Staff Photo by Angela Lewis Caution tape surrounds the area below the Passage on Wednesday. The Passage is undergoing repairs after it was closed last year because of safety concerns.
Chattanooga’s repair of the Passage downtown is destroying evidence needed to determine what caused problems in the first place, according to the waterfront monument’s initial designers and builders.
City officials insist they need to repair structural and safety problems at the Passage, a water-based attraction built as part of Chattanooga’s $120 million riverfront renovation.
Development overseer RiverCity Co. — along with the Passage’s architects, Hargreaves Associates Inc., and the contractor, Continental Construction Co. — say the repair work also will end up unnecessarily boosting taxpayer costs.
Mayor Ron Littlefield said he is surprised at the number, size and scope of the problems with the waterfront attraction.
“I would not have expected to go and basically do a rebuilding of the Passage,” he said.
Steve Leach, the city’s public works administrator, said some of the problems “happened very quickly” after the opening of the Passage in May 2005.
Attorneys for the architects and contractors for the Passage claim the city didn’t give them adequate time to correct structural and code problems.
RiverCity and the contractors also claim they were given no opportunity to design or implement any remedy to the defects and disputed work. They have filed a counterclaim against the city, seeking damages for lost time, unpaid work and damage to their reputations.
The case in Hamilton County Circuit Court is not yet scheduled for trial, although the defendants have requested a jury trial.
WHEN IT BEGAN
Erected along the Tennessee Aquarium and beneath Riverfront Parkway, the Passage was intended as a reflecting pool and monument to the Cherokee Indians forcibly removed from East Tennessee in the 19th century.
City officials agreed to redesign the project to make it safer for recreational wading and swimming — and to correct electrical and tile problems — after the Passage proved popular as a swimming and wading pool for children.
Mr. Leach said the Passage probably will reopen in August after a $1.5 million upgrade.
But repairing the Passage won’t end an increasingly contentious legal battle between City Hall and those hired by the city to design and build the attraction.
In March, the city and its downtown development agency, the Chattanooga Downtown Redevelopment Corp., sued Hargreaves and Continental Construction for failing to design and build the Passage adequately. The city also sued RiverCity Co., the agency it hired to oversee the waterfront improvements, for inadequately supervising the project.
In its 13-page lawsuit, the city blamed those involved in developing and building the Passage for not properly installing tiles along the walls and for improperly laying concrete along sidewalks and at the base of the structure.
“The electrical equipment was improperly installed and did not meet the requirements of the National Electric Code,” City Attorney Mike McMahan said in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit came nearly a year after the city closed the Passage because of safety concerns stemming from the facility’s design and because of falling tiles and cracking concrete in the structure.
RiverCity is blamed for making project changes without proper city approval and for failing to oversee the project.
The defendants claim they proposed a $108,000 fix for the Passage problems last year, but the city instead spent $85,000 to hire another architect, TWH Architects, to evaluate the project. The city then hired P&C Construction Inc. as part of an upgrade and repair of the Passage and related waterfront problems that ultimately could cost the city nearly $2 million, defendants say.
RiverCity attorney Alaric Henry said city officials knew they were planning to sue RiverCity and the contractors, “yet went ahead and implemented changes to the Passage without the knowledge, participation or approval” of those involved in building it. As a result, evidence that might determine who is at fault for any problems was destroyed, Mr. Henry said.
Former RiverCity President Paul Brock told the Chattanooga City Council in April that the city’s decision to sue RiverCity without first talking to any of its leaders was wrong.
“This is a very serious action with far-reaching and potentially damaging consequences and, as such, should not have been taken until alternative solutions had been explored and exhausted,” he said.
But Mr. McMahan wrote to representatives of Continental and Hargreaves last July, offering to meet with the contractors to try to resolve the problems with the Passage. According to legal filings, Continental agreed to the mediation, but Hargreaves said the city’s 10-day deadline for response was “an unreasonable deadline” to respond to more than 200 pages of documents.
At the time of the lawsuit’s filing, Mr. Littlefield said the legal action against RiverCity “is not personal but is simply the way that these types of disputes can be fairly resolved.
“I get sued all the time,” the mayor said.
Passage players
* Chattanooga Downtown Redevelopment Corp.: The city agency that issues bonds and oversees downtown properties, including the Chattanoogan hotel, the downtown waterfront and selected downtown parcels
* RiverCity Co.: The nonprofit, private development firm hired by the Chattanooga Downtown Redevelopment Corp. to manage construction of the 21st Century Waterfront for a $650,000 fee
* Hargreaves Associates Inc.: The San Francisco-based architectural firm for the 21st Century Waterfront project, including the Passage
* Continental Construction Co. Inc.: The Chattanooga-based construction firm that built the Passage
Passage of time
* October 2001 — Tennessee Department of Transportation agrees to give up Riverfront Parkway, clearing road and land for waterfront renovation
* May 2002 — Mayor Bob Corker announces plans for 21st Century Waterfront project
* December 2002 — City hires Hargreaves Associates Inc. as architect for the waterfront improvements
* July 2003 — RiverCity Co., is hired as the city’s agent under a development management agreement to oversee the waterfront improvement plan
* November 2003 — Continental Construction Co. is hired as contractor for the Passage and other waterfront improvements
* May 2005 — The 21st Century Waterfront, including the Passage, opens to acclaim
* April 2008 — After tiles fall off and wall and electrical problems are discovered, the Passage is fenced off, and an $85,000 study of problems begins by TWH Architects
* July 2008 — Letters are sent to Hargreaves and Continental, requesting meeting and mediation of dispute. Chattanooga City Council approves the hiring of local company to repair the Passage.
* March 2009 — City files lawsuit against Hargreaves, Continental and RiverCity Co.
* June 2009 — RiverCity, Hargreaves and Continental respond to the city suit by claiming the city demolished evidence by going ahead with another firm to repair the Passage
Source: Newspaper archives, court documents
In their legal response to the city lawsuit, RiverCity and the contractors added to the legal challenges involved in the Passage repairs. They claim that the city and its agents “were responsible for the inspection and approval of the project” and insisted they were advised of all changes. In fact, RiverCity claims the city ordered many of the changes.
“Had such inspections and approvals been done properly, any problems with construction would have been discovered if, in fact, they exist,” Mr. Henry said.
Chattanooga City Council Chairman Jack Benson said he is disappointed the Passage has been closed for more than a year while the city assesses and tries to correct its deficiencies.
Richard Beeland, a spokesman for Mr. Littlefield, said the repairs to the Passage are being paid through the city’s share of local hotel-motel room taxes, which are a part of the 21st Century Waterfront package.
The city is suing to recover damages and repair costs for the Passage, but Mr. Beeland declined to discuss the countercharges against the city.
“We don’t comment on proceedings in court,” he said.
Text Size:
River City was paid $650,000 to manage a construction project, and the responsbility completely stops with them. The question becomes why was River City selected to manage such a big project, when they do not possess the experience or expertise in construciton management. The management of a construction project of this magnitude was well out of the scope of their knowledege.
Who had the great idea of giving this project to a third party to manage?
this is what happens when the City and "the developers" don't address the problem of the true origin and attribution of the artwork, and do not acknowledge the older tribes that were here and longer, and their wrong in exclusive Chattanooga-CNO-EBC tribal relations.
my bet is that the physicial problems will continue until the metaphysical issues that caused them are corrected.