Haste makes waste
Contractor seeks $34 million in cost overruns for Bank One park
Posted: Thursday November 19, 1998 11:10 AM
PHOENIX (AP) -- The main contractor on Bank One Ballpark wants the Arizona
Diamondbacks and others involved in building the complex to understand
that haste makes waste -- and to pay for it. Perini-Tutor-Saliba
filed a lawsuit this week seeking nearly $34 million to cover cost overruns
the company says resulted from the rush to finish the ballpark prior to
opening day of the major league baseball season, the Arizona Republic
reported on Thursday. The Maricopa County Superior Court suit
names the architect and others in contending that the increased costs were
a result of mistakes by the architect, the team, the construction manager
and the Maricopa County Stadium District during the rush. The
newspaper said most of the parties declined to comment on the lawsuit but
that one said anonymously that the builders were led to believe overruns
would be covered so long as the ballpark was completed on time.
Brad Holm, an attorney for the Diamondbacks, told the newspaper, however,
that Perini, the low bidder, was paid the full $147 million bid and got an
additional $18 million to cover the cost of changes made during
construction. "We have paid dearly for them to get this done,"
Holm said. Overruns pushed the stadium's cost to $365 million,
of which about two-thirds came from a county sales tax. The agreement
between the team and the stadium district provided for the team to cover
all costs over $253 million. Many of the cost overruns resulted
from adjustments as the unusual retractable roof was built. Joe
Gross, a vice president for Ellerbe Becket Inc., the architect, told the
Republic he could not comment specifically on the lawsuit because he has
not seen a copy of it. However, he said, "We're proud of the
facility that's sitting over there. We think we did an exemplary job. We
think everybody in Maricopa County is probably happy with the results."
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