turk said about 100 square feet of carpet in the auditorium was removed. “We expect no later than the end of the month we will reopen. Hopefully sooner,” he said.
Thalia Mara Hall was constructed in 1968 as the Jackson Municipal Auditorium. It was renamed after Thalia Mara in 1994 in recognition of her efforts to develop a ballet company and bring the International Ballet Competition to the city.
“Just about any building built 40-plus years ago more than likely contains some asbestos,” Lumumba said. “It’s not harmful if it’s undisturbed. Once it’s disturbed, then you have to make certain to remediate it, remove it safely, so it provides no harm.”
“As with any construction project, sometimes you open the walls and find something that you did not see.”
Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.
Copyright 2025 WLBT. All rights reserved.
‘ Este Articulo puede contener información publicada por terceros, algunos detalles de este articulo fueron extraídos de la siguiente fuente: www.wlbt.com ’