Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Morganti Group and our Lake Worth Casino

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This is the first thing you see when you go to Morganti's web site.


Back on on October 13, 2010, responses were officially opened from the general contractors who had replied to the RFQ--those who wanted our contracting business at the Lake Worth beach project.  City Staff subsequently met on October 19th to rank the proposals and decided to hear the presentations from three contractors:

Hedrick Brothers
Morganti Group
Kaufman Lynn

Staff ended up choosing Morganti on October 24, 2010 to be the general contractor and to provide construction management services. Those on the select committee were Rebecca Mattey, Joseph Kroll, Steven Carr, Walt Smyser and Rachel Smithson. Of the five, only Walt Smyser is still working for the city.

On May 7, 2011 we had a ground breaking ceremony.  Several dignitaries spoke and one was James Auld of the Morganti Group, the company that had successfully completed hundreds of buildings over the coastal construction line. He described the project as follows: This Casino Rehabilitation Project is to be constructed under the Green Building Guidelines and consist of rehabilitating the existing 25,000sf Lake Worth Municipal Casino Building to include restaurant, retail, ballroom and public spaces. Once completed the fully rehabilitated Casino Building will serve as a regional attraction and will symbolize a brighter, more prosperous future for the City of Lake Worth."  Everyone was happy that day.

Morganti was in charge of the project and part of their job was to ensure that the right materials were being ordered and installed on our $6 million dollar building. They hired sub-contractors to do much of the work but it was their responsibility to watch over our interests and build the building. Last night one of the top executives of Morganti said that his company was not a partner of the city but I feel that he was. And Wikipedia agrees with me. Another partner the city had at the time was former city commissioner, John Szerdi.

Michael Olenick
Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Chief Compliance Officer
Morganti Group

Since the building was completed, we have had nothing but problems with faulty equipment and water leaks, etc. and the nightmares at our Casino have been mentioned in previous blogs. Last night, REG Architects was not at the meeting. Morganti's V.P was clearly upset and threw REG Architects under the bus saying that they (Morganti) are not responsible, that they only built to specs that were provided by the architect.

"The architect functions as the owner’s agent, making sure the builder and subcontractors are following the plans and specifications (there’s always room for interpretation), and not cutting corners. It’s important to note, however, that the architect is not contractually “supervising” the contractor and is not liable for faulty work as long as he made the required inspections in good faith." All I know is that the city hired Morganti to look out for our best interests and to build the building, one that would hold-up.

So, this item will come back to the city in two weeks because Morganti didn't learn until the last minute that the item was on the agenda to declare REG, Morganti and Morganti's Insurance company in default. The City never notified them. The city commission voted for the item to come back at the next general city commission meeting, a suggestion of the city manager.

The reason why they are giving them two weeks is because it's right before the election and now the commission trio can say, "See, we're finally playing hardball after three years and trying to get something done."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hadn't thought of the political angle here. I think you're right as this commission that is up for election next month has allowed this to go on and on and on. Now right before the election they vote to do something. haha. jackbutts.

Anonymous said...

There were provisions in the design/build contract that any and all claims against defects go through mediation. You have to give notice of the defect and give them time to remedy.

Since the defects are pretty expensive to "fix" (if they can be fixed), Morganti has not been able to remedy the situation.

You have to allow them time for due process and that is what attorneys do, delay, delay, delay.

You will see this tactic soon in Joanne Golden's lawsuit meant to delay the Gulfstream until the owners give up or have to sell. Thanks Joanne.

Lynn Anderson said...

The city of Lake Worth is the one that plays the DELAY, DELAY tactic.

Jo-Ann is standing up for the Charter Amendment. Thanks, Jo-Ann as we stand by you. We do not stand by this commission and what the trio did...trashing the vote. 45 feet is sufficient and no one is an exception to the charter amendment.

Hudson Holdings has been delaying the renovation since they bought this place. Why is that? Because they want all you naive people to give them what they want so that it can make their investment more valuable and maybe, if they're lucky, someone will actually want to build there. Yes, they are presenting plans again, so what?

As far as Morganti goes, he took ZERO responsibility for the problems at the Casino and blamed the architect. It's time to issue a default and end the stall.

Anonymous said...

Looks to me like HH wants to build there. The design is much shorter than the original hotel. Looks odd even with additional height. Will look even more out of place if they go down to three stories to stay under 45 feet.

You've had many people post on this blog that they would have voted differently if they knew this type of exception would not be allowed. These are people who voted to keep the city low rise. But they have sense.