Construction company hired to build new Pikes Peak Summit Complex sues Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A construction company is suing the city of Colorado Springs, claiming they are refusing to pay for their work on the new Pikes Peak Summit Complex. 

On March 8, GE Johnson Construction, who was hired as the General Contractor by the Colorado Springs city government to build the Summit Complex, filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the city in district court. 

On Dec. 31, 2015, GE Johnson and Colorado Springs entered into a contract to build the Pikes Peak America's Mountain Summit Complex, a construction project more than 14,000 feet above sea level.

Now, GE Johnson claims the city is refusing to pay them for work that was properly performed under contract because of delays that were encountered. The construction company says the current contract sum was adjusted to $60,040,888 following several project delays and damages.   

It is unclear at this time how much of that total the city has paid to GE Johnson.

The completion date for the project was scheduled for Oct. 30, 2020. However, GE Johnson claims delays outside of their responsibility or control prevented them from achieving that goal. The project wasn’t finished until June 23, 2021. 

GE Johnson says they started work on Aug. 3, 2018, but they immediately hit delays. 

In the complaint, the construction company claims the city failed to execute a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the Pikes Peak National Forest Service or file certain permits.

GE Johnson says these construction requirements caused a nine-week delay for the project. Because they had a limited window to conduct work outside of the winter months, the delay pushed back their projected completion date. 

Additionally, the blasting work took 79 days to complete and was only supposed to take 20 days.

Then COVID-19 caused the work to slow down even more.  

During the pandemic, work on the summit house was allowed to continue, while COVID remained a state health emergency.

However, due to an abundance of health safety precautions, GE Johnson says the progress of the work was disrupted. They experienced at least a 10% loss in labor productivity, resulting in further delays, according to GE Johnson.

GE Johnson claims the city of Colorado Springs is required to adjust its total price due to the delays according to its contract. 

“Delays in the Project, not the responsibility of [GE Johnson] documented in accordance with the requirements of this Contract, there will be an equitable adjustment to compensate [GE Johnson] for [GE Johnson’s] increased expenses,” the contract states in GE Johnson's complaint.

GE Johnson is requesting relief for any and all damages resulting from Colorado Springs' breach of the contract or unjust enrichment they may have already received from the new summit complex. 

The construction company declined to speak with 13 Investigates on camera. However, they did provide a statement regarding the lawsuit filed last week. 

“GE Johnson is proud of our work on the Pikes Peak Summit Complex project, which has received widespread acclaim for the outstanding achievements in construction that made its completion possible.  Despite having invested considerable time and effort, GE Johnson and the City of Colorado Springs have thus far been unable to resolve certain disputes that arose on the project.  We remain committed to seeking a fair resolution to those disputes, but cannot offer further comment on pending litigation.”

Laura Rinker, GE Johnson Communications Director

The city of Colorado Springs declined to comment on the lawsuit at this time due to the pending litigation.