Uber’s Landlord Stiffed Laborers For Work On Driver Support Center Buildout: Records
BUCKTOWN — When Uber didn’t shovel the sidewalk in front of its driver support center until a pedestrian declared the ride sharing giant “lazy and negligent” in a Twitter post, several people asked who the owner of the building is and whether it was the landlord’s or Uber’s responsibility to clear the snow.
An Uber spokeswoman on Wednesday said that its lease indicates the landlord is responsible for snow removal. The company apologized to neighbors on Tuesday afternoon and cleared the snow.
County records show Theodore Wynn owns the building, and in October 2015, he rented the first floor of the former Carpet World at 1401 W. North Ave. to San Francisco-based Uber Technologies, Inc.
Wynn, who also owns Victor Sign Company, a Chicago-based billboard company, did not return several calls seeking comment.
When we looked in county records to find out who the landlord is, we noticed laborers got stiffed on work they did for the driver support center buildout, according to two mechanic’s liens against Uber and Wynn.
Morton Grove-based Spray Insulations, Inc. worked on the Uber Partner Support Center (PCS) buildout on December 17, 2015. They never got paid for all of that work and in May 24, 2016, an attorney representing Spray Insulations filed a subcontractor’s lien against Uber and Wynn, claiming they were still owed $3,850 from a job that had cost $34,650.
While the city issued a building permit to Uber PCS (and not Wynn) for exterior renovations in December 2015, the permit does not cover interior renovations like painting and fireproofing, which are the two tasks that were not paid for in full.
The two liens filed list Wynn and Uber as the parties owing money, though the Uber spokeswoman said their landlord/Wynn was responsible for paying the bills for this portion of the work and the liens were filed due to lack of payment by Wynn and not Uber.
A mechanic’s lien is a legal tool that laborers can use when they don’t get paid for their work or are chasing an outstanding balance.
Professional Painting & Decorating of suburban Niles did work in April 2016 on the buildout for Uber Technologies, Inc. On June 13, 2016, they filed a subcontractor’s mechanics lien claim against Uber Technologies seeking a remaining balance of $5,161 from a job that had cost $32,604.
A spokeswoman from Professional Painting & Decorating declined to comment on Wednesday. An executive with Spray Insulations did not return messages.
Professional Painting & Decorating and Spray Insulations withdrew their liens after getting paid.
The lein releases don’t say who paid the outstanding bills, just that the bills were paid. Was it possible there was a miscommunication between Uber and their landlord on who was paying for what? There clearly was a miscommunication between the two parties on the snow removal.
Whether it was their responsibility or not, Uber only shoveled the snow on the North Avenue side of its large corner building after folks on social media pointed it out. Professional Painting & Decorating and Spray Insulations, Inc. only got paid in full after taking legal action.
