3 MiamiCentral is rising adjacent to the transit station in downtown Miami.

The general contractor on a Virgin MiamiCentral office tower is suing the developer for $4.4 million it claims it's owed more than a year after the downtown Miami building opened.

Facchina Construction of Florida LLC, which coordinated construction of the 3 MiamiCentral building, is suing in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

The claim comes on the heels of an arbitration panel concluding one of Facchina's subcontractors, Estate Shell Contractors LLC, owes Facchina $4.6 million. Estate Shell, based in South Miami, is asking the court to overturn the arbitrators' decision.

Facchina in July sued affiliates of office tower developer and Brightline train parent Florida East Coast Industries LLC and an affiliate of the tower's new owner, Shorenstein Properties. Facchina filed a lien on the property a year before.

Coral Gables-based Florida East Coast Industries and Shorenstein, a San Francisco-based real estate investor, declined comment.

Shorenstein, which acquired both 2 and 3 MiamiCentral in May for $159 million, inherited the legal dispute as the new owner.

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Florida East Coast Industries hired Facchina in 2015 to work on the project. Facchina accuses Florida East Coast of issuing nine amendments to the notice of commencement but not paying Facchina's invoices.

In another case over 3 MiamiCentral, fired subcontractor Estate Shell in 2017 sued Facchina and Travelers Casualty and Surety Co. of America, which issued a $52 million payment bond for 3 MiamiCentral construction, and Balfour Beatty Construction LLC, a Dallas-based construction company allegedly hired to oversee the project after Facchina ran into financial difficulties.

Estate Shell also named Florida East Coast Industries as a defendant but later dismissed the claims.

Facchina hired Estate Shell on $20 million contract to do concrete, masonry and pre-cast joist work. Things allegedly went awry when Travelers hired Balfour Beatty to finish the project.

Balfour Beatty started giving project changes and requests to Estate Shell that were outside its contract scope, delayed payment to Estate, issued defective and unfinished design drawings, and misrepresented work as unfinished even though inspectors had signed off on it as complete, according to Estate Shell's Miami-Dade Circuit Court complaint.

Estate Shell said it was fired in 2017 despite its efforts to schedule meetings with Travelers, Balfour and Facchina to resolve pending matters.

Estate Shell also claims Facchina misrepresented Balfour Beatty as a construction manager when in reality Travelers hired Balfour Beatty as a general contractor to replace Facchina.

Facchina has its beefs with Estate Shell as well, claiming the subcontractor's work was not up to the quality expected under their agreement.

As the case evolved, Estate Shell claimed it was owed $2 million, while Facchina said it incurred $5 million in extra expenses to fix Estate Shell's work.

An arbitration panel sided with Facchina on March 18, saying the contractor was justified in terminating Estate Shell. The panel calculated Estate Shell owed Facchina $4.6 million.

Estate Shell in July filed a motion to vacate the award, arguing the arbitrators' report is vague and doesn't appear to take into consideration some evidence.

Miami attorney Mariela Malfeld of Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, who sued Florida East Coast Industries and Shorenstein on Facchina's behalf, didn't return a request for comment by deadline.

The 12-story 3 MiamiCentral includes ground-floor retail at the northwest corner of Northwest Sixth Street and First Court.

Brightline's Miami train station is next door. The train stops in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach and is considering more stops from PortMiami to Boca Raton.

Instant Insights /

3 MiamiCentral Contractor Claims $4.4M in Unpaid Work on Downtown Office Tower

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