Portland Community College is suing architects and engineers who designed the College Services Building on its Sylvania campus, charging the slab floors sag, doorjambs twist, fire doors bind and drywall cracks.

The college filed the suit for breach of contract and professional negligence in October, and seeks damages of $2.4 million from Opsis Architecture LLP and Group Mackenzie Engineering Incorporated.

The College Services Building, designed by Opsis with structural engineering services from Group Mackenzie, was completed in 2006 at a cost of $5.25 million.

The three-story building houses PCC’s campus public safety, parking and transportation departments, the physical plant offices, maintenance shops and warehouse. It was built with money from a $144 million bond measure PCC passed 12 years ago, with $42 million committed to the Sylvania campus.

The suit argues the defendants’ actions “caused the second and third floor concrete slabs of the College Services building to deflect and /or sag excessively beyond appropriate tolerances . . .”

These incorrectly designed slab floors, the suit charges, have caused a cascade of damage to other building components, including:

cracked drywall

gaps under wall partitions

twisted doorjambs, that cause doors, including fire doors, to bind

caulking separating from floorboards.

According to the suit, the serviceability of the building is also affected. It says concrete and plaster drops from ceilings into workspaces, cubicle walls swing free and cannot be properly adjusted or effectively used, furniture cannot be properly arranged, creating falling hazards and desk drawers slide. In addition, there are drafts, heat loss and high maintenance costs, the suit says.

None of the parties involved in the suit is willing to comment.

James Hill, PCC spokesman, said in email, “We have been advised by our attorney that we cannot comment on pending litigation. PCC takes its stewardship of public resources, including the management of bond dollars, very seriously.”

Group Mackenzie Structural Engineering, Inc. also refused to comment and James Meyer, partner at Opsis Architecture, said “we have had conversations with them (PCC) . . . but we can’t offer any additional information at this time.”

What happens next? In theory, the defendants' lawyers must file an answer to the suit within 30 days. But construction lawyer Richard Carlson of Drakulich & Carlson, who is not involved in the suit but agreed to comment generally on these kinds of cases, said it's likely that this period will be extended, especially if the parties are talking to each other.

Even once an answer is filed, he said, the case may not be litigated for a year.

Going to trial poses high costs to both sides, and expenses climb more in appeals, he said. Settling, while not ideal for either side, he said, is sometimes the most palatable resolution.

Rebecca Koffman