Broad Museum Sues German Firm Over Building Issues

Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad’s planned downtown Los Angeles art museum has filed a $19.8-million lawsuit against the German company fabricating materials for its distinctive latticed facade, a dispute that offers a window into delays on the project, writes The New York Times.

The museum, known as the Broad, had been slated to open by the end of this year, but Mr. Broad’s art foundation announced in February that the launch had been pushed back to 2015 due to issues with the honeycombed exterior.

The suit filed Friday accuses Seele, an architectural fabricator based outside Munich, of breaching its agreement to “design, fabricate, and erect” the veil’s steel and concrete components by last October, delaying construction “by at least 15 months” and driving up costs. Officials at Seele and its U.S. subsidiary did not immediately return calls for comment.