Contractors that haven’t been paid for work they’ve performed on the Streets at SouthGlenn shopping center in Centennial have filed nearly $3 million in liens against the project.
Centennial-based Saunders Construction Inc. filed liens totaling $2.8 million against the $310 million project, developed by Greenwood Village-based Alberta Development Partners LLC. The sum includes payments due to its subcontractors, including $482,000 owed to Aggregate Industries.
Alberta principal David Goldberg said the company is working with its lenders to resolve the claims. Bank of America is the lead lender on the project.
“Any time you have a project of this size and scope, you’re going to have some issues,” Goldberg said. “Just given the climate and the lenders, things are taking longer than we’d like.”
Scores of liens totaling millions of dollars have been filed against the project. However, the precise number of liens and amount owed is difficult to determine because many subcontractors’ claims are included in general contractors’ filings.
“At some point, if you push the litigation far enough, the owner doesn’t have the money to pay off the liens, and the lender steps up and pays off the liens,” said attorney Paul Urtz, who represents Aggregate Industries. “If it went through to the end, the property would be foreclosed on, and the bank would be in second position to the lien claimants.”
That generally means the bank will pay off the liens, often for as little as 50 cents on the dollar for the smaller claimants.
A year ago, Alberta parted ways with another contractor on the project, CFC Construction Inc., after the two firms could not agree on future pricing and schedules. Alberta has paid off a number of CFC’s subcontractors but still owed the company $242,000 until the two companies reached a deal this week, said CFC chief financial officer Gordon Streich.
When completed, the Streets at SouthGlenn, on the site of the old Southglenn Mall at South University Boulevard and East Arapahoe Road, will include 1 million square feet of retail space, 140,000 square feet of office space and 202 apartments on 77 acres. The project’s anchors are Whole Foods Market, Macy’s and Sears.
The project had been delayed after Alberta decided in 2007 to build apartments instead of the previously planned for-sale condos because of the softening of the real estate market.
Alberta also developed the Southlands outdoor mall at E-470 and East Smoky Hill Road in Aurora. It sold most of the center in 2008 to a company affiliated with New York investment manager BlackRock Inc.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
