World Busines and Finance news

Since March, at least 10 construction companies and professional service firms have filed liens totaling more than $1.9 million against Union Station Holdings LLC, which owns the downtown St. Louis landmark.

Those include CB&E Construction Group, which in November 2008 was named general contractor for a proposed $20 million renovation of the 539-room St. Louis Union Station Marriott. That work was never completed, said Gus Cervetto, owner and principal with CB&E.

“The last time we got paid was July or August of 2009,” Cervetto said. He said his company halted work on the renovation last November as the unpaid bills lingered. “The only leverage we had was to walk off the job.”

CB&E filed the largest of the liens against Union Station, $1.28 million on April 23. The CB&E lien includes claims from some subcontractors who separately filed their own liens against Union Station, Cervetto said.

The most recent contractor to file a lien on the property is Kirberg Roofing Inc., which said in a June 15 mechanics lien that it has made repeated demands for payment of $236,358 it said it is still owed. Kirberg’s bill is for roofing work in the train shed area of Union Station, said Robert Golterman, an attorney with Lewis, Rice & Fingersh who represents Kirberg.

In November 2008, St. Louis Union Station announced it had selected CB&E Construction as the general contractor for the renovation work, which was to come in phases over two years. Ocean Hospitalities of Portsmith, N.H., which owns or operates some 120 hotels in the U.S. and Canada, took over management of the hotel property in December 2008. The management change came as the Union Station hotel, which had operated under the Hyatt hotel brand, was switching to become a Marriott.

It was not clear how or if the pay dispute at Union Station impacts the hotel’s relationship with Marriott. Neither a spokesperson for Marriott International, nor a representative of Ocean Hospitalities, nor a representative from Union Station Holdings returned messages about the pay disputes. Steven Snodgrass, an attorney with the Bryan Cave law firm who represents Marriott International in the dispute, declined to elaborate on the court filings.

Cervetto said his company and a number of subcontractors went through mediation with Union Station’s owners earlier this year which resulted in Union Station’s owners agreeing to pay its contractors in three installments. “When the first installment was due, they sent us a check for half of the amount (due),” Cervetto said. “These people are preying on the fact that these contractors need work.”

CB&E is represented by Matthew Menghini of the McCarthy Leonard & Kaemmerer law firm.

A group of five CB&E subcontractors who claim they are owed more than $320,000 from renovation work for Union Station Holdings, brought suit April 14 to collect on their unpaid liens cash advance in one hour. Companies have to bring suit within six months to enforce their liens, or the liens have no effect. That suit also named CB&E as a defendant along with Union Station Holdings.

Other large liens filed against Union Station have come from Suda Architects & Associates, which filed a $276,284 lien April 30, 10 days after the unexpected death of the firm’s principal, Larry Suda; and planning and design firm EDM Inc., which filed a $114,818 lien April 29.

Union Station Holdings owns the real estate. It was a customer of Park City Bank in Chicago, which was operated by FPOP Inc. and was providing some project financing. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized the bank in October 2009, and U.S. Bank acquired the assets.

Source

Filed under: business by Wolf