Former President Barack Obama Trashed by Democrats for Massive BETRAYAL — as The Former President's Celebrated...
The financial problems surrounding the Obama Presidential Center continue to grow as another contractor says the high-profile project has forced his company to shut down operations and lay off dozens of employees.
The latest dispute adds to a series of payment and construction-related complaints from subcontractors who worked on the development, several of whom say they suffered significant financial losses.
Mike Owen, owner of Chicago-based Adamson Plumbing Contractors, said his company has suspended operations after losing millions of dollars while working on the Obama Presidential Center.
According to Owen, the financial strain forced him to lay off 25 union workers, abandon multiple construction projects and begin operating the business from his home while pursuing legal action.
“Laying off close to 30 people is something that no owner in our industry wants to do,” Owen told Fox News.
“It’s a hard thing to do, especially when you know you can finish them and the company can still make money. But we were put in a pretty bad corner.”
Adamson performed plumbing work on the project under the name Marsh-Adamson.
The company has now filed a $1.72 million mechanic’s lien against the Obama Presidential Center, alleging it has not been fully paid for completed work.
A mechanic’s lien is a legal claim contractors can file against a property when they believe they have not received payment for work they performed.
Owen said the lien represents only the portion of his losses that he believes is supported by the strongest documentation, including unpaid invoices, approved change orders and labor costs.
He estimates his company’s total losses from the project are approximately $3.9 million.
“It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to pursue the $3.9 million in change that we lost overall,” Owen said.
“I’m still working with my legal team on that $3.9 million figure because I feel that it’s only right that we still hold ownership at the presidential center accountable.”
According to Owen, months of negotiations with Lakeside Alliance, the construction manager for the project, failed to resolve the dispute.
He said the situation reached a breaking point shortly before the Obama Presidential Center officially opened on June 19.
Owen said his company agreed to provide two journeyman plumbers for last-minute overnight work after Lakeside Alliance agreed to release part of the money it allegedly owed Adamson.
An email reviewed by Fox News Digital reportedly indicated that a $100,000 payment would be released through the company’s May payment application.
Owen said his workers completed the requested work, but the payment did not arrive before the center’s opening ceremony.
“We negotiated it in good faith,” Owen said.
“Against my better judgment, I agreed to do the work.”
He said the delayed payment deprived the company of the cash it needed to continue operating.
“Not getting that large sum of money just kind of pulled the brakes on the train. It was just the final death blow to the company,” Owen said.
Rather than continue operating while facing mounting debts, Owen said he decided to suspend business operations on June 25.
The promised payment, along with approximately $35,000 for approved change orders, eventually arrived more than two weeks later.
Owen said the money allowed him to pay one supplier but did little to improve the company’s overall financial condition.
“It’s almost like too little, too late,” he said.
Lakeside Alliance, a joint venture led by Turner Construction along with UJAMAA Construction, Powers & Sons Construction, Brown & Momen and Safeway Construction, served as construction manager for the Obama Presidential Center.
In a statement, the alliance said contractual closeout work often continues well after large construction projects officially open.
“Lakeside Alliance remains committed to working through all outstanding matters to successfully close out the project,” a spokesperson said, Fox News reported.
The company did not directly respond to Owen’s specific allegations regarding the layoffs or the mechanic’s lien.
My Husband Changed the Locks While I Was Burying My Mother and Let His Mistress Watch Me Come Home With Nowhere to Go. He Thought the Beverly Hills Mansion Was His Until His Own Attorney Opened My Mother’s Final File.
My Husband Changed the Locks While I Was Burying My Mother and Let His Mistress Watch Me Come Home With Nowhere to Go. He Thought the Beverly Hills Mansion Was His Until His Own Attorney Opened My Mother’s Final File.
OPENING
Claire Cole came home from her mother’s funeral still wearing black.
Her suitcase was waiting outside the gates.
Not beside the front door.
Not in the foyer.
Outside the iron gates of the Beverly Hills mansion where she had lived for almost nine years.
For several seconds, Claire simply stared at it.
The suitcase was the large black one she used for long trips. Someone had packed it badly. One sleeve of her cream sweater was caught in the zipper, and a pair of shoes had been shoved into the side pocket so carelessly that one heel stuck out.
Then Claire looked toward the house.
The gates were closed.
The keypad light was red.
She entered the code she had used that morning before leaving to bury her mother.
ACCESS DENIED.
Claire tried again.
ACCESS DENIED.
Behind the gate, the mansion rose over the curved driveway in pale stone and glass, glowing beneath warm exterior lights. Staff moved behind the windows. A black SUV was parked near the garage.
And on the second-floor balcony stood Nathan.
Her husband.
He had one hand in his pocket and a glass of bourbon in the other.
Beside him was Vanessa Reed.
Vanessa was wearing Claire’s ivory silk robe.
Claire stopped breathing for half a second.
Not because she didn’t know about Vanessa.
She had known for three weeks.
What she had not known was that Nathan would choose this day.
Her mother’s funeral.
Nathan looked down at her as though she were a delivery driver who had arrived at the wrong address.
“You got back sooner than I expected.”
Claire’s fingers tightened around the strap of her handbag.
Vanessa leaned against the balcony rail.
Bare legs.
Claire’s robe.
Claire’s house.
At least, that was what Vanessa clearly believed.
Claire looked back at the suitcase.
“Who packed this?”
Nathan shrugged.
“Does it matter?”
“It does to whoever ruined the sweater my mother gave me.”
For the first time, something uncomfortable moved across his face.
It disappeared quickly.
“You don’t live here anymore, Claire.”
The words floated down into the driveway with almost casual cruelty.
No apology.
No explanation.
No shame.
Nathan lifted his bourbon.
“I had the locks changed this afternoon.”
Claire glanced toward the front entrance.
New electronic lock.
New keypad.
New gate code.
He had planned it while she stood beside her mother’s grave.
Vanessa smiled.
Not a broad smile.
Something worse.
A small, satisfied one.
The smile of a woman who believed she had inherited another woman’s life before the body was even cold.
Claire didn’t cry.
She didn’t scream Nathan’s name.
She didn’t demand to be let inside.
Instead, she pulled out her phone.
Nathan laughed.
“Calling the police?”
Claire looked up at him.
“No.”
“Your divorce lawyer?”
“No.”
Then Claire dialed one number.
Someone answered almost immediately.
Claire said seven quiet words.
“I’m home. Please bring the original folder.”
Nathan’s smile faded slightly.
“Who was that?”
Claire put her phone away.
“You’ll see.”
Then she placed one hand on the handle of her suitcase and waited outside the gates of the mansion Nathan believed he had just taken from her.
May you like
And for the first time all evening, Claire looked almost calm.
Too calm.
