A Pennsylvania state court judge has ordered Tutor Perini to pay $175 million in damages to a Philadelphia developer whose hotel was completed years late and far over budget.
The planned 51-story tower, for the dual-branded W and Element Hotel by Chestlen Development, contained floor slab deflections large enough to pose a problem to the owner and window wall subcontractor. The elevation variances plus rebar in unexpected places created anchorage problems at the slab edges that slowed window wall installation until it lagged badly behind schedule. The hotel opened in 2021.
A tangle of about 30 lawsuits resulted from disputes.
In the end, the building was delivered to Chestlen 2,797 days late. At $35,000 a day, that came to $98 million in contractual liquidated damages. Prejudgement interest, calculated at $21,645 per day, added $27.4 million. Legal and consulting fees came to another $14.1 million.
Damages to repair and replace windows amounted to the biggest construction-related cost, at $8 million.
The damages decision came several months after a five-week bench trial on liability, in which Judge James Crumlish III found Tutor Perini liable for breach of contract and rejected the contractor’s counterclaims against Chestlen.
Tutor Perini (NYSE-TPC) has indicated to the court that it intends to appeal the damage award, but company officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The big Sylmar, Calif.- based construction manager has argued that poor design work was behind the trouble and that the developer improperly took advantage of the situation by withholding payments.
Facing a claim by Chestlen for $155 million, Tutor Perini in a separate lawsuit also before Crumlish sought tens of millions of dollars from its main subcontractor for the building frame, Thomas P. Carney Inc.
Looking for quick answers on construction and engineering topics?
Try Ask ENR, our new smart AI search tool.
Ask ENR →
That company began to camber floor slabs to prevent excessive deflections, according to court records reviewed by ENR. But according to deposition testimony of its president, Bob Carney, the firm did so under stressed and confused circumstances and made no record of what was done.
Three law firms represented Chestlen: Blank Rome, Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld and California-based Glaser Weil. That firm mostly represents owners and designers and has worked on at least one prior lawsuit against Tutor Perini.
Peter Sheridan, who heads Glaser Weil’s construction practice, praised his client’s “effort and strong-hearted countenance to keep going against the Number 25 contractor” in the U.S.
Source: www.enr.com
