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Liens
worth $3 million filed over high-rise project By
Luci Scott The
Arizona Republic
Five
subcontractors that have worked on the high-rise hotel south
of
Chandler
Fashion
Center
have filed mechanic's liens worth more than $3 million against
the property.
Liens, documents filed with the Maricopa County Recorder's
Office, pave the way for subcontractors to file a lawsuit to
force payment of money they say is owed them.
The liens also can halt the transfer of a property until the
debt is paid, but subcontractors aren't first in line.
Usually, taxing bodies and mortgage holders have priority over
contractors.
Construction
stopped in April on the worksite, leaving a skeleton in the
sky.
Bob Sornsin, owner of RKS Plumbing & Mechanical, said his
crew worked about four months and has not been paid by the
general contractor, Weitz Co.
"It's not necessarily Weitz's fault," he said.
"They were not getting funds for it."
Jerry Barnier, owner of Suntec, which is owed more than $1.9
million, said his employees worked less than three months and
did get payment from Weitz.
The subcontractors left the site after being told by Weitz
that the project was on hold. A Weitz executive declined
comment Friday.
"It's just a matter of funding; it's not anything more
than that," Barnier said.
In a guest opinion published June 17 on the editorial pages of
The Chandler Republic, developer Jeff Cline
defended his project:
"Neither Elevation Chandler nor the developer is bankrupt
or is filing for bankruptcy. Full and complete financing is in
place to complete this project."
On Friday, Cline declined to speak directly to The Chandler
Republic but sent an e-mail response through his
spokeswoman, Lindsay Hicks.
Friday's e-mail said, in part:
"The financing is just in the process of being completed
for the project. Upon funding, any amounts due shall be paid
current, and the project shall commence site construction with
the original contractor."
Cline also blamed the work stoppage on engineering delays and
not getting the condo plat approved and recorded until May.
Also, Cline has changed the projected completion date.
"As there is much speculation and rumor in the
marketplace, it will be all for naught once we open as
originally scheduled in November 2007," he wrote in his
June 17 piece.
In the e-mail sent Friday, Hicks indicated that "the new
projected opening of the hotel tower is now early 2008."
Ace Asphalt's owner, Tim Drexler, said his lien amount is
relatively small because his company had not yet done a lot of
work on the project.
A sixth subcontractor, Corbins Electric, expects to file a
lien, probably within a month, said Mark Fleming, the
company's president and CEO.
He didn't know the amount of the planned lien, but his crew
worked 45 to 60 days on installing electrical conduits in the
concrete, he said.
Although the total of the five filed liens comes to $3.6
million, the nearly $159,000 owed to Suncoast may be part of
the $867,200 owed to Powers Steel, since the liens indicate
Suncoast is a subcontractor or supplier of Powers.
It's unclear whether these subcontractors would return if the
project restarts.
"I wouldn't go back to work until we were paid,
obviously," Sornsin said.
"We have to plan our workload for the rest of the year. .
. . Right now, our stand is if they pay everybody up and get
things going back on track within the next month or two, we
would go back."
Barnier said, "We have to look at everything as far as
timing. . . . We move everybody around to a lot of different
jobs. It would be our intent to finish the job, but it depends
on what time they call."
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