A W hotel building contractor is hit with another court judgment, this time for $42.4 million
Judge James Crumlish III previously ordered Tutor Perini Building Corp. to pay $175 million to the owner of the W and Elements hotels site for driving the project "off the rails."
One of the largest building contractors in the United States has been hit by another multimillion judgment as a result of the dispute over the W and Element Hotels in Center City.
Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge James Crumlish III ordered California-based Tutor Perini Building Corp. to pay $42.4 million in damages to the subcontractor retained to install the building’s exterior, the Chicago-based Ventana DBS LLC.
“Throughout the project, Ventana was forced to navigate numerous obstructions and obstacles, stemming from Tutor Perini’s pervasive material breaches of contract,” Crumlish’s ruling read last week.
» READ MORE: Contractor caused construction of the W and Element hotels to go ‘off the rails,’ judge finds
That judgment comes on top of a $174.7 million judgment Crumlish issued earlier this year for 2,797 days of construction delays to the 51-story building, to be paid to Philadelphia-based Chestlen Development LP.
A Tutor Perini spokesperson said in April that the firm disagreed with the decision and intended to appeal it.
The contractor declined to comment. Ventana and its lawyer Craig O’Neill of White & Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The judgment is the latest in the fallout from a construction project that Crumlish has said in an earlier ruling went “off the rails” because of Tutor Perini. Five years after the W hotel opened, the litigation is ongoing.
Tutor Perini was in court again Tuesday for the start of a new trial, this time for the judge to assess how much a concrete subcontractor, Thomas P. Carney Inc. Construction, owes Tutor for botching the job.
The proceeding had a tense opening as attorneys for Tutor Perini and Carney spent the morning arguing over motions.
Crumlish, who has previously chastised the parties for their animosity and turning the litigation into a “challenging behemoth,” expressed frustrations at times and ordered everyone to stop talking.
“I’m getting cranky, I will admit it,” the judge said at one point.
Disruptive and costly delays
Tutor Perini retained Ventana in 2015 for $14 million to assist in the design and install of the building’ exterior and window-wall systems for floors nine to 50.
But when Ventana moved to install the hotel’s wall-window systems, they immediately noticed a “big problem,” according to the judge’s October memo. In many places, the concrete was not level or did not meet the elevation requirements in the design.
Tutor Perini denied there was a problem, while quietly attempting to grind the edges of the concrete slabs to address the issue.
By failing to supervise the concrete pours, Crumlish wrote in the recent ruling, Tutor Perini caused the “inefficient, obstructed, and impaired installation” of the window-wall systems.
“Ventana repeatedly encountered disruptive and costly delays due to Tutor’s lack of coordination while attempting to install its window wall systems,” the judge’s memo said.
Tutor Perini, for example, didn’t clear debris left by other subcontractors, the judge said, to allow the Ventana team to transport the window-wall components.
» READ MORE: Judge orders contractor to pay $175 million for the W hotel’s construction going ‘off the rails’
And while Tutor’s consultants confirmed the problem was the concrete pour, the company rejected Ventana’s delay notices and stopped paying the contractor.
Crumlish ordered Tutor to pay Ventana the $7.5 million unpaid subcontractor balance, $7.3 million in labor inefficiency costs, and $2.4 million unpaid change order requests, among other costs.
The company is also on the hook for $7.1 million in attorney’s fees, expert witness fees, and litigation costs, bringing the total judgment to $42.4 million.
The W hotel opened in 2021 at 15th and Chestnut Streets, three years after its intended opening date, and it still cannot be fully occupied because some window vents are inoperable.
The project was developed by Brook Lenfest, son of former Inquirer owner H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, whose foundation continues to own the newspaper.
