City Point workers walk off site amid labor dispute

UPDATE, 2:45 p.m., Nov. 19: The second phase of City Point, the 1.9 million-square-foot mixed-use project in Downtown Brooklyn, is running behind schedule after 120 workers walked off the site last week.

Several contractors have been in a legal dispute with Albee Development — a consortium of PA Associates, Acadia Realty Trust and McFarlane Realty — over their compensation, the blog New York Yimby reported. On Friday, a New York State judge ruled in favor of Casino Development, a former concrete contractor for City Point, which claimed that Albee withheld pay and blocked its attempt to remove job site equipment. The court effectively ordered Albee not to use the equipment, New York Yimby said.

City Point spokesperson Tom Montvel-Cohen told Brownstoner that workers walked off the site because the contractor was replaced.

“It is critically important that we maintain our project schedule, and we changed our concrete contractor in order to do so,” City Point said in a statement.“Contrary to the claims of some, construction continues apace and all contractors are being paid in a timely manner.”

New contractors, meanwhile, are wary to join the project, New York Yimby said. The second phase, designed by COOKFOX Architects, is a 1.3 million-square-foot property currently under construction. Its focus is retail – 675,000 square feet of it – and 690 rental units.

Acadia, one of the City Point developers, has been accused of shortchanging non-union workers after receiving a federal bailout of $20 million in 2009.  [New York Yimby and Brownstoner] — Mark Maurer