Hurt Plaza owners sue city for water damage

Urinals and toilets overflowing with feces and non-running water were just a few of the issues tenants at the Hurt Building in downtown Atlanta had to endure for “several days” in early 2019.

Those and other issues are the impetus of a lawsuit filed by Hurt Plaza owners against the City of Atlanta, claiming inadequate work led them to spend about $200,000 to fix the problem, including purchasing a new water storage system, an attorney for the building’s owners told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“This was not just an inconvenience, it’s a health and safety issue,” attorney Joe Sharpe said, adding owners spent $3,300 on porta-potties for its tenants to use.

The building’s owners are seeking unspecified damages and a trial, according to the lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the city said the city does not comment on pending litigation.

The city’s Watershed Department maintains the water supply to the Hurt Building, located at 50 Hurt Plaza. The office building has at least 70 tenants and at least 500 people in the building on any given workday.

Known for its unique triangle shape, the Hurt Building was built between 1913 and 1926 and was the initial home for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. One of the earliest skyscrapers in Atlanta, the building was added to the National Register of Historic places in 1977 and was renovated as recently as 2018.

According to the lawsuit, unbeknownst to the building’s owners, the city performed maintenance work on the building’s pipes in December 2018. As part of the work, the city cut off water from the building’s primary system, which controls its main water flow. They turned on a bypass system, which allows water to flow into the building’s pipes at a significantly lower rate and pressure.

When they were finished with the work, the city failed to turn the primary water system back on, according to the lawsuit. They also failed to notify Hurt Building managers of the work.

Six weeks later, on Jan. 31, 2019, tenants complained some urinals and toilets failed to flush and began to overflow, according to the lawsuit. Elsewhere, water wasn’t flowing at all.

After multiple calls to the city, Watershed arrived at the building at 1:30 a.m. Feb. 1, 2019. But the city sent the wrong personnel, who were only trained to perform work on residential properties, according to the lawsuit.

Hurt Building management eventually called a plumber to open the primary system valve, but by then the damage was done.

Owners claim the city’s error caused “catastrophic” damage to the building’s pipes, valves and toilets, forcing them to buy a new water distribution system.

The owners filed a claim with the city for damages, but it was denied via email, the lawsuit alleges.

“The city did not give us any meaningful explanation for why they did that,” Sharp said.