Contractor Sues CitizenM Affiliate For Over $20M In Unpaid Bills At New D.C. Hotel
Gilbane Building Co. claims Dutch hotel chain citizenM hasn't paid more than $20M it owes for the construction of its newest D.C. hotel.
The Rhode Island-based general contractor filed a lawsuit in November against a New York-based affiliate of citizenM claiming it is owed for materials and labor required to repair roughly 130 units in the 10-story, 296-unit NoMa hotel from rain damage at the construction site.
The suit follows several liens Gilbane filed against against OSIB Washington D.C. NOMA/Union Market Properties LLC, the business developing the property that is registered to citizenM.
Gilbane, which executed a modular build on the hotel in the up-and-coming NoMa neighborhood, declined to share details on the lien or lawsuit.
"We hope this matter will be resolved soon and cannot provide further comment at this time," a Gilbane spokesperson said in a statement.
CitizenM didn't respond to a request for comment. It announced the hotel's opening in September, nine months after initial projections.
The construction saga began in spring 2021, when a series of rainstorms damaged the construction site at 1222 First St. NE. OSIB Washington D.C. had taken out an insurance policy with Allianz Global Risks U.S. Insurance, but Allianz declined to fully cover the damage.
OSIB filed a lawsuit May 26 against Allianz alleging it was wrongly denied an insurance payout for the damage. Gilbane filed its first mechanic's lien against OSIB the following day alleging it was owed nearly $15.3M, a total that rose in subsequent filings.
Court records show OSIB's lawsuit against Allianz is still ongoing.
The NoMa hotel is citizenM's second in Washington, D.C., joining its Capitol Hill location at 555 E St. NW that opened in summer 2020. The NoMa property was first announced in March 2019 and was originally slated to open for business in December 2021, the Washington Business Journal reported.
The hotel is on the site of the former Ibiza nightclub, which was acquired by Altus Realty for $10.5M in 2018.
It sits about two blocks away from the NoMa-Gallaudet U Metro station and is part of a burgeoning hotel submarket that includes a Hilton Garden Inn, Hyatt Place and the newly opened Selina Union Market. A new Marriott hotel is also opening two blocks south of the citizenM this week, in the NoMa CNTR development from Perseus TDC and Buccini/Pollin Group.
