New York–based architecture and interior design firm Swanke Hayden Connell filed for Chapter 11 protection, claiming that is unable to collect more than $2 million from an assignment in Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported. Established in 1906, the firm is most well-known for their work on the Trump Tower in Upper East Manhattan and a major restoration of the Statue of Liberty in the 1980s. Their earlier works include commercial commissions such as the Fuller Building in 1929, a prime example of Art Deco architecture.
According to the court filings, the firm is claiming bankruptcy due to a shortage of cash and an inability to pay its bills. These same filings also cite the Russian clients, which is the firm’s single largest project at the present time, have not paid $2.3 million owed to the firm. The reasons for an interrupted and bumpy building process include the client allegedly “suffering damages as a result of the debtor’s alleged delays and omissions” and unsolved “political and economic issues,” which are unspecified, according to the files submitted by Swanke Hayden, which can be found on page seven of the 21-page file. This file for bankruptcy comes off as unexpected and unusual because the firm does not have any major bank loans or other secured debt .
Swanke Hayden Connell established an office in Moscow in the mid-2000s—and has completed several projects in Russia in the past couple of years since doing so, including a 72-story mixed-use tower set in a master planned complex—in Moscow.
