ASI reopens to finish Barclays Center; faces lawsuit

ASI Ltd., which abruptly suspended operations at its Whitestone, Ind., plant in December, reopened last month to complete fabrication of weathered steel panels for the fa?ade of Barclays Center, part of the major Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, N.Y. According to an article from Crains New York, only 57 percent of the specialized steel fa?ade panels had been completed at the time of the ASI closure, and the arena's general contractor, Hunt Construction Group, worked with insurer Ohio Farmers to get the ASI plant working again to complete the fabrication.

"Hunt did have a surety in place and was able to resolve the financial issues for ASI," a spokesperson for the arena's developer, Forest City Ratner Cos., told Glass Magazine. "At least as it relates to Atlantic Yards, the plant reopened and workers were brought back."

According to a related article in Curbed, ASI had built a 2,500-foot specialty conveyor system to weather the panels. (Read a more in-depth explanation from fa?ade designer SHoP Architects of the panel systems and ASI's weathering process). ASI's work on the project was scheduled to extend through May, according to the Curbed article.

In related news, a former employee of ASI Ltd., which ranked No. 8 on Glass Magazine's 2011 Top 50 Glaziers list, is suing the company for failing to give adequate notification of the December shutdown and resulting layoffs, according to a Feb. 17 article from the Indianapolis Business Journal. Andrew Shepherd filed the class-action suit in federal court on behalf of all the workers who lost their jobs because of the closure, according to the article.Read more here.