Rosemont reaches settlement over broken heating and cooling system at baseball stadium
The heating and cooling system of Rosemont's new baseball stadium doesn't work properly, and it could take up to a year to fix it, village officials say.
The village, along with the general contractor who led the $63 million stadium project, have agreed to terms of a settlement with the subcontractor who installed the HVAC system in skyboxes and elsewhere throughout Impact Field, the 6,300-seat home of the Chicago Dogs that opened in May 2018.
The subcontractor, Plainfield-based Jameson Sheet Metal, sued developer DRN Rosemont LLC a year ago when the builder withheld payment of the remaining $450,000 Jameson says it was owed.
Jameson also put a lien on the public funds Rosemont withheld from its contractor.
DRN, a partnership between Degen & Rosato Construction Co. and Northern Builders, countered that there were deficiencies with the HVAC system and that Jameson didn't fully and satisfactorily complete the job, according to a counterclaim the developers filed.
After Rosemont's village board approved terms of a settlement last week, attorneys for the village, developer and subcontractor appeared in court Thursday, telling a judge that a final agreement would be in place after final lien waivers are approved.
Under terms of the settlement, Rosemont - through DRN - will pay Jameson $185,000. But the village will withhold the remaining $265,000 from DRN until the developer finds another subcontractor to fix the HVAC system.
Mayor Brad Stephens said any costs above that would be the responsibility of DRN, and there would be no additional costs to the village.
"If it comes out of their pocket, it comes out of their pocket," Stephens said.
Site inspections show varying temperatures on thermostats, he said. For example, a thermostat may be set at 60 degrees, though it says it's 72 degrees and an independent detector test shows the actual temperature is 65 degrees.
The repair work is expected to take a year to complete, village officials said.
"We want to cycle through the cold of winter and the heat of the summer to make sure it's working properly," Village Attorney John Donahue said.
The village board in September 2017 inked a contract with Degen & Rosato and Northern Builders to oversee construction of the stadium and the adjoining three-level, 800-space parking garage at Balmoral Avenue and Pearl Street, west of the Tri-State Tollway.
The two firms have long received no-bid deals as the village's favored developers for public building projects in town. Though in the case of the stadium project, the HVAC subcontract job was awarded through a bidding process in which Jameson was the low bidder, Stephens said.
The Chicago Dogs, who play in the 12-team American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, have a 20-year lease for use of the village stadium. The venue was named Best Independent Ballpark the past two years in online fan votes conducted by Ballpark Digest.