IQHQ’s largest local project culminated two decades of attempts to spur development over the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston and heal the scar left by the highway’s construction. Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff

A contractor on the delayed Fenway Center lab project claims developer IQHQ Inc. has failed to pay nearly $27.4 million for the construction of a deck above the Massachusetts Turnpike to support two future life science towers.

In a lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Framingham-based J.F. White Contracting Co. claims breach of contract against  developer IQHQ Inc. The complaint seeks unspecified damages and attorney’s fees, and asks the court to enforce a mechanic’s lien on the property.

IQHQ Inc. and The Green Companies joined original Parcel 7 developer John Rosenthal of Meredith Management in 2021 on the long-anticipated lab project, to be built on an air rights parcel offered by Massachusetts Department of Transportation above the Massachusetts Turnpike near Fenway Park.

The development team received $165 million in financing from JPMorgan Chase for the first phase of the project, including an $80 million deck built on 2 acres above the highway between the Brookline Avenue and Beacon Street overpasses.

But work has slowed in the past two years and no vertical construction has begun. The project is approved for a 2-story, 535,000-square-foot office-lab tower facing Beacon Street and 12-story office-lab building fronting on Brookline Avenue. 

According to the complaint, filed Aug. 27 in Suffolk Superior Court, J.F. White signed a $138.7 million contract with IQHQ in February 2021 to conduct the structural foundations and deck which sit above the turnpike and rail lines used by passenger and freight trains.

The complaint names IQHQ-Fenway Center Tenant LLC and Massachusetts Department of Transportation as a defendant.

Law.com first reported the lawsuit. MassDOT declined to comment. A message was left with IQHQ seeking comment.