On Aug. 5, a combination of heavy rain and what Valparaiso officials called a bypass pumping system failure from construction of the Lincoln Highway Garage and The Linc apartments sent a torrent of water and raw sewage into nearby businesses.
Almost seven months later, at least two of those businesses, a women’s clothing and accessories boutique and a law office north of the construction on Jefferson Street, are still waiting for a resolution on what they said is tens of thousands of dollars in damages.
Because the water came from outside of the buildings, Dina Harper, owner of Ivy Boutique at 204 E. Jefferson St., and Nick Catsadimas, of the law firm Bennett and Catsadimas across the street at 205 E. Jefferson St., said their insurance companies won’t cover the damages.
Valparaiso’s city attorney, Patrick Lyp, said in an email that it’s up to Gariup Construction Co., the contractor on the sewer line work, to handle reimbursement.
“Gariup Construction Company, Inc. does not comment on matters under investigation by its insurance carrier,” Matthew Gariup, the company’s treasurer, said in an email.
Harper and Catsadimas said that other than showing up at the scene on the day of the flooding, city officials haven’t been responsive to their concerns, compounded by the construction site narrowing Jefferson Street and limiting parking for their customers and clients.
In the weeks after the flooding, on Aug. 29, Gariup Construction made a $2,500 donation to Mayor Jon Costas’ election campaign, according to online campaign finance reports. His seat isn’t up for election until 2027 and it was one of several donations he received in a non-election year.
Harper had inventory for the coming season stored in the basement of her shop, along with store fixtures, a lawnmower and other items. Because she orders her inventory months in advance, as is the standard in the fashion industry, Harper lost the merchandise she had for the upcoming holiday season that she couldn’t replace, worth around $65,000, which also impacted her holiday sales revenue. Her store also had to close for clean-up, incurring more lost business.
Catsadimas said he had client files, furniture and the like in the basement of his law office, a building he started renting in 2008 and bought in 2018. The extensive flooding did heavy structural damage to his building — a video he shared of the damage showed a stream of water in the broken concrete floor in the basement — and he has yet to get a full measure of the cost of the repairs, which will include outside grading.
Everything in the basements of both properties had to be thrown out because the items were covered in raw sewage.
Harper said the rainstorm that precipitated the flooding was “biblical” and brought 18 inches of filth into the basement of her business.
“It was almost like a tsunami because everything was 12 inches from where it started and covered in silt and raw sewage,” she said.
Catsadimas said he had water in the basement of his law office once a few years ago but in 2023, after construction began on the apartment complex and parking garage, he started getting water in the basement whenever there was a heavy rain.
“Over time, it got continually worse,” he said, adding he couldn’t figure out where it was coming from and rerouted drain spouts, among other measures, to try to stop the water.
The force of the water and sewage on Aug. 5 removed the manhole cover in front of Catsadimas’ law firm off of its footing. A manhole in the alley that day, Harper said, was gushing with overflow.
“My basement essentially operated as the retaining pond for the project,” Catsadimas said.
In a statement shared on the city’s Valparaiso Now Facebook page after the flooding, city officials said Gariup started work on July 8 on streetscape enhancements and upgrades to existing utility infrastructure.
“As part of the sewer improvements, appropriate bypass pumping was installed to ensure the current sewer system was operational during construction,” the statement said.
During the heavy rains the morning of Aug. 5, the city said, “the bypass system failed to operate correctly, causing certain manhole covers to overflow and the flooding of the construction area and some neighboring properties. This should not have happened.”
City officials were on site immediately to help mitigate the flooding and damage, the statement said, and the city contacted the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to do an assessment.
The city also had multiple meetings with the contractor, Gariup Construction, to evaluate the bypass pumping plan and to better understand why the pumps failed and the city’s sewer system was compromised, the statement said, and the city was working with impacted property owners.
“To date, neither of us have received anything from the city,” Catsadimas said.
Harper said she turned in her claims of lost inventory to the city within a week of the flooding.
“That was six months ago and they’re still fighting with me, to the point almost of bad faith,” she said. “This is not living up to what the city said.”
Lyp, the city attorney, said in his email that any reimbursement is now up to Gariup and the city did what it could at the time of the flood. The city hired Gariup in April for the work.
“Although the incident was reported to the City’s insurance carrier, it is my understanding that Gariup Construction’s insurance company was working with all property owners that experienced any damage from the flooding,” Lyp said in the email. “I believe several have already resolved their claims. At this stage there isn’t a role for the City.”
Before the Post-Tribune contacted Lyp, he said in his email, “I wasn’t aware that there were any outstanding claims. I do not know the specifics of any impacted property owner but under normal circumstances a valid claim would be covered by the property owner’s insurance. That said, aspects of a damage claim (proof of loss, disputes concerning valuation) could make resolution more difficult.”
Harper and Catsadimas have contacted an attorney, who reached out to city officials and Gariup in late September with notice of a tort claim.
Catsadimas expects he and Harper will be dealing with their losses for some time to come.
“We’re just looking to be made whole for what we had to expend and what we have lost,” he said.
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
