APRIL 2008: AROUND THE STATE
Eugene
condo project delayed by contractor closure
EUGENE
Three Eugene developers face project delays and additional
costs after the sudden closure of their general contractor,
Roberts Professional Construction Services.
Kent Jennings, a partner at Jennings Pitts Development, says
the builder’s closing will push back completion by two
months of The Farm on Cal Young Road, a condo project in Eugene
for which Roberts was awarded a $5 million contract. He also
expects the developer to incur nearly $500,000 in additional
costs to cover transition to the new contractor, Eugene-based
Essex General Construction, and pay subcontractors Roberts
failed to compensate.
Jennings Pitts was also working with Roberts as a development
consultant for WestTown on 8th, an affordable housing project
being built by Metropolitan Affordable Housing Corporation.
Richard Herman, executive director of the Eugene-based
non-profit, says most major structural work on the 111-unit
downtown Eugene development was nearing completion when Roberts
closed its doors, and the corporation has tapped Greg Mitchell,
a former Roberts employee and previous superintendent of the
project, to see the work through. The project was initially
expected to be finished in January, but Herman says May is the
new target. Additional costs were still being figured at time
of press, but Herman says the most significant will be funds
paid to subcontractors for completed work.
Sadie Dressekie, marketing director for developer Arlie &
Company, which had awarded Roberts a $53 million contract to
work on Crescent Village, a 40-acre retail, residential and
commercial development in Eugene, also declined to release
additional costs. She says the short-term delays caused by the
Roberts closure should not affect the project’s final
completion date, slated for
2012.
JAMIE HARTFORD
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