Pei Partnership
New York architect Pei Partnership is suing the developer of Celebrate Virgina for $6 million in unpaid fees for its design of The National Slavery Museum, a project spearheaded by former Virginia Governor, Doug Wilder, that is mired in financial difficulties. The project is as yet built and the slavery museum organization now owes the city of Fredericksburg $300,000 in delinquent taxes. The city plans to sell the 38 acre parcel on which the museum was to sit and the architect is hoping the sale will lead to its getting paid. One has to wonder how the firm got so far out in its billings and why it continued to work when it was not being paid. This is one for the lawyers but it seems to me there was a lapse in the common sense department at the Pei firm.
