Tommy Spinosa’s construction company, Echelon Construction Services, is at the center of numerous liens and lawsuits in St. Tammany Parish for failure to pay its subcontractors for work done on a multi-family residential and retail complex in Mandeville known as the Chenier Apartments and Shops. In a series of suits that—on the surface at least—have a striking resemblance to Spinosa’s legal problems at Perkins Rowe, nearly 20 subcontractors filed lawsuits and liens between January and October of this year claiming Echelon owes them at least $2.2 million.
In various answers to the suits, Echelon claims that among the reasons it hasn’t paid is because the project’s owner, Chenier Property Partners, has withheld $3.14 million from Echelon, the final draw of a $30 million contract the construction company entered into in January 2007 with the Metairie-based partnership that owns the project. Court documents say Chenier withheld the final payment because Echelon did not complete the punch list and repeatedly refused to submit a completed list of its actual costs, which was both required in its contract with Chenier and by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which insured the mortgage on the project.
Spinosa’s attorney, Brian McCullough, did not return calls for comment, nor did New Orleans attorney Lloyd Shields, who represents Chenier. Spinosa and his representatives did not return repeated calls for comment. Attorneys for the various subcontractors, however, say their clients have been hit hard. For a longer version of the story, click here.—Stephanie Riegel
This story has been changed since it was originally published
