Courthouse under construction in Nassau mired in lawsuit, cost overruns

Two decades after Nassau County decided to replace a deteriorating building where Family Court cases are heard, construction of a new family and matrimonial courthouse is years behind schedule and mired in cost overruns and legal disputes with contractors.

The 255,000-square-foot, 36-room courthouse is Nassau’s largest public works project since construction of the Coliseum in the early 1970s. Architects, builders and county officials are sparring in court over design flaws and millions of dollars in unpaid bills.

Contractors have had to repair defective materials on the building under construction in Mineola and have charged the county millions of dollars for unforeseen electrical work, according to records obtained through the state's Freedom of Information Law.

The project to renovate the former county social services building was expected to cost $168 million when plans were finalized with the state in 2013. That estimate rose to $214.6 million in 2020.

No estimates have been given since, but costs have continued to climb. The second phase of the project is over budget by at least $21 million, according to documents from the county's Department of Public Works.

The courthouse, originally projected to be finished in 2021, will house 250 employees and is 80% complete, according to the most recent estimate from state officials. Nassau Department of Public Works Commissioner Kenneth Arnold told county legislators on Aug. 7 that it won't be finished until 2025.

"We are working still on the inside of the building," Arnold said. "The outside facade needs to be revisited. There were issues with the initial construction of the outside facade."

The project has spanned the administrations of four county executives, and Nassau legislative Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said it's taken too long. "It's taxpayer money. It's outrageous," he said.

County Executive Bruce Blakeman has ordered construction to continue while a lawsuit involving three vendors plays out.

"It is what it is, so we're going to get it done," Blakeman said. "The delays have been unacceptable."

Family Court advocates say the erratic progress is frustrating as they try to resolve legal issues affecting the most vulnerable: children and victims of domestic violence in proceedings involving custody hearings and abuse and neglect claims. 

At the 63-year-old Family Court in Westbury, crowded hallways make it easy to overhear conversations about sensitive legal matters. The new courthouse will have a Family Justice Center in its basement to assist victims of domestic violence, and conference rooms where parties can conduct settlement negotiations.

“We’re sending a message. It conveys, albeit unintentionally, that we don’t care about these very serious issues," said James Joseph, managing partner of the Joseph Law Group in Garden City, which specializes in matrimonial cases. "The conditions alone really exacerbate the emotions of the people in that building. It makes this really difficult process a lot more difficult.”

Courthouse construction 'impractical'

The courthouse project dates to the early 2000s, as judges, lawyers and state officials grew increasingly concerned with Family Court conditions. Workers complained of mysterious rashes. Lawyers said the building was too hot and cramped in the summer.

The waiting area is generally filled to capacity, said Jeffrey Catterson, founder and partner at Stempel, Catterson, LoFrumento, Carlson, Biondo, LLP in Garden City.

"There's a big waiting area on the second floor where they're herded like cattle, and then their cases get called, and they'll go into individual courtrooms thereafter," Catterson said. "It's the worst time in their life. The waiting area that you have for the parties doesn't instill a calming effect upon them."

In 2004, the county hired Manhattan architectural firm Perkins Eastman to study the feasibility of building a centralized courthouse that would replace the aging Family Court building and also handle matrimonial cases that are heard on the campus in Mineola.

Cases and hearings in family and matrimonial courts often are related and should be heard under one roof, court officials said.

In 2005, Nassau and state officials announced an agreement to build a combined courthouse for $100 million. The county’s commissioner of public works said construction could begin as early as 2006.

It wasn't until 2010 that a location was selected: the former social services building at 101 County Seat Dr. in Mineola, across the street from State Supreme Court. Nassau officials opted against demolishing the building and said they could save money by using its shell for the new one.

They now say that decision was a critical mistake that's caused years of construction issues, lawsuits and taxpayer waste, according to court filings and recent interviews.

Construction began in 2014. By the time the vacant building had been stripped to its beams in the first phase of the project, it was over budget by nearly $47 million.

Perkins Eastman, one of three contractors that since has sued the county, wrote in court filings that the decision to complete the courthouse in two stages was “impractical” and “self-serving."

The firm “expressly warned the county about the implications, including but not limited to costs, of its choice to break up the project" and believed it was "illogical" for different architects to design different stages of the project. It warned there would be issues with the build-out when a new contractor took over.

“This attempt to get around a palpably inadequate budget for the construction of the project by artificially reducing the cost of Phase I was illogical at best,” Perkins Eastman wrote in the court filing.

Nassau has had to redesign key parts of the project in recent years, including a “structural seismic system” that cost more than $500,000 to redo.

Blakeman, a Republican who took office in 2022, called the early construction decisions "mind-boggling." He pointed to several issues, including the decision to build the courthouse on land that resembled a bowl or valley.

“Quite frankly, the building never should have been rehabilitated. It should have been knocked down and a new building put up. It’s cost more time and money to rehabilitate the property than it would have been to build a brand-new facility," he said.

Defective material, extra costs

Construction paused in 2020 during the pandemic and amid questions over an $85.6 million contract with E&A Restoration Inc. of Syosset for the second phase of the project. 

The contract was held up for months as the county's inspector general said E&A had violated campaign disclosure laws when it failed to list two individuals who ran the company, one of whom had contributed to two Republican lawmakers' campaigns. The firm corrected its disclosures, and the IG’s office dropped its objections. 

Costs increased as the project resumed. The county has issued 35 change orders, totaling $21 million, for the second stage of the project, documents show. 

The work pushed its price tag far above the $85.6 million that was budgeted for the second stage, with the current tally at more than $106 million, records show. 

Most of it went toward correcting previous work that was deemed defective. The change orders included $2,750 to redo light fixtures and $3.6 million to revise electrical work for the sheriff's department offices and holding areas.

Nassau approved a $618,000 payment to remove defective terra cotta from the building's exterior after officials found “latent defects in the terra cotta installation.”

"This proposed change order is to address latent defects in the terracotta installation which were recently discovered. The architect and contractor have notified the County that terracotta cladding columns, soffit and fasica are improperly attached and pose a risk to workers and others."Source: Change order

Asked about the change orders, Charles Capetanakis, an attorney for E&A, said: "We're taking our direction from the county. We hope to complete it as quickly as we can."

Last year, Nassau Inspector General Jodi Franzese's office expressed concern over a request for a $25 million "mega-change" order. 

"OIG observed that the proposed mega-change order lacked basic, essential information, such as detail regarding the actual cost and in some cases the very nature of the extra work that would be covered."Source: Change order

The request lacked "essential information, such as details regarding the actual cost, and in some cases, the very nature of the extra work that would be covered,” Franzese wrote in a recent report.

Franzese's office concluded that “the normal change order process had not been followed; there was no evidence of independent cost estimates; and there was no evidence of price negotiations.”

"These deviations suggested to OIG that: (1) the normal change order process had not been followed; (2) there was no evidence of independent cost estimates; and (3) there was no evidence of price negotiations."Source: Change order

County officials did not respond to requests for comment about the change order.

The county's change order committee did not approve the request, and the Department of Public Works ultimately withdrew the proposal, Franzese's office said.

Legal disputes

An ongoing lawsuit involving Nassau and three vendors from the first phase of the project shows years of conflict between contractors and county officials over design plans and deadlines. Attorneys for the contractors did not respond to requests for comment.

The litigation started in March 2021, weeks after Nassau fired its Phase 1 general contractor, MPCC Corp. of New Rochelle, and ordered the firm and its subcontractor, Western Construction Group Inc., to leave the premises.

MPCC sued Nassau, seeking $20 million in damages and more than $900,000 in unpaid bills and alleging the county mismanaged the design process. Nassau countersued for $1.5 million, arguing the project was more than 500 days late and that MPCC "repeatedly" had been warned it had missed project deadlines and needed to hire more staff.

Nassau told the firm in November 2022 it had conducted "deficient work" that would cost $19.4 million to repair, including the terra cotta installation. 

In 2022, the county sued Perkins Eastman, accusing it of having "failed to provide proper and adequate design documents, resulting in delays, reissuance of design documents, and added costs." Perkins Eastman accused Nassau of making impractical changes to the scope of the project and says it is owed $1.1 million for unpaid services, according to court filings. 

County legislators on Aug. 7 approved an additional $17 million in borrowing for the project.

"The hope is that some of this money will be recovered during litigation," Arnold told legislators.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.