Sarasota County named in $1M contract lawsuit

Manatee County-based Benderson Development, for the second time in five months, faces a lawsuit in a $1 million dispute over contract terms and payments in the construction of a Sarasota County park and rowing facility.

Sarasota County is also a defendant in the lawsuit.

Kansas City-based Dredge America, in court documents, alleges it was never paid for more than $529,000 of work it did in 2012 and 2013 at Nathan Benderson Park. The firm also seeks an additional $500,000 from delays and costs it incurred from concealed rock in the lakebed of the rowing park, according to the complaint.

The park, on 600 acres and with a 500-acre lake, has hosted multiple worldwide events and tournaments since it opened in 2009. It's named after Nathan Benderson, the late founder of Benderson Development, one of the largest retail development firms in Florida. The firm's headquarters is in University Park, in east Manatee County.

The latest lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District in Tampa, comes two weeks after Benderson won a motion to dismiss a similar lawsuit Dredge America filed in Missouri. Benderson attorney Todd Mathes says he hopes both sides in the dispute, now that Dredge America has attorneys in Tampa, can have productive discussions that will lead to a resolution. In a statement emailed to the Observer Media Group, Mathes adds that Benderson Development “will absolutely ensure that (Sarasota) County is held harmless.”

Tampa attorney Mahlon Barlow, with Sivyer Barlow & Watson, is the lead attorney for Dredge America. The company alleges Sarasota County, which owns the park and funded improvements to turn it into a rowing venue, paid Benderson for work it performed, but the developer “wrongfully withheld” the payment. “As a consequence of its failure to obtain from Benderson the required payment and performance bond, the county is likewise liable to Dredge for such damages, interest, and other relief,” the complaint states.

Benderson officials deny the allegations. County spokesman Jason Bartolone declined to comment on the lawsuit, telling the Sarasota Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer, that the county doesn't comment on ongoing litigation.