Beechwood Flood Leads to Lawsuit Against Modus Studio

The owner of Beechwood Village in Fayetteville has filed a lawsuit blaming the architect for flooding problems.

A student housing developer in Dallas has filed a lawsuit against a Fayetteville architectural design firm over flooding problems at a complex in Fayetteville.

Fountain Residential Partners LLC, through its subsidiary Idyll Village LP, filed the suit in Washington County Circuit Court. The suit, filed by attorneys John Scott of Conner & Winters LLP in Fayetteville and Greg Noschese and Gregory Franklin of Munsch Hardt in Dallas, said “deficient, defective architectural design” by Modus Studio PLLC has led to flooding at Beechwood Village.

Fountain Residential Partners said in its lawsuit that it hired Modus Studio in March 2014 to provide architectural, engineering and landscape architectural services for the development. The complex of 200 cottage-style units in about 100 buildings was completed in April 2016.

The suit said that flooding problems — “water intrusion” — began shortly after. Fountain Residential Partners said the water entered most units on the property and caused damages to the interior and exterior of the units. Fountain Residential Partners said a “significant” number of units flood every time it rains.

The developer said it performed tests to find the cause of the flooding, and it determined Modus was the “primary cause” of the problem. Fountain Residential Partners said it notified Modus in December 2016 of the problem, and informal mediation has failed to resolve the dispute.

The developer is asking for at least $75,000 in damages for breach of contract and at least $75,000 for negligence, as well as attorney fees and costs and interest.

Fountain Residential Partners acquired the property from four separate ownership groups for more than $5 million in 2014 and took out a $29.1 million construction loan to build Beechwood Village; it later assigned the property to its Idyll Village subsidiary. The village and Modus Studio have been praised for environmentally friendly design.