Repairs to the roof of the West Baden Hotel have been completed, nearly 18 months after a storm damaged the property.
Chuck Franz, CEO of the French Lick Resort, said it took longer than expected to finish repairs because of the complicated structure of the glass dome.
“We didn't know what we were going to get into,” he said. “Working around our guests, as well as the difficulty of navigating the dome portion of the structure. There was having to go back, when we did get a rain…making sure that the dome was intact and not going to have any leaks.”
Read more: West Baden Hotel construction not expected to finish before May
Franz says repairs are continuing on a few additional roofs, including one over the casino. He’ll need to wait until January to start those repairs.
“To put it back up, you need cranes and lifts, and it's on the front of the casino, and that is where our French Lick Christmas tree goes,” he said. “They can't really get in there while the Christmas tree is in there. [It’s] just too complicated, so we're going to wait till we take the Christmas tree down.”
He hopes the new glass on the dome roof will be more durable. It cost over $4 million to repair, which insurance helped pay for.
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“When we selected it, it was rated 120 times stronger than the old glass. So, we hope that holds up for another 100 years.”
Despite ongoing construction around the hotel, all events are running on a normal schedule.