KINGWOOD — The company developing property along the Big Sandy is involved in a lawsuit with a Preston County company hired to help prepare the land for sale.
Whitewater Preserve is owned by The Waterfront Group, WV, LLC, which was created by the owners of The Waterfront Group in Cornelius, N.C.
Steve Wolford, senior land consultant for the Waterfront Group, told the Preston County Commission Tuesday that 54 of 64 lots developed so far have been sold. Lots are 2 to 20 acres and sell for $30,000 to $190,000.
According to the lawsuit filed in Preston County Circuit Court by Waterfront Group, it contracted on May 4 with DTEC Services LLC, of Kingwood. DTEC was to do “general contracting, general building and excavating services” on Waterfont’s property.
As previously reported, according to records at the Preston County Clerk’s office, in March The Waterfront Group bought 1,806.5 acres in Pleasant and Grant Districts from Allegheny Wood Products for $5,115,126.25.
For Phase 1, DTEC was to build and/or improve roads on the land, according to the lawsuit. The work was not up to its standards, according to Waterfront, and not completed in the time frame set.
Waterfront says in the lawsuit that it terminated DTEC’s services and informed it no additional payments would be made.
On Aug. 20, DTEC filed mechanic’s liens totaling $592,769.98 in the Preston County Clerk’s office against Waterfront.
Waterfront said it has already paid DTEC $807,659.59, “and will need to pay a third party hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete work DTEC failed to perform in a workmanlike manner.”
In the lawsuit, Waterfront accuses DTEC of fraud and of getting the liens “with the intent to harass Waterfront and the intent to cause Waterfront financial harm, financial difficulty, annoyance and inconvenience.”
The purpose of a mechanic’s lien is to force a property owner to pay the lien by giving the lien holder an interest in the property.
Waterfront is asking the court to remove the mechanic’s liens and grant it compensatory and punitive damages, including pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney fees and legal costs.
At the commission meeting Tuesday, Wolford said The Waterfront Group likes to work with local contractors.
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