Update, 6/16: City blames damage on 'faulty building design'

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Owners of the Plaza Towers complex are seeking damages from the city of Grand Rapids more than a year after the April 2013 flood caused a high-profile shut down of the 32-story downtown high rise.

In a recent filing in Kent County Circuit Court, building owners claim a pedestrian access that was cut into the city floodwall nearly 20 years ago helped 1.6 million gallons of water inundate the complex's riverside parking garage last year and displaced about 1,000 residents during a two-week building closure.

Plaza Towers, which is asking Judge George Buth for a jury trial, sustained “millions” in damage, said Varnum Law attorney Stephen Afendoulis, representing the Plaza Towers Condominium Association, which is acting on behalf of complex owner Eenhoorn LLC and other condo owners.

At issue is the pedestrian walk along the Grand River's east bank, which cuts into the floodwall between the Blue Bridge and a riverside sculpture park north of the Fulton Street bridge. Plaza Towers says the gap carved into the levee system eliminates protection from flooding for nearby buildings.

“By cutting the breach into the floodwall for the benefit of the public, the city of Grand Rapids deprived Plaza Towers of the floodwall protections, exposing Plaza Towers to significant property damage from superinduced water from the Grand River,” reads the 10-page complaint.

Plaza Towers is claiming in a lawsuit against the city of Grand Rapids that this pedestrian walk cut into the downtown floodwall left the building exposed to flood waters during the April 2013 flood.

The filing doesn’t specify the total amount of flood-related damage incurred by Plaza Towers during the historic flood, during which the Grand River reached its highest-ever crest downtown at 21.85 feet on April 21, 2013.

Afendoulis declined to release a total damage dollar amount.

Plaza Towers was evacuated after about 5 feet of water rushed up from the basement concrete and flooded the complex parking garage on Saturday, April 20, 2013.

The surge was not from a break in the floodwall, but from water pushing on the concrete from underneath the building, officials said during the flooding last year.

Thick smoke coughed from the complex garages last April during the initial evacuation. Electrical, water and fire suppression systems were subsequently shut down and cars in the complex garage were damaged.

Reopening the building was delayed when Grand Rapids officials directed Plaza Towers to stop pumping water from the flooded garage in order to counter-balance pressure on a 12-foot sanitary sewer pipe under the building. The building reopened on May 8, 2013.

Related: 2013 Flood Series Investigation: On The Brink

“I can’t imagine the city intended this, but it was the natural consequence of the design” of the pedestrian riverwalk, said Afendoulis.

Messages seeking comment from City Attorney Catherine Mish on Tuesday, June 10 were not returned. Staff in Mish’s office said city attorneys have likely not had a chance to review the compliant.

The city has about a month to file a response. It is the only defendant named in the case.

The lawsuit is an apparent about-face from the spirit of cooperation expressed during a press conference last year, when Eenhoorn President Paul Heule said the building owners and the city would “work together as a partnership” in order to reactivate the riverfront high rise at 201 West Fulton St.

Per the filing, Plaza Towers is seeking full compensation for the flooding-related damages and property value diminution, as well as reimbursement for repairs, new flood control measures and the cost of increased flood insurance premiums.

The filing alleges two counts of inverse-condemnation and one count of trespass.

The government has immunity from a trespass-nuisance claim, which Afendoulis said was added to the lawsuit in order to preserve the issue for any appeal.

The inverse-condemnation claim, which essentially alleges the city undertook action that damaged or diminished the value of private property without going through formal eminent domain proceedings, is a constitutional claim from which municipal bodies have no guaranteed immunity.

By cutting the 12.5-foot by 15-foot hole in the floodwall, Afendoulis said the city, in effect, “directed” water onto Plaza Towers property.

It's unclear what, if any, affect the city's long-running negotiations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over certification of the city floodwall system could have on the lawsuit.

The pedestrian cut was completed during construction of the River’s Edge Environmental Sculpture Park, an eight-year, $1.3 million project completed in 1996. The park includes a handicap-accessible access ramp to the river’s eastern boardwalk built in conjunction with an abstract sculptural arrangement of granite blocks, boulders and shrubbery next to the Blue Pedestrian Bridge.

Kayakers paddle past the Plaza Towers under construction in 1990. The building was completed in 1991 and originally named Eastbank Waterfront Towers

It sits at the foot of Plaza Towers, then called Eastbank Waterfront Towers.

The Mark Singer-designed sculpture park was part of the Grand River Edges project that began in the mid-1980s when the city began attempts to beautify the riverbanks downtown. The Downtown Development Authority (now Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.) administered the project, paid for by a mixture of public and private funding.

Steve Pierpoint, a retired Grand Rapids planner who worked on the project, said the former Plaza Towers owners were heavily involved in the sculpture park construction.

“We all worked together,” said Pierpoint. “It wasn’t like there were any secrets.”

The complex, which suffered major structural issues after it was completed in 1991, was sold to Amway Corp. after the original developers went broke. The company assumed majority ownership of the development in 1994 during construction of the pedestrian and sculpture park. Eenhoorn bought the complex from Amway in 2001.

Amway operates the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in leased space within the Plaza Towers complex, but is not a party in the lawsuit.

Afendoulis declined to comment on Amway's absence from the case.

Garret Ellison covers business, government and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram