The city has issued a notice of default to Clark Construction Group and claims the city is entitled to damages.
By Lidia Dinkova | January 30, 2020
The construction manager for the massive Miami Beach Convention Center redevelopment claims the city owes over $70 million for extra work resulting from the city’s many designs changes.
Clark Construction Group LLC was hired as construction manager in 2015 agreement for the $515 million renovation and expansion project. It includes 500,000 square feet of exhibit walls, meeting rooms and support space plus a 60,000-square-foot ballroom, rooftop parking, and landscaping and road work.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Bethesda, Maryland-based builder claimed the city issued multiple changes to design drawings and agreed to some of the extra costs but declined many others. The city also declined to grant Clark all the extra time it needed to complete the work, leaving the contractor to either push to finish in time for major events or work around them.
Clark and its subcontractors “incurred significantly increased construction costs and delays as the city made hundreds of design changes throughout the project,” company attorney Etan Mark said.
Most of the $70 million allegedly due is for payments to subcontractors, said Mark, managing principal at Mark Migdal & Hayden in Miami. Virginia-based Banker Steel Co. already sued Clark.
The city is hosting an NFL showcase in conjunction with Sunday’s Super Bowl LIV and hosted Art Basel last December at the center at 1901 Convention Center Drive.
It held these and other events without a certificate of occupancy and generated revenue without paying Clark as it continues to work toward completion, Mark said.
“It’s obviously Clark’s position that that’s the city’s fault, not Clark’s fault,” Mark said. “Clark is continuing to work there because they want to finish the job and want to finish what it is they promised to do.”
