Monday, Jan. 29, 2007 | 7:25 a.m.
Despite Rohit Joshi's string of failed projects and more than $750,000 in civil judgments against him, Las Vegas city officials say that is not reason enough to seek Joshi's removal as developer of the troubled Neonopolis retail center.
To Jonn Keamy and former Major League Baseball star Darren Daulton, that proves only that Joshi has found his latest sucker.
Mayor Oscar Goodman asked City Attorney Brad Jerbic to investigate allegations against Joshi stemming from the civil judgments and three failed projects, one of them in Las Vegas.
Jerbic determined that while the claims have some merit, they alone are not enough for the city to attempt to replace Joshi.
"There is a party or two that has a dispute, but we have no way of knowing what is accurate," Jerbic said of the claims, detailed by Keamy at a recent council meeting. "It looks like a private party dispute that doesn't have an effect on this development."
Keamy, who represents three people with claims against Joshi, disagrees.
Keamy said he thought the tough stance that council members took toward people requesting appeals of work card denials at the meeting boded well for his clients.
"I find it unusual that the city will rake someone over the coals who is trying to get a work permit and turn their life around, but looks the other way on these allegations totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars," Keamy said.
Daulton, one of those who won a judgment against Joshi, has even stronger feelings on the subject.
"That guy (Joshi) is a crook and people need to know that," Daulton said.
Joshi has acknowledged the judgments against him, but disputes the court decisions and is trying to get them overturned.
Jerbic, noting that civil claims often are a "he said, he said" situation, stressed that a judgment is not the same as a finding of guilt.
Keamy, though, argues that the pattern that emerges from Joshi's past business dealings requires closer scrutiny than the city has given to date. The city has not contacted any of the individuals he represents to ask for details about the disputes, Keamy said.
Fourteen-year major-leaguer Daulton, whose career with the Philadelphia Phillies and Florida Marlins included two World Series appearances and a championship, said he has spent more than five years and $50,000 pursuing a now-$260,000 judgment against Joshi.
Daulton was awarded the judgment in a failed housing, retail and sports complex deal in Florida with Joshi in 2001.
Daulton said Joshi approached him in the spring of 1999, a time when Daulton was looking for a project that would take him comfortably into retirement. The proposed 900-acre complex, which was being developed with the blessing of city leaders in Winter Springs, Fla., seemed a perfect fit.
"He had everybody fooled," Daulton said. "They gave him an office in City Hall."
The deal began to unravel in July of 1999, when Joshi defaulted on a deal to purchase 400 acres of land crucial to the development.
Joshi told city leaders in Winter Springs that the land was overpriced and it would have been unprofitable to purchase it. Ultimately the deal fell apart and Joshi left town.
Joshi maintained at that time that the $50,000 that Daulton had put up was a nonrefundable deposit, not an investment as Daulton claimed. Courts, however, ruled in favor of Daulton. The judgment, originally set at $161,000, has since increased to $260,000 through fines and penalties.
Daulton says now he questions Joshi's sincerity in developing the project, suggesting that Joshi uses such proposals as a front to live a lavish lifestyle at the expense of investors who believe they are involved in legitimate projects.
Recently, Daulton visited Las Vegas, hoping to confront Joshi about the outstanding judgment. But when Daulton went to Joshi's office in Neonopolis, Joshi wasn't in.
"I want(ed) to ask him where my money is," Daulton said.
In a statement released through a spokesman, Joshi said: "The issue between Mr. Daulton and myself is a legal one, and I have directed that all communication be handled through my attorney. There is no reason to meet personally with him."
Neonopolis, a 250,000-square-foot, $100 million retail center at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street, has struggled financially since opening in May 2002. The city hoped it would turn the corner when it was sold last year, but despite the national exposure of its custom-built Poker Dome, it still has only three anchor tenants.
Joshi brokered the $25 million cash deal in which FAEC Holdings Wirrulla Hayward bought the structure last year from Prudential Real Estate Holdings. Joshi works for Wirrulla Hayward, not the city.
Daulton said the city - which owns the parking garage beneath Neonopolis and its foundation, giving it a $33 million investment in the project - should be concerned, not just because of the previous judgments against Joshi, but because Neonopolis fits a familiar profile.
In 1999 Joshi persuaded Pahrump officials to lease him 70 acres of town property for 55 years at $1 per year to build a movie studio. Silver Star Studios never came to fruition, however, and by the time the project collapsed, public outcry over the sweetheart deal had cost the city manager his job and had the entire Town Board in hot water with constituents.
Joshi's dealings with Las Vegas City Hall offer a similar story line, with Joshi again telling a desperate city he is the answer to its problem.
Having watched Neonopolis founder since its inception, city leaders looked to Joshi as the project's savior.
"That's what he does," Daulton said. "He looks for people or cities that are eager for development projects and lures them in, then the projects don't materialize and he walks away."
Joshi says he has no intention of walking away from Neonopolis and has submitted several development plans to the city.
"I have been working earnestly with city staff, the mayor and various council members for several months to explore and develop options for the redevelopment of Neonopolis, and I think we have a strong working relationship," Joshi said in his statement.
"Mr. Jerbic's comment reaffirms that belief. Together, I know we will come up with something very positive for downtown."
City officials, however, have become increasingly wary of Joshi's plans because the complex has more than 20 empty shops and two of the three anchor tenants are struggling.
In addition, the city has had little contact with Wirrulla Hayward, the company that owns the property.
Goodman admitted at a recent council meeting that he had never before heard of Wirrulla Hayward.
Now that he has, he and the council members hope that the acquaintance will not prove to be an unpleasant one.
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