Obama Center subcontractor files $40M discrimination lawsuit against engineering firm for overruns
A Chicago-based subcontractor is suing one of the firms involved in managing the construction of the Obama Presidential Center for $40 million, claiming racial discriminatory practices forced the firm to do extra work that left it at risk of bankruptcy, according to a lawsuit.
Robert McGee, the owner of II in One, which provided concrete and rebar services for the center starting in 2021, filed the lawsuit in federal court last month against New York-based Thornton Tomasetti, which oversees structural engineering and design services for the $830 million project.
McGee claims that Thornton Tomasetti changed standards and imposed new rules around rebar spacing and tolerance requirements that differed from the American Concrete Institute standards, which resulted in “excessively rigorous and unnecessary inspection” and massive overruns.
Former President Obama and his presidential center (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg, left, and Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, right.)
OBAMA BREAKS GROUND IN CHICAGO FOR MASSIVE PRESIDENTIAL CENTER PROJECT
This, McGee, claims, incurred extensive paperwork that impacted productivity and resulted in millions in losses, according to the lawsuit.
However, Thornton Tomasetti defended its actions nearly a year ago, writing in a memo to the lawsuit that the subcontractors were “questionably qualified,” and the delays were due to their own shortcomings.
The Obama Presidential Center is being built near Jackson Park in Chicago, and will consist of a planned museum, library, community and conference facilities. The center will house the nonprofit Obama Foundation, which is overseeing the center’s development and operates a scholarship program through the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.
McGee claims Thornton Tomasetti falsely accused II in One of lacking sufficient qualifications and experience to perform its work, while stating that non-minority-owned contractors were sufficiently qualified.
He is seeking to be paid back for roughly $40 million in construction costs the firm covered itself along with its joint venture partner, Concrete Collective.
“In a shocking and disheartening turn of events, the African American owner of a local construction company finds himself and his company on the brink of forced closure because of racial discrimination by the structural engineer,” the lawsuit reads.
In a memo, Thornton Tomasetti shared images of cracked slab and exposed rebar. (Lasuit)
“II in One and its joint venture partners… was subjected to baseless criticisms and defamatory and discriminatory accusations by the Obama Foundation’s structural engineer, Thornton Tomasetti.
However, Thornton Tomasetti claimed in an attached February 2024 memo that construction costs and delays “were all unequivocally driven by the underperformance and inexperience” of that subcontractor, II in One.
In a memo, Thornton Tomasetti shared images of cracked slab and exposed rebar.
In the memo, Thornton Tomasetti tells Obama Foundation leadership that it spent hundreds of hours reviewing, analyzing, re-designing and responding to corrective work and that contractors caused “a multitude of problems in the field.”
Thornton Tomasetti said the challenges with the concrete were due solely to the performance of the contractors.
“We cannot stand by while contractors attempt to blame their own shortcomings on the design team,” the memo states.
The memo goes on to state that Thornton Tomasetti and an architectural firm “bent over backwards to assist what everyone knows was a questionably qualified subcontractor team in areas where more qualified subcontractor would not have required it.”
The Obama Presidential Center under construction in the 6000 block of South Stony Island Avenue on Aug. 10, 2023. (Chicago Tribune / Contributor)
The project has faced problems in the past. Construction was initially anticipated to get underway in 2018, but it was kicked back to 2021. It is scheduled to open sometime in 2026.
Some community activists claim the new center will cause prices for homes and rent to increase and may price many of those who live in the area. Environmental activists have also been critical of the project, arguing that it would remove too many trees and destroy some bird habitats.
Activists threatened to sue to block developments, but the plan to build the center was approved shortly after a lawsuit was filed, according to Newsweek. The Supreme Court denied the request to hear the case in 2021.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, left, joins former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama in a ceremonial groundbreaking at the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park on Sept. 28, 2021, in Chicago, Illinois. ( Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Obama has said he hopes the center would help promote the city’s South Side and bring Chicagoans together.
The Democrat downplayed those controversies during his 2021 groundbreaking speech at the site saying that the center will “plant new trees” and “provide new habitats for birds and wildlife.”
Fox News Digital contacted the Obama Foundation, Thornton Tomasetti and II in One for comment but did not receive responses before publication.
Fox News’ Michael Lew contributed to this report.
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