Milwaukee’s Convent Hill lawsuit expands

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A lawsuit over the construction of Convent Hill, a low-income housing building in Milwaukee, has expanded to include five architects and two manufacturers as defendants and four new plaintiffs.

Responses to the amended complaint have not been filed, and a status conference is scheduled for August.

The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee sued the first group of defendants in October, claiming Convent Hill, 455 E. Ogden Ave., was poorly designed and built. The original suit named Zimmerman Architectural Studios Inc. and Gilbane Building Co., both of Milwaukee, and their insurers.

The building is drafty, according to the authority’s complaint, and residents have complained of frost forming on the inside of exterior walls.

Zimmerman and Gilbane have denied the authority’s claims that they were negligent and breached their contracts.

The City of Milwaukee Office of the City Attorney filed the original complaint but withdrew after four companies joined as plaintiffs.

Convent Hill Gardens LP, Convent Hill LLC, Convent Hill Retail LLC and FOH LCC all own stakes in the building, Assistant City Attorney Susan Lappen said. The city cannot represent private interests, she said, so Milwaukee-based Michael Best & Friedrich LLP has taken over representation of the plaintiffs.

Ted Wisnefski, an attorney with Michael Best, said the thrust of the lawsuit has not changed.

The amended complaint, filed in June, adds to the list of defendants five Zimmerman architects: Kurt Zimmerman, John Sabinash, Burt Greuel, James Willmas and John Marlow. The amended complaint also names Pennsylvania-based Centria Architectural Systems, which the authority claims manufactured exterior metal wall panels, and Pennsylvania-based Kawneer Co. Inc., doing business as Traco, which allegedly manufactured aluminum window frames used at Convent Hill.

The authority and other plaintiffs allege the five architects committed professional malpractice and that Centria and Traco were negligent. The amended complaint also details additional claims against Gilbane for breach of warranty and Zimmerman for professional malpractice.

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