What Went Wrong?

No clear picture emerges from the many change orders, progress reports, council-meeting webcasts and the project webcam posted online. Only details buried in lengthy packets from the council meetings suggest the depth of the dispute.

The relationship with all the consultants has been rough, Sartor says. But the 2011 renovation of another library project—with Turner Corp., Group4 Architecture and a different general contractor—was completed below budget and on time, he notes. Sartor says plans for that job did not require substantial revisions.

Sartor believes that, since the Mitchell Park library plans passed Turner Corp.'s constructibility review, "the number of requests for information from Flintco has not been appropriate."

Flintco Pacific President David Parkes' outlook is that the problem is in the plans. In an e-mail to ENR, he writes, "Over 1,350 Request for Information (RFI) responses and 162 Architect Supplemental Instructions have been issued by the city," and "the architect has issued approximately 700 new or revised drawings."

Group4 Architecture had been seeking permission to comment from Palo Alto officials and not responded to ENR by its print press time on June 19. Turner Corp. has deferred to Sartor's comments.

Sartor talks of a possible lawsuit against Flintco, but he hopes for settlement without litigation. "We expect to be sitting down with Flintco, Turner and Group4 and working things out at the end of this project," he says.

Flintco expects to complete the facility before 2013, and Parkes also is open to peaceful reconciliation. "We are cautiously optimistic" that the city has found a "new approach and a clearer understanding of … the absolute preceding need for a complete and thoroughly coordinated design," he says.