Legal News

Architect Joins FJD's Request to Move Family Court Project Ahead

By Brian Harris

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

Architect EwingCole has joined the First Judicial District's motion to have a federal bankruptcy judge lift an automatic stay in the bankruptcy filing by private developer Donald W. Pulver's Northwest 15th Street Associates and allow Philadelphia's stymied family courthouse project to move ahead.

The FJD and the Philadelphia Parking Authority filed motions last Friday asking for the court to lift the automatic stay in Northwest's bankruptcy.

Among other arguments, Northwest says that it owns the copyright to the designs drawn up by EwingCole.

In EwingCole's motion, the architectural company said that Northwest does not own the architectural drawings because it has not paid EwingCole all of its architectural fees and because EwingCole terminated its agreement with Northwest.

EwingCole said in its motion that it terminated its agreement for Northwest June 17, six days before Northwest filed for bankruptcy and filed a copy registration for the architectural drawings done by EwingCole.

Among other creditors, Northwest owes EwingCole more than $595,000, according to Northwest's bankruptcy schedules. However, EwingCole said in its motion that it is due $652,000. The entire fee to be paid to EwingCole for its work is $7.9 million.

The original structure of the deal to build a family courthouse with $200 million in state capital funds at a site owned below ground by the Philadelphia Parking Authority and mortgaged aboveground by Northwest has unraveled in the wake of the revelation that Jeffrey B. Rotwitt, who was retained by the court system to search for building locations and as a tenant representative, ended up on the other side of the project by striking a fee-sharing deal with Pulver. Northwest was to have a role in building the courthouse and has now filed for bankruptcy protection.

Northwest's agreements with the court, the parking authority and with architect EwingCole all have been canceled in the wake of the revelation, and the parties are trying to move forward with a plan in which the state Department of General Services would build the courthouse, become the owner, instead of Northwest, of the air and surface rights at 15th and Arch streets, and then lease the courthouse to the city of Philadelphia.

Pulver is required to file a response by Aug. 6 and a hearing is scheduled to be held Aug. 17 on the motions, according to a court notice.

EwingCole's counsel are Rudolph J. Di Massa Jr., Reeder R. Fox and Matthew Ryan of Duane Morris.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on July 27, 2010 (boomark / email).