Rio Nuevo District Falsely Accuses Garfield Traub

Sept. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- Garfield Traub, a leading national developer of public/private partnerships and public developments, has been falsely accused recently by the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District of over-billing for its work on the Tucson Convention Center Expansion and Headquarters Hotel development. The company has provided evidence to the District and the City of Tucson that its team has not yet been paid the full amount of the District-approved work for the project.

“Garfield Traub and our entire team did our job well, honored the terms of our contracts, and billed properly for work performed in an open and transparent process designed to provide the finest convention center and hotel complex to help the City of Tucson with its downtown redevelopment goals,” said Steve Moffett, President of the Hospitality Division of Garfield Traub.

Recently, the Tucson media reported that Garfield Traub has been overpaid by a sum of approximately $1,800,000. That sum appears to be the difference between the project’s original design budget of $15,762,578 and $17,574,885, the sum paid to date to Garfield Traub and its team, which includes Turner/Sundt, the general contractor, architects, engineers, and other subcontractors. However, the District, its lawyers, and its accountants have apparently decided to ignore the District-approved revised design budget for the project in order to support their false claim of a $1,800,000 overpayment.

What the media and the public have not been told is that the revised budget under the project’s Master Development Agreement $17,438,809 was unanimously approved by the District Board on September 15, 2009. An additional cost of $279,000 was also approved by the District to correct an unforeseen site condition at the main entrance that was not the development team’s responsibility. Furthermore, no one told the public that the reported payment to Garfield Traub included $400,000 for the work performed by the Garfield Traub team under a separate Pre-Development Agreement with the District.

When the correct budget and the approved work completed by the development team are taken into consideration, the allegation that the Garfield Traub team has been overpaid by a sum of $1,800,000 is shown to be false, and the truth is revealed that the team has been underpaid by more than $480,000 for work performed under the Master Development Agreement.

“We are very disappointed by the District’s actions and accusations. The false accusations about over-billing are clearly defamatory and damaging to our team. We hope this is not a strategy by the District to avoid meeting its obligations under the development agreement,” said Mr. Moffett. “The final pay applications for the design and construction of the project and the new convention center entrance have been outstanding and owed by the District to Garfield Traub and its team since July 2010. Garfield Traub and our design and construction team stand behind our work and remain steadfast in our commitment to the citizens of Tucson.”

About Garfield Traub Development, LLC
Garfield Traub is a national development services provider focusing exclusively on public and public/private developments. The company uses innovative and cost-effective financing solutions tailored to the requirements of public sector clients. Garfield Traub employs a “turnkey” delivery method that minimizes client risk and administrative burden, maximizes transparency and accountability, and enables “fast track” delivery of high quality facilities months or even years ahead of when otherwise thought possible. Garfield Traub and its executives have developed more than 30 million square feet of all property types nationally and abroad, and have financed more than $11 billion in debt and equity. The experience of Garfield Traub’s management team includes the development, financing and/or asset management of more than 40 hotels comprising more than 16,000 guestrooms, 1.3 million square feet of function space, and $2.5 billion of debt and equity under both private, public/private and public nonprofit ownership structures. For more information, supporting documents (including meeting minutes and budget approval letter, or interviews please e-mail Steve Moffett at smoffett@garfieldtraub.com or visit our website at http://www.garfieldtraub.com/.