The list of companies suing the owner of Vancouver’s Trump International Hotel and Tower got a little bit longer this week.
Urban One Construction Management, Inc., filed a civil lawsuit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Tuesday, alleging that Holborn Developments and West Georgia Holdings Inc. failed to pay more than $700,000 worth of invoices for Urban One’s services. Twenty-seven condo owners are also listed as defendants in the suit.
The developers had previously filed suit against Urban One in January, accusing the construction company of failing to meet “trade contract requirements” or correct “deficiencies, or incomplete or unsatisfactory items, regarding the work performed.” This allegedly led to the delays in the opening of the tower, according to the developers’ suit.
Urban One’s suit has a different explanation for the delays. It alleges that Holborn failed to provide “full and timely information and approvals regarding the requirements of the project” and to give “timely decisions for the orderly progress of the services,” which resulted in “significant delay and additional costs” for Urban One.
The tower officially opened in late February, after having its completion date pushed back from summer 2016 to November of that year, and then to January.
Urban One is the latest of four contractors to have filed lawsuits against the developer in B.C. Supreme Court since September of last year. Earlier this month, Erwin Construction Corp. filed a suit against Holborn-affiliated company West Georgia Holdings. Nova Stone, Inc., and Catcan Holdings, Inc., also sued West Georgia Holdings for Trump-Tower-related complaints last year.
Trump Tower has become a lightning rod for protests against U.S. President Donald Trump and his policies in Vancouver. City and provincial officials have said they would prefer not to see the president’s name on the building, but developer Joo Kim Tiah, of Holborn, has told the Associated Press that he is “locked into” an agreement to use the Trump name.
The Trump organization does not own the building, but licenses its brand to the developers of the tower. Trump has been accused throughout his career of failing to pay contractors that worked on the buildings he did own.
None of the allegations in the lawsuits described in this story have been proven in court.
