When a Canadian bank pushed Concreate USL Ltd. into receivership March 16, dozens of projects in eastern Canada and the U.S. stopped dead or slowed down, leaving cities and subcontractors in limbo.
The biggest is the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge in Ottawa, for which Concreate USL Ltd., is the prime contractor. The receivership also applied to a related company, Triwest Construction, whose parent, Triwest Capital Partners, had invested in Concreate last year.
According to legal papers filed by Concreate’s surety, The Guarantee Co. of North America, the steel fabricator on the Ottawa bridge project is owed $4.57 million and won’t ship more structural steel to the jobsite until it has been paid.
The bridge, which will span the Rideau River, has been designed with three arched trusses. Concreate planned to assemble them on the river’s east bank.
But last month, the Bank of Nova Scotia gave up after months of negotiations and demanded that Concreate and Triwest repay what was owed the bank, according to court documents. The bank says Triwest and Concreate owe the Bank of Nova Scotia and other lenders about $34 million.
So the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge, whose cost has been listed as $49.6 million, remains about 60% finished while the bank and the surety make various motions before Judge Colin Campbell in the commercial section of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
On March 20, the city of Ottawa issued a reassuring press release stating that creditors had forced Concreate into receivership. “It is important to note that work on the bridge is estimated to be about 60% complete and the City holds a Performance Bond of $23,024,904 which should ensure the completion of the project,” the city statement said.