The Paradise Coast Sports Complex could soon draw larger, marquee events.
On Tuesday, Collier County commissioners approved a settlement with Manhattan Construction to resolve payment disputes that have held up parts of the project, including the delivery of more turf fields.
Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the agreement, resolving the general contractor’s unpaid claims, which had reached nearly $15.6 million, including escalation costs and potential damages.
The county has agreed to pay Manhattan about $11.3 million to settle the three claims, involving the first two phases of construction. Construction of the county-owned complex has been funded by and financed with tourist tax dollars, collected on hotel and other vacation stays in Collier County.
The dispute with Manhattan has held up the turnover of four additional multipurpose fields, which were recently completed, “with the exception of some finishing touches,” said Paul Beirnes, the county’s tourism director.
“The receipt of those completed fields will mean that the Paradise Coast Sports Complex now possesses a total of nine multipurpose turf fields, including the one stadium field. These additional four fields allow the facility to host and secure major marquee sporting events in a much more efficient and appealing manner,” he said.
More like this:Paradise Coast Sports Complex shows off new public fitness, dining areas
And:Collier County Commission approves new infusion of money for sports complex as construction costs mount
According to the executive summary for the settlement, the contract, signed in February 2018, started with preconstruction management. Thereafter, with each phase of construction, the county amended the contract. There were six amendments in all, as the project progressed and evolved.
County attorneys and managers recommended in favor of the settlement, saying it would reduce the “risk of incurring significant additional costs” should the dispute proceed to trial, and describing it as “reasonable based on the totality of the circumstances.”
If the dispute had led to a lawsuit and gone to trial, the county could have faced more than $1 million in legal expenses, with no guarantee it would win.
Sports complex has faced myriad challenges
A number of factors caused delays and cost increases, leading to disputes, including:
- Double digit percentage increases in material and labor costs
- Supply chain delays
- The COVID-19 pandemic
- A general labor shortage
- Hurricane Ian
Neither side admitted to any wrongdoing in the settlement agreement.
However, the executive summary in the agenda suggested county staff may have been “less diligent” in timely issuing notices to proceed, and in addressing outstanding payment issues in general.
The county also asked Manhattan for changes to scope and timing, impacting costs.
On the other hand, county staff complained they were “hampered with having to deal with arevolving management staff for Manhattan that made it difficult to work cooperatively to keep the work onschedule when it fell behind.”
When Manhattan didn’t receive its payments, it didn’t pay its subcontractors, causing some of them to stop working on the project, and resulting in more than 20 claims against Manhattan, including several lawsuits.
While the contractor failed to meet its completion requirements for the first two phases, the county still could hold significant events at the complex, operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy. Those events have included everything from Football University Regional and National Championships to fine art shows.
However, the complex has lost out on business that it could have attracted with additional fields, if they’d opened on time.
The first four fields opened in July 2020, followed by the stadium field a few months later.
County and contractor part ways
As part of the settlement, Manhattan and the county will end their contractual relationship for the sports complex, and for a government business park nearby, which is still in the preconstruction stage.
For the business park, Manhattan has been paid less than $59,000 for the services it has provided,from an open purchase order of nearly $207,000.
To date, the value of the work done on the sports complex tops $84.7 million.
With more phases planned, work would be competitively bid out, based on the county commission’s future direction. At completion, the complex is expected to have 21 full-size fields.
To date, the costs incurred or obligated for the project approach $120 million, with more financing required for phases three and four.
Commissioner Bill McDaniel moved to approve the settlement, saying it screams for the need to ensure better management and oversight on the county’s part, which should be a focus going forward.
“This is taxpayer money,” he stressed.
While he supported the construction of the sports complex for the community, McDaniel said it had ballooned into something significantly larger than he expected from an “expense standpoint,” but there was no sense in throwing darts, or placing blame, at this point.
Commissioner Chris Hall seconded the motion to approve the settlement, agreeing the county needs to do better in the future.
“We can move on from it,” he said.
Chairman Rick LoCastro said he didn’t love the settlement, but he hated it much less once he understood the details of it, and the alternatives, from his briefings with county staff ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
He described the agreement as a “necessary evil,” to protect taxpayer dollars, and to move forward.
LoCastro suggested the contract, the negotiations and the end result may have not been the best the county’s ever had, but it’s the cost of doing business, “unfortunately.”
“I hope this is an anomaly and you know we don’t really have too many more of these sort of ‘settlements’ coming up before us for any of these big projects because in the end this is taxpayer dollars that could have gone elsewhere,” he said. “But it’s satisfactory in my mind.”
