Newly filed liens against general contractors Lakeside Alliance and Elevate Design Build total to more than $550,000
Three more trade contractors have filed mechanics’ liens against two different general contractor groups that worked on delivering projects that are part of the $850-million Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. One of the subcontractors seeking recompense via a lien, Adamson Plumbing, has laid off its remaining employees and closed up shop.
«The whole thing is just surreal to me and I can’t believe I’m in this position,” Michael Owen, owner and president of Elgin, Ill.-based Adamson, a minority-owned firm, told Chicago’s WGN. Owen said he laid off the company’s remaining 25 union workers and officially shut down his business in July. «You can only sustain that kind of loss for so long.»
Owen previously spoke with ENR about how the company is still owed nearly $2 million from work done on the project even though it was told to price and proceed by joint venture contractor Lakeside Alliance when changes were needed onsite. Owen and Adamson have filed a lien for $1.7 million to try to recoup some of its losses from the project.
The lead contractor for the presidential center, Lakeside Alliance is a joint venture of Powers & Sons Construction Co., UJAMAA Construction Inc., Brown & Momen, Inc., Safeway Construction Co., and Turner Construction Co.
The Obama Center had its share of issues during construction, seeing the original budget of $350 million balloon to a final figure of $850 million. O’Leary’s Contractors Equipment & Supply is seeking $184,000 in allegedly unpaid equipment rental invoices. The Cement Masons’ Union Trust Funds alleges more than $326,000 in unpaid fringe benefit contributions and Intek Construction Products is seeking about $47,000 for labor and materials it says it supplied to the project. Concrete Collective, the project’s joint-venture concrete contractor that includes W.E. O’Neil Construction, filed a mechanics lien seeking more than $40 million for concrete work on the project.
Liens have also been filed against Elevate Design Builders, a joint venture led by minority-owned BOWA Construction that served as construction manager for the Home Court, a 60,000-sq-ft basketball and events facility built on the southern end of the site under a separate contract from the main building. The Home Court facility’s structural steel, excavation and concrete, and gymnasium flooring work were all subjects of mechanics’ liens filed by subcontractors against Elevate Design Builders. Liens filed in Cook County typically take three-to-four weeks to show up in the county system after being filed.
Structural steel subcontractor Area Erectors is seeking nearly $620,000 in recompense for work on the Home Court, excavation and concrete subcontractor CSI 3000, a minority-owed business said it is owed about $236,000 for the Home Court job, and gymnasium flooring specialist Floors Incorporated says it is owed nearly $25,000 for the Home Court.
Representatives for Bowa and the Obama Foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lakeside Alliance said in a statement: «The Obama Presidential Center involved multiple structures, thousands of design documents, and hundreds of trade partners and community businesses. As with many major construction projects, contractual closeout—including the review and resolution of outstanding invoices, change orders, and other project matters—continues long after the doors open. Lakeside Alliance continues to work to support the businesses that helped deliver this project.»
