Three Eugene developers face project delays and additional costs after the sudden closure of their general contractor, Roberts Professional Construction Services.
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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