Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Lake Tahoe in Stateline announced a change in its management team on Wednesday, Oct. 14. Attorneys for the owners were back in court Wednesday, Oct. 28, challenging a claim by a contractor that it had not been paid yet.
A Reno company suing the owners of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has released the lien it had on the property according to the Douglas County Recorder’s Office.
SMC Construction filed a lawsuit on May 4, 2015, claiming the cost of work on the Stateline casino nearly doubled from the agreed upon $9.6 million.
As recently as May 31, SMC’s attorneys were taking depositions in the effort to prove that owners Jon and David Park deliberately misled them.
A management agreement with Las Vegas firm Paragon HRLT Holdings LLC approved by the Gaming Control Board in February resulted in a deed of trust filed with the Recorder’s Office on June 8. Within a week, 16 contractors released or assigned liens, including SMC and other plaintiffs Savage & Sons and Tahoe Specialty Flooring and Window Design.
The Record-Courier has attempted to contact Reno attorney Michael Springer and the Parks to learn if the lawsuit has been settled.
According to the Assessor’s Office, Neva One continues to own the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. A search of the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office lists Jon and David Park as the officers of Neva One, the company they formed after Park Cattle and Edgewood Companies split in fall 2013.
Park Cattle received the former Horizon and the Carson Valley cattle ranches in the deal.
The Horizon closed on April 1, 2014, for renovation, which the Parks said at the time would be aimed at younger visitors.
On July 17, 2014, Parks announced the Horizon would be a Hard Rock when it reopened.
According to court documents, SMC bid $15.6 million on the original project, which was negotiated down to $9.6 million before the Parks agreed. In the following months, there were allegedly nine architectural revisions by mid-November.
Work began to accelerate as the Jan. 28, 2015, opening date approached, with SMC’s Hard Rock Project Manager Joe Stewart testifying that by November the architect had given up trying to track change orders.
Stewart testified that during a Dec. 31, 2014, conference call he was told to do whatever it took to complete the project for the opening date.
Three change orders increased the cost of work from $9.6 million to $14.8 million, according to Stewart.