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 way over budget.
The planned 51-story tower, for Chestlen Development’s dual-brand W and Element hotel, contained floor slab deviations large enough to pose a problem for the owner and the window wall subcontractor. Elevation variations plus rebar in unexpected places created anchorage problems at the slab edges that slowed the installation of the window wall until it was well behind schedule. The hotel opened in 2021.
A package of about 30 demands result of disputes.
In the end, the building was delivered to Chestlen 2,797 days late. At $35,000 a day, that was $98 million in contractual liquidated damages. Prejudgment interest, calculated at $21,645 per day, added $27.4 million. Legal and consulting expenses totaled another $14.1 million.
Damage to repair and replace windows accounted for the largest construction-related cost at $8 million.
The damages decision came several months after a five-week trial on liability, in which Judge James Crumlish III found Tutor Perini liable for breach of contract and dismissed the contractor’s counterclaims against Chestlen.
Guardian Perini (NYSE-TPC) has indicated to the court that it intends to appeal the damage award, but the company Officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The large Sylmar, Calif.-based construction manager has argued that poor design work was behind the problems and that the developer took advantage of the situation by withholding payments.
Faced with a Chestlen claim 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’s structure, Thomas P. Carney Inc.
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That company began tilting the floor slabs to prevent excessive deflection, according to court records reviewed by ENR. But according to the deposition testimony of its chairman, Bob Carney, the company did so under stressful and confused circumstances and failed to record what was done.
Three law firms represented Chestlen: Blank Rome, Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld and California-based Glaser Weil. This firm primarily represents homeowners and designers and has worked on at least one previous lawsuit against Tutor Perini.
Peter Sheridan, who heads Glaser Weil’s construction practice, praised his client’s “effort and strong-hearted face to continue against the number 25 contractor” in the US
