Molasky, Park Towers developer in lien dispute

Kevin Ferguson

Monday, July 23, 2001 | 11:13 a.m.

Park Towers at Hughes Center, a luxury condominium development just east of the Las Vegas Strip, is at the center of an ugly dispute between the developer and the project's general contractor.

High Rise JV LLC., the project developer headed by longtime Las Vegas builder Irwin Molasky, said today that general contractor J.A. Jones Construction has filed an arbitration claim for alleged insufficient payment for various services rendered.

High Rise JV said in a statement the services in question either failed to meet the standards of the developer or the services were not completed.

J.A. Jones President John Bond disputed those claims, and said the developers changed several design plans late in the process that led to more work and a higher cost of development.

"We complied with every direction of the developer from the inception to the completion," Bond said.

The $120 million condominium development consist of units ranging from 2,200 square-feet to 10,000 square feet penthouse suites. The condos range in price from $720,000 to $4 million.

In conjunction with the arbitration claim, J.A. Jones has filed an $18.9 million lien on the project.

Nevertheless, the lien will not hinder the completion of the twin-tower 84-unit luxury high-rise condominium development, Molasky said in a statement.

"Our residents should feel confident that this will be taken care of (without) any disruption," he said.

Molasky and representatives from High Rise were scheduled to meet as soon as Aug. 7 with J.A. Jones officials to resolve outstanding issues on the project when the arbitration claim and lien notice arrived.

Molasky said his partners plan to resolve these issues "amicably," but issued a terse statement toward the general contractor:

"We will stand our ground relative to the issues with J.A. Jones and defend them vigorously on fact and principal," he said in a statement.