HONOLULU — The developer of a luxurious residential high-rise tower in Honolulu has filed a lawsuit against a general contractor saying the building isn’t finished despite some residents moving in nearly a year ago.
HONOLULU — The developer of a luxurious residential high-rise tower in Honolulu has filed a lawsuit against a general contractor saying the building isn’t finished despite some residents moving in nearly a year ago.
Developer Howard Hughes Corp. filed suit Tuesday against Waiea general contractor Nordic PCL Construction, saying the more than $300 million tower has voluminous deficiencies, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported .
Nordic denied the allegations and said it will defend itself in court.
Mike Betz, Nordic’s district manager, said Hughes Corp. filed the lawsuit because Nordic threatened to place a lien on the tower after not receiving payments it claims are almost a year overdue.
“While Nordic PCL is disappointed that Howard Hughes has taken this step, Nordic PCL intends to vigorously defend against the lawsuit and to take all necessary steps to ensure that it and its subcontractors get paid for the work that they performed,” Betz said.
Hughes Corp. said in a statement Tuesday that it wanted to handle the dispute privately but needed to file the lawsuit to protect itself and Waiea homeowners.
“Despite the fact that the contractor’s performance failed to meet our standards, we have worked tirelessly to fulfill and exceed our own as well as our homeowners’ expectations and are proud of the standard the building is setting for the community,” the company stated.
Hughes Corp. is seeking damages “well in excess of $75 million.”
Waiea is the first of 16 towers that Hughes Corp. intends to develop at Ward Village under a master plan to turn 60 acres of mainly retail and industrial space into a residential community with up to 4,300 homes and 1 million square feet (0.09 million sq. meters) of retail space.
Units at the Waiea sold for an average of $3.6 million each.
