A Seekonk-based contractor says The Menkiti Group concealed a facade safety report warning of cracked and deteriorating stone at Worcester's Kane Building, all while withholding close to $1 million owed for the historic redevelopment's rehabilitation work. D.F. Pray filed the complaint in Worcester Superior Court, laying out a dispute that stretches from a 2025 engineering warning to a mechanic's lien on the property.
According to MassLive.com, D.F. Pray claims it is owed at least $1.1 million by The Menkiti Group, and the contractor is seeking court enforcement of a mechanic's lien it filed on the 204 Main St. property. The complaint alleges that Mark Rengel, identified as the Menkiti Group's vice president of development, disclosed an intent to withhold $804,750 from D.F. Pray and separately charged the contractor $140,500 in fees that are reportedly still accruing.
The dispute centers on the Kane Building, a long-vacant former office structure at 204 Main St. that The Menkiti Group set out to convert into 20 units of moderate-income housing alongside nearly 3,000 square feet of retail space, according to The Menkiti Group. The project cleared Worcester's Planning Board in 2023 without any proposed changes to the building's footprint or height, the city board noted at the time. A groundbreaking followed in 2025, with completion anticipated in 2026, and the effort drew $2.5 million in Housing Development Incentive Program tax credits plus a $650,000 MassDevelopment grant.
A Warning Allegedly Buried for Months
Per the complaint, an architectural consulting firm wrote a 22-page review of the 204 Main St. building in April 2025 warning of cracked and deteriorating stone, finding the conditions amounted to a safety hazard and recommending an aerial-lift assessment along with prompt removal of elements at risk of breaking off. D.F. Pray alleges Rengel directed the project architect to withhold that assessment from the contractor and later shared only limited, selected portions of the report, allegedly leaving out its life-safety details and recommended remediations.
By October 2025, D.F. Pray says it discovered on its own that the front precast stone panels were cracked, unstable and moving — panels the complaint says weighed about 400 pounds apiece and were held to the building by nothing more than existing wood strapping and a single nine-gauge wire connection. The complaint alleges Rengel took no action for six months while workers, members of the public and restaurant patrons walked beneath the panels.
The project's architect, Greg O'Connor, acknowledged per the complaint that previously unknown stones showed movement in and out of the facade, though he characterized the condition as unforeseen. O'Connor reportedly directed that overhead protection be installed over the sidewalk as soon as possible.
Court Fight Over Suspending Facade Work
D.F. Pray says it requested a formal suspension of facade work in November 2025 until a redesign could be completed, and the complaint claims Menkiti and Rengel refused to provide a design or extend the project deadline. The Menkiti Group ultimately put facade work on hold in January 2026 pending a revised scope of work, according to the complaint, but D.F. Pray says there was still no remediation plan in place and that overhead protection remained inadequate.
D.F. Pray asked a judge that same month to formally suspend the facade work, but the judge denied the request while reportedly warning that The Menkiti Group remained responsible for the building's conditions, per the complaint. The contractor says it finished the rest of its work by June 2026, with only the facade left outstanding, and the overhead protection was taken down in August 2026. The Kane Building's apartments are now being leased, according to the complaint, even as the facade dispute drags on.
The complaint also describes a billing fight layered on top of the safety allegations. Rengel reportedly claimed D.F. Pray delayed the project by 118 days and listed $165,000 in facade work as new scope outside the original contract — characterizations the complaint says, taken together with the alleged default, demonstrate bad faith on Rengel's part. D.F. Pray is asking the court to enforce its mechanic's lien and has requested that the building be sold if any judgment against the developer goes unpaid.
Wider Questions Over Worcester Development Rules
The complaint also raises Worcester's Responsible Development Ordinance, alleging The Menkiti Group violated it on the 204 Main St. project. The City of Worcester confirms it has adopted such an ordinance for projects participating in its Economic Development Incentive Program, which generally bars tax-exemption recipients from using contractors or subcontractors with violations in the prior three years.
That framework has already surfaced in a separate Menkiti Group project. Subcontractor Barber Drywall Inc., owned by Jay Barber, was cited for five violations total by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office — three in 2025 and two in 2024 — spanning failure to pay a prevailing wage, failure to submit payroll records, failure to make payments on time, and failure to provide records, per the same MassLive report. Barber previously told the outlet the violations stemmed from his company's work at Concord Middle School and that he plans to appeal the 2025 findings, which could total more than $80,000 if they stand, while he did not appeal the 2024 violations, which totaled more than $5,000.
The Menkiti Group, based in Washington, D.C., develops several other apartment projects in downtown Worcester, including 48 market-rate apartments at 401-409 Main St. and a planned 175-plus units at the Denholm Building on 484 Main St. The 401-409 Main St. project, estimated to cost $27 million, received more than $5 million in Healey administration tax credits. City Councilor Khrystian King said in March 2026 that he could not support moving a related tax exemption forward and expressed disappointment that Menkiti submitted no action plan to prevent future violations, while residents and local carpenters union members had urged the council not to approve the exemption. Not everyone on the council agreed with that stance — Keith Linhares argued government subsidies produce poor results for Worcester by meddling in supply and demand.
Massachusetts law allows a contractor entitled to enforce a mechanic's lien to record a notice in the registry of deeds for the county where the property sits, according to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 254, Section 2. The general notice of contract form calls for information about the claimant's written contract, the labor or materials involved, a description of the land, and the contract amount, per Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 254, Section 4. Section 4's actual-notice protection for inaccuracies applies specifically to a notice of identification. D.F. Pray's case was filed Oct. 29, 2026, in Worcester Superior Court.
