Source: http://www.bizjournals.com, December 23, 2014
By: Duane Shimogawa
The Salvation Army is suing several Hawaii firms, including Honolulu’s Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. Inc. and Group 70 International Inc., for failing to do an adequate job on the design and construction of its Kroc Center in Kapolei in West Oahu.
Major John Chamness, Divisional Commander for The Salvation Army Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division, told PBN on Tuesday that it has several areas of concern regarding the Kroc Center.
“Consequently, The Salvation Army has filed paperwork with the court to bring together the parties involved in the design and construction of the center, in order that the concerns may be addressed and resolved in a mutually beneficial way,” he said in an email to PBN.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Dec. 1 and includes other defendants such as Engineering Concepts Inc., Shigemura, Lau, Sakanishi, Higuchi and Associates Inc. and Dana Anne Yee Landscape Architect LLC, said that the defendants failed to properly perform their respective work under their contracts.
The Salvation Army said the work included the design, planning and/or construction of the competition pool, leisure pool and the surrounding concrete pool decks.
The alleged failure of work caused damage to the Kroc Center, which includes spalling and rusting of the steel rebar located within the concrete pool decks and damage to the decks themselves.
The Salvation Army said that as a direct result of this failure of work, it has incurred substantial costs and suffered lost revenues for which it wants to be reimbursed.
No amount was given in the lawsuit and when asked by PBN, the Salvation Army declined to specify an amount.
Hawaiian Dredging did not immediately respond to a message left by PBN.
When reached, Charles Kaneshiro, president and COO of Group 70, referred PBN to its attorney, Ryan Engle, partner of Honolulu-based Bays Lung Rose & Holma, who declined comment.
The other defendants did not respond to messages left by PBN.
The $133 million, 15-acre Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, which opened about two years ago, is considered the nation’s largest by program space and is among 27 Kroc Centers opened by the Salvation Army to date.