After joint venture Skanska-Hunt sued Washington State Convention Center (WSCC) expansion project development manager Pine Street Group LLC last month when the contractor was terminated from the project, Judge Beth Andrus has ruled the cast to go to court.
Judge Andrus ruled WSCC had the right to terminate the preconstruction services agreement with Skanska-Hunt. However, if the project wants to hire a replacement contractor it must use the traditional design/bid/build process which requires selecting the lowest cost option. If WSCC wants to stick with the GC/CM method then it must retain Skanska-Hunt and begin negotiating a maximum allowable construction costs (MACC) for the project.
New Contractors Sought for Washington State Convention Center Expansion Project
“By electing, under RCW 39.10.360(6), to enter into a contract with Skanska-Hunt and to accept what are essentially GC/CM preconstruction services from Skanska-Hunt,” Andrus wrote in her decision, “Skanska-Hunt’s right to be the firm with whom WSCC negotiated for a MACC contract for this Project became a vested right. As a result, WSCC has no statutory right to declare a ‘do over,’ to seek a new GC/CM.”
The case will go to trial sometime in the next four months.
(more on the latest in the Washington State Convention Center project's legal case...)
