Thursday, December 28, 2017

Contractor defaults on Fresh Pond bridge replacement project

From QNS:

For residents of Ridgewood and Middle Village, the reconstruction of a railroad bridge in a high-traffic area has caused headaches for commuters after repeated delays to the project, and things just got worse.

On Friday, a Department of Transportation spokesperson confirmed to QNS that its contract with Mugrose Construction to rebuild the Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road bridge over the Montauk line of the Long Island Rail Road has defaulted. The project that was once projected to have its first phase completed by January 2018 has now been completely stalled.

The DOT cited delays that were beyond its control, and is now working closely with the bonding company to get the project completed as quickly as possible, the spokesperson said.

Construction contracts typically involve a contract surety bond to protect the owner of the property (DOT, in this case) from the risks associated with construction projects. The bonding company assumes that burden, and in the event of a defaulted contract their options are to re-bid the job for completion, bring in a replacement contractor, provide financial or technical assistance to the existing contractor or pay the penal sum of the bond.

Therefore, a defaulted contract doesn’t necessarily mean the contractor has been ousted, but the DOT offered no further details.


Anonymous said...

You could see this happening a long way off. Nothing was being done there.

(sarc) said...


This is what happens when we relegate the Founding Fathers to the dustbin.

Know history, or be dammed to repeat it.

This was the LOWEST bidder...

Anonymous said...

"This was the LOWEST bidder..."

And we'll be paying for the incompetence and corruption.
Betcha it isn't completed until 2020 at the earliest.

Tommy Efreeti said...

Excellent quote, sarc.

From the late November article in the same publication,

"Mugrose Construction, a New Jersey-based firm, was contracted by the city Department of Transportation (DOT) to complete the bridge project. Last year, Giordano and Board 5 members expressed concerns about whether Mugrose could handle a project of this magnitude; the firm was listed at the time as being a small business with just five employees, and primarily focused on residential real estate."

Hmm hmm.

Tommy Efreeti said...

A Mike M linked a very useful timeline of all the delays associated with...going back to 1999:

Anonymous said...

I am a product provider for numerous NYC based Exterior Restoration Contractors that typically work on pre war Coop and Condos. None of them chase public work, i.e. School Construction Authority, NYCHA, etc.. They know better.
Google Mugrose and see what pops up. No website and an address that shows open land that looks like a park. Many of these public contract contractors are Indian or Pakistani. Fly by Nighters with no record of successful projects completed.

Anonymous said...

Why isn't the contractor or anybody in jail ?
Its likely an architectural mess that will take years to get that M train running. Remember the mayor hates those conservative 3+ generation white people in Middle Village.

Anonymous said...

Anon said
The mayor hates those conservative 3+ generation white people in Middle Village.

and they threw his girl Dizzy Lizzy out

JQ LLC said...

Re: Mugrose

This is similar to the recent contracting of restoring Puerto Rico's electricity to a small firm, whitefish, with ties to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and that "company" had 2 people working there when that was issued. Which means this sort of thing is common practice.

That last line about Mugrose in that article, being that it's a "small business" that specialized in "residentials" can't be anymore suspicious. It's like the city gave a contract for a major infrastructure upgrade to a firm whose last project was probably paving over a lawn for sidewalk parking.