Suffolk Sues Behring for $20M Over Oakland Project Delays

Suffolk Construction has sued Behring for $20 million over construction delays at a 452-unit luxury apartment complex in Oakland.

The Massachusetts-based general contractor alleges the Danville-based developer breached its contract related to the 39-story highrise at 1900 Broadway, the San Francisco Business Times reported, citing a lawsuit. The firm seeks $20 million in damages.

The companies entered a contract in 2020 for Suffolk to build the 472,000-square-foot tower with “tech-enhanced” units, 53,700 square feet of offices and coworking areas, 47,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities and a fleet of Teslas on standby for tenants.

But then Behring put a wrench into their construction plans, according to the lawsuit.

Suffolk alleges Behring pushed back the project’s construction start date by six months, from November 2019 to March 2020, then to May 2020.

The general contractor claims it faced rising costs because of the delays and accused Behring of not paying Suffolk for pre-development and management costs.

Suffolk also alleges Behring failed to pay for change order requests, caused delays related to permanent power and existing utility issues, caused delays related to storefront door hardware and cabinetry, didn’t pay for subcontractor escalation costs and didn’t provide timely and complete design documents, according to the complaint.

“The owner has wrongfully refused to approve or pay these costs in an attempt to skirt its financial and contractual obligations amidst the owner’s rising project costs,” the lawsuit reads. “Suffolk and its subcontractors have been forced to fund construction of the project because (the) owner has exceeded its original project budget.”

Behring didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from the Business Times.

In March, the developer announced it had completed construction and planned to open the doors to tenants in April. But according to the Suffolk lawsuit filed in August, construction was still ongoing and the project achieved “substantial completion in June 2024.”

The development is one of several new apartment buildings in Oakland over the past few years, flooding the market with available units.

Last month, Behring bought a 21-story office tower and a 635-space parking garage at 1950 and 1901 Franklin Street in Uptown Oakland for $14.35 million. The deal for the 450,000-square-foot office building and the 255,000-square-foot parking garage works out to $20 per square foot.

Last year, the Trump Group fired Suffolk as the general contractor for its under-construction Estates at Acqualina project in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. The dismissal followed a yearslong legal battle between the two firms over delays at the two-tower development.

— Dana Bartholomew