Neonopolis owners make payment to Las Vegas, $200K still owed
The owners of Fremont Street’s Neonopolis are beginning to pay down their hefty debt to Las Vegas.
FAEC Holdings Wirrulla LLC, which controls Neonopolis, cut Las Vegas a check July 27 for $24,541, two days after a Las Vegas Review-Journal story ran about the owners being in arrears. Another nine monthly payments of $24,034 will eliminate the rest of the debt.
An audit revealed more than a quarter of a million dollars in shared building costs due to the city.
Neonopolis developer Rohit Joshi contended he stopped receiving bills from the city, and contested some of the city’s charges.
“They reduced some of the stuff there were question marks about, and we resolved to both our satisfaction,” Joshi said Thursday.
The three-story retail center sits on top of a city parking garage. An audit of the city’s Parking Services division revealed the city had gone nearly a decade without being paid by Neonopolis for its share of operations, maintenance and repair costs, and oversight of the overdue funds fell through the cracks at City Hall.
The city initially billed the owners $296,876 after the audit, but removed some charges that were billed in error. After the first payment in July, the owners now owe the city $216,314.
Before the first July payment, the last time the city saw money from the Neonopolis owners was 2008.
In the past, the city sent out an annual bill for the shared costs. The audit uncovering the outstanding funds triggered a close tracking of the balance due, Parking Services Manager Brandy Stanley said last month.
City officials are also asking for audited financial statements from the company, Stanley wrote last week in an email to top city officials.
An agreement between the city and Neonopolis lays out shared costs for the city’s underground parking garage and Neonopolis, the roughly 250,000-square-foot privately owned retail center above it, for things like the elevator system, emergency generator and the fire pump room.
After the audit, the city in March sent a certified letter requesting payment. That went unanswered, and on April 20 a demand notice went out, requesting payment within 30 days.
Neonopolis, the $100 million building project on the corner of Fremont and Las Vegas Boulevard, was finished in 2002 and has at times struggled to retain tenants. The complex now houses a range of businesses including the Heart Attack Grill, the Millennial Esports Arena and Telemundo.
Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @JamieMunksRJ on Twitter.
