‘Suicide Fences’ Architecture Firm in Disarray over Ownership Battle

Nader Tehrani, the architect contracted by Cornell University to design suicide barriers on the school’s bridges, is in a ruthless dispute with business partner Monica Ponce de Leon over ownership of architecture firm Office dA, the Boston Globe reported today.

Cornell University hired Tehrani in late August in a $600,000 contract with Office dA to design bridge barriers as a measure to prevent student suicide on campus. Now the company Tehrani founded in 1986 is suffering from chaotic inner turmoil that may lead to the dissolution of the firm.  Only three days after Tehrani submitted the project’s pre-design proposal to the University, Ponce de Leon, the company’s majority shareholder, fired Tehrani in a move to establish herself as the firm’s owner.

“We need to regroup and figure out what our next move is,” Cornell’s University Architect Gilbert Delgado told The Cornell Review this afternoon.  “We’re trying to work through this and we’re considering our options.  This is not good news for us, but we are at a pivotal point.  We don’t have all the facts yet, we’re trying to work through them right now.”

The conflict stems from Tehrani’s agreement in 2003 to make Ponce de Leon Office dA’s majority shareholder.  As an effort to attract projects seeking female-owned firms, Tehrani handed over 51% of the company’s ownership share to his colleague of almost 20 years.  As majority shareholder, Ponce de Leon has allegedly claimed the rights to appoint new partners, make deductions from the company’s bank account, and most recently, change the building locks to prevent Tehrani from entering.

Hostility between the once romantically-involved coworkers began brewing in Dec. 2009 after Tehrani discovered Ponce de Leon had withdrawn $43,000 from the company’s account, according to The Globe.  Around the same time Tehrani was beginning design work on Cornell’s ‘means restrictive’ bridge barriers in Sept. 2010, he filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the firm.  Ponce de Leon has simultaneously filed suit, desiring the court to recognize her as the sole owner of Office dA. A Suffolk County Superior Court judge will begin arbitration of the lawsuits this week.

“Tehrani had informed us behind the scenes that there were some problems but he wasn’t real specific,” said Delgado.  “We didn’t think it would affect us that much, but it came to a very dramatic point to us this week.”

As Tehrani and Ponce de Leon continue to burn bridges, it is unclear how the firm’s contract with Cornell will be affected. University administrators told The Review on Wednesday that those who are responsible for overseeing the school’s contract with Tehrani will be evaluating whether or not Office dA is still the firm most capable of leading Cornell’s similarly controversial construction of permanent bridge barriers.

“We will be following this closely in the days ahead,” said Tommy Bruce, Vice President of University Communications, in an email to The Review. “It is always unfortunate to see a successful partnership come under such strains. I hope that the firm will be able to sustain the professionalism for which they are renowned.”

The bridge barrier designs have a long way to go.  Development of the pre-schematics, the different designs of the different versions, and the design of the actual final bridge barriers, still remains to be completed.  The majority of design work lies ahead, according to Delgado. The University and the city of Ithaca are scheduled to review the designs and make final decisions by a deadline of May 20, 2011.

Addition: As indicated in the comments below, Mr Tehrani has also been accused by Ponce de Leon of withdrawing $240,000 from the company account the day before she fired him.