St. Petersburg museum files another lawsuit, alleging delays

A St. Petersburg museum scheduled to debut in 2017 has filed yet another lawsuit alleging delay in its completion.

The Museum of American Arts and Crafts Movement, which was slated to open back in 2017, filed suit against lighting company Litelab, blaming it for causing substantial delays and costing the museum.

Back in the summer of 2017, the museum agreed to pay Litelab $297,174 for equipment and set up, paying the lighting company $73,734 as a downpayment in October of 2017. However, the suit alleges that Litelab, which was supposed to provide submittals and drawings in 2017, did not do so until June of 2018.

Once the museum did receive the equipment following delays in delivery, it alleged the materials were nonconforming and “useless.” The lawsuit states Litelab “admitted it lacked inventory for the correct, specified materials and that its engineers had attempted a work-around substitute in a failed attempt to fill the museum’s order.”

Now, the museum is seeking damages — $74,995 worth —  for breach of contract and delay. The delays “impacted the critical path of the project,” according to the suit.

This isn’t the first lawsuit the museum has filed.

In early 2020, the crafts museum sued a flooring vendor for failing to deliver promised product. In late 2019, it sued PayPal — the payment platform giant — over garage fees.

The museum has been the subject of a lawsuit as well. Back in 2017, Synovus Bank, located next door to the museum site, sued the museum for allegedly threatening to erect a fence that would block traffic to and from the bank.

As for now, it is unknown when the museum will finally be open for business.

Once finished, the $90 million museum plans on housing the art collection of 74-year-old pharmaceutical entrepreneur Rodolfo Ciccarello, the museum’s founder. The museum will be five-stories high, with more than 40,000 square feet of gallery space located at the intersection of 4th Street and 3rd Avenue South in St. Pete.

Florida Politics reached out to Ciccarella and Litelab, neither of whom responded by the time of publication.