BOSTON—Boston Business Journal reported on Wednesday that the developer behind the NEMA Boston mixed-use tower in Boston’s Seaport District has sued the general contractor John Moriarty & Associates, claiming its failure to complete construction on time led the developer to lose out on about $4.9 million in revenue.
“The delays led multiple tenants to cancel their leases at the 22-story luxury tower after they were told the building would not be finished when they moved in, including amenities on one of the top floors, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Suffolk County Superior Court by 399 Congress LLC, an affiliate of Miami-based developer Crescent Heights,” said Boston Business Journal in its report.
The BBJ report said that the developer is seeking $3 million in damages, the maximum amount allowed under its contract with Moriarty, as well as other costs. Winchester-based Moriarty was hired to perform pre-construction, construction management and general contracting work, the lawsuit said.
“The inexcusable delay to the project was solely a result of [Moriarty’s] inability to properly and timely perform its work,” the developer said in the lawsuit as quoted by the BBJ.
A Moriarty representative did not immediately respond to Boston Business Journal’s request for comment on the allegations.
According to the lawsuit, the project was originally supposed to be finished between September 2019 and November 2019, but it became apparent in August of that year that Moriarty would not be able to complete the work by then, BBJ reported. As a result, the deadline was pushed back to January 2020 at the latest, the suit said.
“Despite the extension, Moriarty “still failed to complete the project on time due to its deficient performance,” the developer said. In addition to the canceled leases, those tenants who did move in had to live amid the ongoing construction, according to the lawsuit.” BBJ said.
The delays hit the developer especially hard, it said, because they stretched into the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. That meant the developer had to seek to lease the units during the pandemic and to pay higher costs for things like financing and staff compensation, according to the lawsuit as reported by the BBJ.
To read the original BBJ article, please click here.
