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Several subcontractors say they have not received change orders and other work on the $850 million Barack Obama Presidential Center, which opens June 19 in the Hyde Park section of Chicago.
Communication from the Obama Foundation has largely broken down, subcontractors say, as they seek payment through the project’s prime contractor, Lakeside Alliance, a company that includes Turner Construction Co. and WE O’Neil Construction.
Most of the subcontractors declined to speak on the record, but said they were gathering information and weighing whether to file liens or lawsuits.
Omar Shareef, president of the Association of African American Contractors, told Crain’s Chicago Business that seven separate subcontractors have contacted him in recent months asking for help making the payments.
Adamson Plumbing is owed more than $2 million, says Michael Owen.
“There are a lot of change orders that [the JV contractor] asked us for a price and continue,” says Owen, president of the Addison, Illunion employer based on .. “Many underwriters on the project had already received this guidance and proceeded. We’re probably priced at close to $450,000 and going forward and a couple of them are now at a total loss.”
In a statement, Lakeside Alliance said these issues are common on large projects and remains committed to integrating commercial contractors.
“The Obama Presidential Center involved multiple structures, thousands of design documents and hundreds of commercial partners and community businesses. As with many major construction projects, contractual closeout, including review and resolution of outstanding invoices, change orders and other project matters, continues long after the doors open,” the statement said.
He also said the Lakeside Alliance continues to work to support the businesses that helped deliver the project.
“These companies have expanded their skills, expanded their relationships and improved their ability to compete for future work on major projects across the country. We remain committed to working on outstanding issues to successfully close the project,” the statement said.
Small discrepancies
Adamson said many of the project’s problems stemmed from very small discrepancies simply lost between design and construction.
Early in construction, for example, the tile wall in the bathrooms where flowmeters were installed had the wrong dimensions. Owen says he called the supplier and quickly priced the replacements and was authorized to price the new supplies and fix the problem, a roughly $20,000 change order.
servicing Ford and Nimitz class aircraft carriers as well as all classes of nuclear submarines in the fleet.
When it came time to get paid for the change orders that were documented in the project’s construction management system, several subcontractors say, the owner denied them payment even though Lakeside Alliance gave them the go-ahead to price and proceed.
As problems continued to arise during construction and the Obama Foundation increased the scope, the initial total cost of the project increased from $300 million to $650 million and then to $850 million. Rework and scope expansion required drawing on the project’s contingency fund.
The Obama Presidential Center’s endowment was estimated to have $470 million in donations during the project’s design, but now has only $1 million in cash, according to Obama Foundation documents.
