Cracking Concrete Sparks Boathouse Battle

Something is rotten — or at least cracking — outside the house of Canal Dock.

That something is the concrete topping slab that covers the deck, the pier, and the promenade that surround the city’s Canal Dock Boathouse on Long Wharf.

Less than three years after city officials cut the ribbon on the publicly-owned waterfront recreational and meeting space, the flat concrete-topped expanse that encircles the building is replete with forking, meandering lines that resemble rivers on a map.

According to a lawsuit recently filed by the city in state court, the culprit is poorly-mixed concrete — and a negligent general contractor in breach of its $20.4 million agreement with city government.

“Nosal is in breach of its contract with the city, and the city has been damaged by the defective concrete topping slab,” city-hired attorney Deborah Monteith Neubert wrote in a Feb. 22 complaint in the case City of New Haven v. Nosal Builders Inc., ​“in that, among other things, the topping slab is cracked and unsightly, constitutes a potential hazard, and requires heightened maintenance and patching. The concrete topping slab must be replaced.

“The condition of the topping slab reduces the attractiveness of the Boathouse as a destination for learning, recreation and enjoyment, and reduces the Boathouse’s income-producing potential for tenants, users, and events. Further, as a result of the breaches by Nosal, the City has been delayed in attempting to close out the Project.”

The Cheshire-based construction company has not yet filed a response in court, beyond an April 19 motion for extension of time to file a responsive pleading.

Nosal​‘s attorney Gary Sheldon did tell the Independent that the contractor believes that it’s not to blame for the cracking — and that the city is the one at fault.

“Nosal Builders stands behind its work and the work of its subcontractors,” Sheldon wrote in an email response to the Independent’s request for comment. ​“Our investigation into these conditions is ongoing. We believe that cracks formed due to reasons unrelated to the workmanship of Nosal Builders’ subcontractors including the materials specified by the City’s design team. We also understand that the City has not adequately maintained the concrete which has contributed to the worsening of the cracks. We look forward to working with the City and its design team to resolve these issues.”

City: Deck Is Still Safe To Walk On

While this concrete-cracking lawsuit progresses through court, and as the Boathouse gears up for a new summer of programming … is the deck safe for people to walk on?

According to two top city officials, the answer is yes.

“The slab in question is a nonstructural topping slab, thus any issues are non structural,” City Engineer Giovanni Zinn told the Independent. ​“It is safe.”

“The slab in question is a cover layer over the platform, which is entirely safe for current use,” city Economic Development Administrator Mike Piscitelli agreed. ​“The City will be working through this process to address our claim for corrective action to ensure lasting durability.”

Concrete Mix ​“Susceptible To Shrinkage”

How did the city get to this spot, where it’s engaged in an acrimonious legal battle with a contractor city officials stood so joyfully alongside less than three years ago at the opening of the long-in-the-works waterfront project?

The seven-page complained filed on behalf of the city by Monteith Neubert fills in that history.

Starting in 2011, the city-hired attorney wrote, the city entered into a series of agreements with Langan CT, Inc. to provide engineering consulting services related to the development of the Long Wharf waterfront district, including for a boathouse that would be an interpretive replica of the historic ​“Adee Boathouse.”

“The Boathouse would provide a gathering place for events and community programs to reintroduce residents to water-based recreational sports and activities, and included boat storage and equipment storage,” Monteith Neubert wrote. The city also anticipated that the building would provide some revenue in the way of rental contracts for events, educational programs for marine science, and other third-party uses.

Following several years of project design, permitting, and the preparation of construction plans and specifications by Langan, the city entered into a contract with Nosal on May 12, 2016 following that company’s successful bid to be the general contractor for the construction project.

The agreement between the city and Nosal weighed in at $20,436,044, according to the lawsuit. The contract also included a performance bond naming Nosal as the principal and contractor, North American Specialty Insurance Company as surety, and the city as obligee.

The original schedule for the project was April 16, 2016 through Sept. 17, 2017. ​“However, the project was extended well into 2018 due to delays.”

The design for the boathouse included an outdoor concrete topping slab surrounding the building. The topping slab included a promenade and plaza with a pier, benches, and displays with information about the history of the waterfront and of New Haven more broadly.

The lawsuit states the concrete mix ultimately submitted by Nosal for the concrete topping slab was ​“particularly susceptible to shrinkage due to the small size of the aggregate, and its lack of gap grading, which was a requirement of the contract specifications. This combination of ingredients required that special considerations and installation methods be provided by Nosal during construction to avoid premature drying and excessive shrinkage.”

The mix submitted and used by Nosal, the city-hired attorney argues, contained substances ​“which were not specified in the concrete documents, and which were not properly mixed in the concrete, resulting in pockets of unmixed silica fume which caused deterioration in various locations throughout the topping slab.”

“Poor early curing techniques,” the lawsuit continues, ​“coupled with the character of the concrete itself, caused shrinkage cracks in the topping slab. The concrete topping slab constructed by Nosal has cracked, debonded and deteriorated excessively.”

The city-hired attorneys wrote that concrete testing has revealed defects in the composition of the concrete, the manner in which it was poured, and in the lack of bonding of the concrete to the underlying structural concrete deck in places.

“The lack of bonding allows migration of moisture and chlorides beneath the topping slab where they can be absorbed into the structural decking and cause deterioration of the steel reinforcement,” the lawsuit reads. ​“The topping slab is also more susceptible to the effects of freeze/thaw deterioration.”

As a result, the city has not accepted the final work, and has not closed out the Boathouse construction project.

The city has notified Nosal of these alleged deficiencies, and the company has denied responsibility, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit charges Nosal with one count of breach of contract, one count of negligence, and one count of indemnification.

The suit asks the court to compel Nosal to cover the costs of replacing the concrete topping slab, to indemnify the city for costs related to the replacement of the concrete topping slab, and money damages.

“The city has incurred and will continue to incur significant costs to investigate and repair the property damage to the concrete topping slab,” the lawsuit reads. ​“Further, the State of Connecticut has reserved the right to claim the funds reimbursed to the city for its share of the payment to Nosal for the concrete topping slab if the issue is not resolved.

“As a consequence of the foregoing, Nosal is obligated to indemnify the City against all damages it has sustained and will sustain in the future as a result of Nosal’s negligence and breach of contract as aforesaid, including, but not limited to, the costs of repairing and/or replacing the concrete topping slab, reimbursement for any funds removed by the State of Connecticut from the City’s funding of the Project, costs to complete and close out the Project, investigation costs, personnel costs, expert costs, loss of rentals to the Boathouse, attorney’s fees and any other damages, losses and expenses.”