St. George, North Shore, is the area where the planned to-be-built tallest Ferris wheel will be. However, the project is put on hold after the developer fires the contractor responsible for building the 630-foot wheel.
This New York observation wheel was approved by the City Council in 2013 and was predicted to open in 2016. The $590 million dollar project has experienced many delays, alternating the opening day further into time. Currently, the developer for the wheel fired contractor Mammoet-Starnet, delaying the completion and opening indefinitely. According to court documents filed in early July, the contractor and developer have been in a legal battle due to the delays on the project. Since the contractor was not meeting multiple design and construction deadlines, the developer felt the best decision was to let go of Mammoet-Starneth LLC and seek other means on completing the work.
The wheel was supposed to be completed by Spring of 2018, bringing a predicted incline to the area. After May of this year, construction had slowed down tremendously due to the designer and contractor stopping work, causing continuous delays.
Further according to the court documents, the argument began when Mammoet had threatened to leave the project because he claimed the developers did not pay $20 million for "delay damages". That is when the developer filed a suit against the contractor last month to keep them on. The documents show that the contractor was responsible for the delays and kept upping the price, only threatening to leave to get more money.
The developer stated that work will still continue at the site, but there will be occurring delays for work done off-premise. The developer said they are now looking for another contractor to finish the project. The previous crew had been working on the site for almost two years and have completed a large amount of the project: the 820-space parking garage completed and opened, the concrete foundation for the wheel's legs, installation of a 90-ton pedestals to hold the legs, and the installation of a 460-foot tall crane to put the pieces of the wheel in place.
The wheel was excepted to originally open in April of 2018. The new date is to still be determined.
