Construction Company Sues City For Work On Hated UES Garbage Dump

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A Swedish-based construction firm that takes on some of the city's largest contracts is suing the city for its failure to pay up for work done on a controversial Upper East Side garbage facility.

Skanska-Trevcon — a joint operation between Swedish firm Skanska and New Jersey-based Trevcon Construction — filed a $56 million lawsuit against the city last month claiming that the companies haven't been fully compensated for its work on the East 91st Street Transfer Station. The companies decided to file the lawsuit after filing a notice of claim for the missing payments with the city, which has gone unpaid for more than 30 days.

The construction giant claims that the city has neglected to pay more than $12 million for the work Skanska-Trevcon did on the transfer station, more than $4 million for extra work not originally included in the contract and more than $36 million for costs incurred by the company for construction delays that were the city's fault.

According to Skanska-Trevcon, the city's tab adds up to: $56,255,367.54.

Skanska-Trevcon's lawsuit is the latest legal battle in the long, litigious history of the controversial transfer station. The facility was first proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and later approved by the City Council in the 2006 Solid Waste Management Plan, but just began processing Manhattan's trash this March. Bloomberg's administration targeted a 2015 opening.

Upper East Side community groups attempted to block the project through lawsuits by claiming that the city's cost estimates on the project were wrong and that the city should be required to conduct further environmental reviews. Neighborhood residents opposed the transfer station because it would worsen quality of life in the neighborhood by forcing residents to deal with garbage trucks on the streets and the noises and smells they bring.

The East 91st Street Transfer Station opened in March and handles less trash than originally proposed in the 2006 Solid Waste Management plan. In 2018, then city Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia announced that the facility would only process about40 to 50 garbage trucks per day. The facility's initial capacity was proposed at 30 trucks per hour.

City officials initially pitched the transfer station as a way to process and transport more garbage by barge instead of truck, which would be good for the environment. The city also wanted to lessen the burden of trash processing on the outer boroughs.