Californian exclusive: Construction of new Target shut down
| Friday, Jan 09 2009 09:24 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 12:58 PM
Construction work on a big box retail store at Valley Plaza Mall has come to a halt, sparking legal action and demands from several contractors for millions of dollars in compensation for work that has gone unpaid.
The Robinsons-May store at the mall was turned to rubble in preparation for its somewhat less glossy replacement, a Target store.
But now, even that plan is on hold, according to contractors who say they’ve been left out in the cold by the unexpected work stoppage.
“Rumors started getting out that subcontractors were not getting paid,” said Ernie Martinez of Ernie Martinez Concrete in Bakersfield. “It turned out the rumors were true.”
Now Martinez is on the hook for more than $104,000 he says is owed to him by the general contractor for the project, Pleasanton, Calif.-based Whiting-Turner Contracting.
Target Corp. and General Growth Properties, parent company of Valley Plaza Mall, are also seen as responsible for funding the project.
Representatives of the three companies could not immediately be reached Friday. A woman who answered the phone at Whiting-Turner said the company does not talk to the news media.
Work at the Ming Avenue site ceased Nov. 21, according to a lawsuit filed in Kern County Superior Court by one of the subcontractors. The lawsuit, filed Dec. 29 by Sun Valley-based Pena Grading & Demolition, asks for more than $1.5 million in damages for labor, materials and related services.
An attorney representing Pena was not available for comment Friday.
Meanwhile, the large graded area at Valley Plaza Mall, where the Robinsons-May once stood, remained vacant Friday.
But the work stoppage hasn’t appeared to affect work on yet another Target slated for construction, this one on Stockdale Highway.
City of Bakersfield Building Director Phil Burns said building permits on the Stockdale Target were pulled on Thursday by Whiting-Turner.
Building permits for the Valley Plaza site are printed and ready to be issued, but no one from Whiting-Turner has stopped by to sign for those documents.
The situation leads some area contractors to believe that the problem may have originated from Chicago-based General Growth Properties, which operates more than 200 shopping malls across the country, including Valley Plaza.
The company hasn’t filed for bankruptcy protection but has warned that it has “substantial doubts” about its ability to stay in business due to massive debts.
Besides Martinez, other Bakersfield subcontractors demanding to be paid include Concasto Inc., McIntosh & Associates and Golden Empire Concrete.
Staff writers Gretchen Wenner, James Burger and James Geluso contributed to this report.
