Thursday, August 16, 2007

Performing Arts Center sues architect, construction firm

Seeks $30 million in damages, citing delays, design problems at new concert hall.

By RICHARD CHANG

The Orange County Register

The Orange County Performing Arts Center is suing the world-famous architect and the construction company that built its new $240 million concert hall.

Citing unexpected cost overruns, delays and design problems, the nonprofit center filed a 218-page suit Aug. 10 in Orange County Superior Court. The defendants are New Haven, Conn.-based Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Texas-based Fluor Corp., and Berkeley-based landscape architects Peter Walker and Partners, among others.

The center is seeking more than $30 million in damages from 11 defendants, which include subcontractors.

“We feel this is the most prudent and responsible way to proceed,” center President Terrence Dwyer said Thursday. “Our responsibility is to the donors – to move forward in the most financially responsible way possible.”

The 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa opened to much fanfare last September. However, it exceeded its original, $200 million budget by $35 million to $40 million.

Just weeks after the opening, the center pointed to overtime and rising costs of materials for the budget increase. But the lawsuit describes a multitude of problems and shortcomings, including “design work that was incomplete, deficient, inaccurate, untimely and below the standard of care for those holding themselves out as having defendants’ skills, experience and expertise.”

The suit argues that the architect and designers failed to “provide adequate and acceptable seating,” including some seats with impaired sight lines and “inadequate leg and sitting room.”

Further, the suit complains that the design for the outdoor plaza was corrected, changed and “clarified” after work had already commenced, and the landscape architects failed to “adequately and timely respond to requests for information, so as to make the work more difficult and more expensive.”

During the 3 ½-year construction of the arts complex, which includes a restaurant, a 500-seat theater and an education center, officials stressed repeatedly that the expansion would be built “on time and on budget.” They also said that an agreement had been signed, guaranteeing the schedule and cost.

The suit states that the defendants broke their contract with the center, jacking up prices after that agreement had already been made.

Officials at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects did not respond Thursday to phone calls and e-mails seeking comment. The firm is co-headed by Cesar Pelli, a world renowned architect who designed Costa Mesa’s Plaza Tower, the expansion of South Coast Repertory and the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, once the tallest buildings in the world.

Keith Stephens, spokesman for Fluor Corp., said his company does not comment on pending litigation. But he did say the concert hall has been “universally received by the client,” and has “received multiple awards from professional engineering and construction associations.”
“We’re proud of the work,” Stephens said. “The client has been very complimentary of the work. We’ll see how all of this is adjudicated.”

Dwyer confirmed that audience and artist response to the new hall has been “almost universally positive.”

“We think it’s a great hall,” he said. “We don’t think (the suit) has to do with the quality, design or construction. There was a lot the contractors had to contend with, due to shortcomings in architectural plans and specifications.”

Dwyer added that some issues, such as squeaky chairs, have been dealt with, and others, such as heating and cooling, seat positions and the height of some railings, are next on the to-do list.

The center recently finished a successful fiscal year, with a $222,151 budget surplus and a record amount of contributions to its “Building on the Vision” campaign to fund the expansion. The center has raised about $176.5 million, with about $63.5 million to go.

Dwyer said he hoped news of the suit wouldn’t negatively affect the campaign.
“We’d like to be able to announce only good news all the time,” he said. “There may be questions about this, about the actions we’ve taken. But I hope people will be understanding and supportive, and see that the organization is acting responsibly. As a steward of the project we’re acting in the most responsible way.”