The construction company hired by the city to complete Phase 2 of the Pelham Parkway reconstruction project has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the city for alleged breach of contract.
C.A.C. Industries, Inc., based in Long Island City, filed suit in state Supreme Court Friday seeking over $6 million in compensatory damages, arguing that it was not paid the full amount owed for the project that went years beyond its scheduled completion date.
The Pelham project was indeed a long time coming—Phase 1 began in 2010—and city officials breathed a sigh of relief when they announced the completion of Phase 2 in late December 2023. Phase 2 began in 2017.
C.A.C. Industries, which worked on Phase 2, alleges that the city is to blame for the project’s delay. The work was supposed to be completed in 1,460 consecutive calendar days and took nearly 800 days longer.
The company accuses the city of misrepresenting the project’s timeline, being “grossly negligent” and “malicious” in failing to assess the scope of the work accurately, and not compensating it to cover the adjusted timeline.
A spokesperson for the City would not comment on the lawsuit, telling the Bronx Times in an e-mail that it would “review the case once served.” Meanwhile, the attorney representing C.A.C. had not responded for comment by press time.
Phase 2 of the Pelham Parkway reconstruction effort involved improvements both above and below ground — such as better drainage and water pressure, safer pedestrian walkways and dedicated bus lanes.
The $115 million contract stipulated that the work was to be completed on July 31, 2021, but it was not actually completed until Sept. 29, 2023, according to the complaint.
In an interview with the Bronx Times last year, when Phase 2 was completed, Tom Foley, commissioner of the city Department of Design and Construction, blamed the delays on the COVID-19 pandemic and the area’s challenging topography, noting that workers had to contend with heavy rock formations and dig into subway tunnels.
But C.A.C. alleges that the city failed to account for numerous factors that would delay the project — and that it either knew or should have known how to prevent or account for the delays. The complaint reads that because the city had superior knowledge of conditions and potential trouble spots at the work site, C.A.C. “did rely to its detriment” on the city’s assessment of the scope and timeline of the work.
Conditions at the work site “differed significantly and materially from those described in the contract,” the complaint alleges.
Specifically, C.A.C. alleges that the city did not arrange to relocate Con Edison’s gas infrastructure, which would be affected by the work, and did not inform C.A.C. that the relocation was not performed, thereby causing delays.
The complaint also alleges that the city “took no action to mitigate water distribution issues to City Island that might result from C.A.C.’s work,” despite knowing of this potential problem from past projects. While the issues were being resolved, the firm was prevented from working on some water mains.
According to the complaint, another significant delay was caused by the city’s alleged failure to coordinate the work with the Department of Parks and Recreation. A permit from Parks was required to begin construction, but when the company applied, Parks rejected it, citing problems with the city’s plans that the application was based on. This allegedly caused a delay of over six months.
The Pelham Parkway reconstruction was not without controversy during the years it took to complete. Various aspects of Phases 1 and 2 faced opposition from some residents, including a 2013 lawsuit against the city claiming that the work created a dangerous sidewalk. The suit was later dismissed.
And in 2019, when it was announced that the project would need an additional 18 months to complete, some residents publicly complained about the traffic congestion it caused.
C.A.C. alleges that it has approached the city for money owed beyond the original contract but that the city has not paid up. The company is now seeking at least $6,334,306 in compensatory damages.
The lawsuit paints a new picture as to why the project was so difficult and time-consuming.
In preventing its access to work sites and failing to anticipate numerous delays, the city “prevented C.A.C. from working efficiently, sequentially and uninterrupted, and it caused it to expend a tremendous number of additional labor hours,” according to the complaint. The company accuses the city of “bad faith, willful, malicious or grossly negligent conduct.”
However, upon announcing the project’s completion in December 2023, Foley at the DDC told the Bronx Times that the Pelham Parkway reconstruction was well worth the time and seemed to blame delays mainly on factors beyond human control.
“I’m delighted how we were able to complete it with the engineering challenges we faced,” he said at the time.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
