Neonopolis boss fires arts center president

By Mark Hansel

Friday, Feb. 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The recent turmoil in the local arts community continues, this time at the Southern Nevada Center for the Arts.

On the heels of the announcement that the Las Vegas Art Museum will close, the Southern Nevada Center for the Arts has fired its president.

The center opened last month as part of Neonopolis, along with the adjacent Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art.

Rohit Joshi, the owner’s representative at Neonopolis in downtown Las Vegas and the man who fired Carl Corcoran, said Corcoran was let go because of mismanagement at the arts center.

“There were some problems that we tried to get solved, but in the end we just had to let him go,” Joshi said.

Corcoran says he was forced out because Joshi wanted to take it over.

“This is the reason nothing works down here, because of the way Joshi does business,” Corcoran said.

Corcoran believes he was acting as the owner of the center, while Joshi said Corcoran was merely a representative of Neonopolis.

The Southern Nevada Center for the Arts is a working artists’ showcase in the old food court at Neonopolis. The center is a combined studio and showroom that allows the public to see artists at work and purchase art. It is modeled after the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Va.

Joshi said Corcoran’s exit will have no effect on day-to-day operations at the center.

Corcoran said the idea to model the center after the Virginia facility was his, and he believed he was signing artists to letters of intent and ultimately to leases, with the understanding that he would eventually take over operation of the center.

Joshi said Corcoran overstepped his authority, failed to keep adequate records and persuaded prospective tenants to write checks directly to him, which Corcoran then cashed.

Joshi said Corcoran put a lot of effort into signing tenants and assisting with the build out of the artists’ spaces, but repeated attempts to get him to provide more accurate records were rebuffed.

Corcoran admits Joshi put up most of the money for the build outs of the artists’ spaces, which strengthens Joshi’s argument that Corcoran was an employee.

But Corcoran said Joshi contributed heavily to the renovations because he wanted to fill the property.

When talks to open the center began last summer, Neonopolis had a lot of vacant space, with only the struggling Jillian’s restaurant that has since closed, Del Prado Jewelers, the newly opened Taste of California deli and Galaxy Theatres as tenants. Since then, Joshi has added a major anchor tenant in Telemundo, the Spanish-language television station and has signed a deal with CBS to bring the Star Trek Experience and several restaurants and a nightclub to Neonopolis. He said he is close to signing deals with other major tenants that would fill the property.

Several tenants have acknowledged writing checks directly to Corcoran at his request, but were not concerned because he was the president of the center and they received lease agreements or letters of intent.

Neonopolis has taken over management of the center, and Joshi said he will make good on all of the lease agreements Corcoran has entered into on behalf of the center

“Everyone who can show they have a lease here will have that lease honored,” Joshi said.

Corcoran admits he had some tenants make checks out to him, which he cashed, but said the money was either owed to him by Joshi or was a sublet of his own space, which he claims he was entitled to keep. He admits the practice was unusual, but says it is the only way he could be assured he would get paid.

Joshi is conducting an internal audit to determine what deals Corcoran made, whether money is unaccounted for and, if so, how much, at which point Joshi said he will turn the information over to Metro Police to determine if criminal charges are warranted.

Corcoran said he has talked to attorneys and will decide in the next few days if he plans to pursue legal action against Joshi or Neonopolis.