Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Vegas company sues Irish partner over condo development

The Las Vegas-based co-developer of an upscale condominium project in the southwest valley filed a lawsuit today accusing its Irish partner of hijacking the development.

Glen, Smith & Glen Development plans to close the sales office of Sullivan Square on Friday, but Kenneth Smith, the firm’s managing partner and president, said Irish-based Harcourt Developments will apparently open a new sales office and start construction on the 16.5-acre project this summer. He said he’s uncertain of Harcourt’s plans since its partner is no longer communicating with him.

Smith revealed his company’s legal strategy to the Las Vegas Sun today after the newspaper asked earlier this week about speculation the project had been canceled.

The lawsuit alleges that Glen, Smith & Glen has been financially exploited and defrauded by Harcourt, which had committed to finance the project’s $800 million in construction costs. Harcourt had been paying Glen, Smith & Glen to oversee the project, but quit doing so at the end of last year and owes millions of dollars, officials said.

“They were engaged in a classic force out,” Glen, Smith & Glen attorney John Manly said. “They are trying to steal this project. Essentially, they stopped paying, not because of market conditions, but because all of the indications are they plan to build the project. They are forcing them out and taking the profits.”

Pat Doherty, one of Ireland’s most successful developers, heads Harcourt. Andrew Parker Bowles, the former husband of British Prince Charles’ wife, Camilla, is a director of the firm.

The company could not be reached for comment today.

Glen, Smith & Glen, a commercial and residential developer, is the one who acquired the site in the southwest Las Vegas Valley. It tsought out Harcourt as a partner, and the Irish firm secured financing from the Anglo-Irish Bank, Smith said. Under the terms, Glen, Smith & Glen retained a 40 percent interest and Harcourt would cover the expenses, he said

“We were doing all the work and they would bring in the money,” Smith said.

The problems started last fall when Harcourt made only partial payments to consultants or didn’t pay them at all for work. Excavation and utility work started last summer, and Harcourt started pushing the construction timetable back month after month last fall, Smith said.

Eight liens and two lawsuits have been filed by firms against Sullivan Square totaling more than $2 million and back payments owed to consultants and vendors total another $2 million, Smith said.

Smith said he met with Doherty two months ago and received assurances from him that the project would be funded and back on track but nothing happened. That inaction forced him to pursue legal action.

Smith said it appears Harcourt is going forward with the project because he heard from a broker calling his firm about its plans to open a sales center. In addition, there was apparently a letter sent to its contractor Martin Harris that construction would begin in July.

Sullivan Square had 95 signed contracts in escrow and 30 pending, Smith said. The first block is to have 485 of the 1,300 units built. The development was also expected to feature offices and retail.

Manly said Glen, Smith & Glen will seek lost profits and punitive damages, but didn’t know what the amounts would be.

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