HOUSTON — Houston billionaire and Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta’s new $400 million mixed-use tower in the Uptown area has had dozens of liens filed against it by unpaid contractors.
In total, the outstanding liens as of July 2 add up to more than $30.5 million, according to documents obtained by the Houston Business Journal that were filed with the Harris County Clerk’s office.
The tower, dubbed The Post Oak, includes high-end hotel, office, residential and retail space. It broke ground at 1600 West Loop South in 2015 and opened in March.
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Originally expected to cost around $350 million, that figure is now at $400 million, according to Jeff Cantwell, chief development officer and executive vice president for Landry’s Inc., which is owned by Fertitta.
The largest outstanding lien as of July 2 was filed by Houston-based Tellepsen Builders Inc., which was the general contractor for the core and shell of the project. Tellepsen’s lien, which was first filed in January and amended in June, claims the company is owed $19.89 million.
Fertitta's company says the primary builder didn't do its job. Jeff Cantwell, Executive Vice President of Development for Landry’s, Inc., issued the following statement:
“We are a high-profile company and a leader in the Houston community. We would never engage in an unnecessary dispute with anyone unless there was a bonified reason. Tellepsen was unable to perform under their contract forcing us to significantly reduce their scope of work and bring in other contractors to complete the work that Tellepsen was unable to perform. Unfortunately, there are some subcontractors caught in between our Tellepsen dispute and we are doing our best to get the subcontractors paid as quickly as possible. This was a $400 million dollar project and Tellepsen has been slow to respond and provide us with appropriate documentation critical to our ability to approve pay applications. This is an unfortunate situation and we will take Tellepsen to arbitration to prove our case.”
Tellepsen also released its own statement:
"Tellepsen and our unpaid subcontractors are local, family-owned businesses that care about our projects, our people, and our community. It is unfortunate that negotiations to pay us for our work have failed. Despite the fact that the luxury hotel has been open since March 2018, the owner, Landry’s, has failed to pay us and several of our longtime subcontractor partners in a timely manner. Tellepsen has wonderful clients we have worked with through four generations of our family, but this was the first time we have worked with Landry’s. We expect that we can work this out fairly and swiftly.
"During the peak time, there were about 720 construction workers associated with work conducted by Tellepsen."
Fertitta is the owner of the Houston Rockets and CEO of Fertitta Entertainment and Landry’s Inc. Forbes estimates he’s worth $4.3 billion.