TROY -- The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center gleamed when it opened in 2008, and looked to most visitors then like a finished and flawless piece of architecture.

But a lawsuit filed by a company involved in the center's construction paints a far different picture -- claiming that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute rushed the opening of an unfinished building "for public relations purposes."

LaCorte Cos., an electrical contractor in Troy, also says that steps taken to make EMPAC, as the center is known, appear finished led to "massive cost overruns and financial losses" for which it was never reimbursed.

LaCorte is seeking $2.6 million in damages in the suit filed in Rensselaer County Supreme Court.

The suit names defendants -- RPI; Turner Construction Co., which oversaw the building of EMPAC; and David Brody Bond, an architect of the structure.

RPI declined to discuss the LaCorte claims, while a spokeswoman for David Brody Bond said the firm had not yet been served with the suit. Michael Breslin, a vice president at Turner and the principal in charge of EMPAC, could not be reached for comment.

EMPAC, which includes a 1,200-seat concert hall and a 400-seat theater, erupts from a hill on the west side of the RPI campus, with its greenish glass and unusual shape making it both daring architecture and a Troy landmark.

RPI officials tout the flashy building as a symbol of the school's technological savvy and growing prominence.

But it clearly wasn't easy to build.

RPI and Turner broke ground on EMPAC in 2003, predicting it would cost $140 million and open in 2007. It opened a year late -- and with a $200 million price tag.

Turner Construction, in the days before the opening, didn't hide that it was rushing to finish by the October deadline. The company at the time said there were 350 workers at the site racing to the finish line.

But LaCorte, in the lawsuit, says the deadline was really never met.

The company says it was told "to leave its work in an incomplete state so that it could be covered up by temporary walls and ceilings and be represented by Turner and RPI" as finished.

LaCorte says it later removed the temporary walls and completed its work, even though "the entire building was occupied by RPI's staff and students."

LaCorte says it budgeted 85,662 hours for the project, but ended up expending 174,000 hours. And while LaCorte's $15.8 million received payment for its EMPAC work was $4 million more than specified in its contract, the company says it was underpaid by $2.6 million.

LaCorte has 200 employees, making it one of the Capital Region's largest electrical contractors.

Reach Chris Churchill at 454-5442 or cchurchill@timesunion.com.