NORTHAMPTON – The general contractor who helped build the $16.5 million Northampton Police Station claims it worked with the city for years to address water infiltration issues that are at the center of a lawsuit filed by the city last month.
“We tried everything in our power to satisfy them for the alleged design/construction defects in the building,” Stephen L. Killian, executive vice president and director of operations for Barr & Barr’s New England office, said. “It wasn’t like we walked away.”
The city filed a lawsuit in Hampshire Superior Court May 18 against Barr & Barr Inc. of Springfield and the architectural firm Caolo & Bieniek Associates Inc. of Chicopee, which designed the building. The lawsuit also names Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. as a defendant. The city alleges that design and construction defects led to water leaks and cost taxpayers nearly $740,000 to repair.
Liberty Mutual issued the bond for Barr & Barr. The city alleges a breach of contract against all three companies, claiming that the design and construction defects caused significant damages. Barr & Barr and Caolo & Bieniek are also being sued for intentional misrepresentation and negligent representation.
According to the lawsuit, issues with “persistent leaks and water infiltrations” began shortly after the city occupied the building. The leaks occurred throughout the department’s parking deck and garage and entered into the attached police station. Areas where water leaked inside the station included a locker room and a basement storage area, as well as a sally port with a rolling garage door below the parking deck.
Killian said he was disappointed by the lawsuit saying that Barr & Barr was a partner with Northampton for two years while building the police station. He said Barr & Barr was willing to work as a team with the city, which ended its relationship with the company in 2015.
Barr & Barr contends that it first became aware of the leaks in 2013, worked closely with the city to investigate them and “from the beginning, B&B has always said that it would repair any construction deficiencies,” the company wrote in a statement provided to the Gazette.
Barr & Barr hired an independent consultant, Russo-Barr Associates of Woburn, to determine the cause of the leaks as well as a remedy, according to the company.
“In June 2014, RBA issued its report, concluding that the leaks were the result of the design of the garage, and that any construction deficiencies were minimal,” Barr & Barr wrote in its statement explaining its work. “Despite B&B’s repeated requests over the past 4 years, the city has never pointed out a specific construction defect that it wanted B&B to repair.”
In documents provided to the Gazette by Barr & Barr, a March 15, 2015 letter from Northampton City Solicitor Alan Seewald acknowledges the work Barr & Barr had done to address the leaks, but the city sought a second opinion.
“As you know, the structure and its attendant deck has been the source of ongoing, unresolved problems since the NPD occupied it, most particularly the penetration of water through the upper deck into both the lower parking area and into enclosed areas of the building,” Seewald wrote. “I acknowledge that Barr & Barr has taken significant steps to attempt to identify the sources of these problems including retaining Russo-Barr Associates to perform an investigation. However, the city has decided to engage Hoffman Architects, Inc. of Hampden, Connecticut to review the existing plans and proposals for resolving the water penetration issues.”
Curtis A. Edgin, president of Caolo & Bieniek Associates Inc., told the Gazette last week that his company’s lawyers would handle the matter in court.
“There is plenty of documentation available that confirms the parking deck was not constructed in full conformance with the contract documents,” Edgin said.
Seewald, Northampton’s city solicitor, said last week that the city has made it “quite clear” there was negligence on the part of both Barr & Barr and Caolo & Bieniek.
“As I’ve said before, we intend to get the police station that the people of Northampton paid for and that’s what were doing,” Seewald said.
The 31,500-square-foot, energy-efficient facility was funded in large part with a $10 million, 20-year debt-exclusion override approved by voters on Nov. 2, 2010. The city bonded a total of $16.5 million for the project, which included design and construction. The station opened in July 2012 after a year of construction. The parking garage portion was completed in January 2013.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.