UPDATE: Construction worker killed in scaffolding collapse at Tivoli Village
KTNV
Priya Mathew
2:36 PM, Aug 22, 2016
6:28 PM, Aug 22, 2016
LATEST: The management team at Tivoli Village released the following statement after 4 p.m. Monday:
“We are incredibly shocked and saddened by today’s tragic construction incident. On behalf of our partners and construction team, we express our heartfelt condolences. Out of respect for the victim and those investigating, all construction activity on the site has ceased and will only continue when it is deemed safe to do so. Safety and security are our top priorities for all of those who work, shop and visit Tivoli Village. To that end, we are cooperating with Metro, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, OSHA and all other necessary parties to ensure the proper investigation and continued safety protocol as this project moves forward.”
Las Vegas Fire and Rescue says that all information concerning the circumstances of the accident will be released by OSHA. The identity of the deceased worker will be released by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.
UPDATE: A construction worker reportedly died from injuries. Investigators say 3 people were on the scaffold at the time. 2 were able to jump to safety. The victim has not been identified. Check back for updates.
ORIGINAL STORY:
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- A construction worker is seriously injured after an accident involving collapsed scaffolding at Tivoli Village.
The incident occurred Monday afternoon around 1:58 p.m.. at 302 S. Rampart Boulevard near Charleston Boulevard.
Rescue efforts are currently underway.
Copyright 2016 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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News 3 has confirmed the identity of a construction worker who fell to his death at the Tivoli Village project on the Northwest side of town.
A family member says 28-year-old Ricardo Bautista fell to his death when a scaffold collapsed approximately 20-feet above the ground. Bautista was described as a family man with three children. He was also described as a workaholic.
According to Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, when firefighters arrived on the scene, they found the worker on the ground.
The accident occurred just before 2 p.m. Monday afternoon at 302 S. Rampart Blvd.
Las Vegas Fire and Rescue tweeted that at the time of the accident, three workers were on the scaffold when it collapsed.
One worker News 3 spoke with said he witnessed the horrible accident. He said two of the workers were able to jump to safety as the scaffolding slowly collapsed. The third worker, said the witness, was trapped beneath.
The witness said that all three workers were also wearing protective harnesses when the accident occurred.
"I see the scaffolding tip over and it slowly collapsed. Somebody fell off the scaffolding," said Andrew Valenzuela, a fellow worker. "It slowly tilted over and then it slowly collapsed. It took like ten minutes."
Valenzuela says one by one, the scaffolds fell on the worker. He says he feels for the family of the construction worker who lost his life.
"Devastating, man, something like that to happen," said Valenzuela. "Family lose their father."
Tivoli Village Management released the following statement about the accident:
"We are incredibly shocked and saddened by today’s tragic construction incident. On behalf of our partners and construction team, we express our heartfelt condolences. Out of respect for the victim and those investigating, all construction activity on the site has ceased and will only continue when it is deemed safe to do so. Safety and security are our top priorities for all of those who work, shop and visit Tivoli Village. To that end, we are cooperating with Metro, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, OSHA and all other necessary parties to ensure the proper investigation and continued safety protocol as this project moves forward.”
The second phase of Tivoli Village has been under expansion for the past two years. This is the first deadly accident according to workers on site.When completed it will include a new parking garage, as well as more restaurant and retail space. For now, the project has stalled until OSHA, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration can complete its investigation. That could take several weeks.
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Why progress on Tivoli Village expansion is bogged down
Mikayla Whitmore
Slow-moving construction continues on an expansion project Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, at the retail and dining complex Tivoli Village.
By Eli Segall
Thursday, August 27, 2015 - 2 a.m.
Updated: Aug. 27, 2015 10:41 a.m.
Diners and workers at Social Bistro & Wine Bar, a restaurant in Tivoli Village, have a close-up view of the Las Vegas property’s expansion. And lately, staff say, there hasn’t been a whole lot of action.
Three buildings are under construction nearby, but one is just a steel frame and “has been the same since I’ve been here,” said cook Peter Witter, who’s been on the job a few months.
Joel Finkielsztein, a line cook, said he recently spoke with other workers at the Mediterranean-themed shopping and office complex near Summerlin, and “nobody knows what’s going on.”
Construction at Tivoli Village
Construction crews are working, but not around the clock, and while the project has made big advances this year, things are sluggish at times, according to employees at Tivoli.
“It’s slow coming,” one worker said.
Tivoli’s expansion — poised to bring more than 270,000 square feet of retail, offices and entertainment space — is one of the bigger commercial construction projects underway in the Las Vegas suburbs. But it’s years behind schedule, and management is staying mum on when it will open and which tenants are lined up.
The expansion isn’t the only delayed retail project in the neighborhood, and it comes amid hefty new competition: A few miles away, the 106-acre Downtown Summerlin opened last fall and has been luring shoppers, retailers and office users.
Meanwhile, a company is claiming in a lawsuit that Tivoli management signed a lease with it merely to trigger millions of dollars in funding for the expansion and then reneged on the rental contract.
Tivoli’s only announced tenant for the new portion is upscale home-furnishings store Restoration Hardware. Discount-clothing chain H&M has reportedly signed a lease, as well, and a local broker said hotel group Kimpton — known for sleek designs, pet-friendly properties and, as the broker put it, “good people watching” — has been in talks to open a hotel there between fall 2016 and spring 2017.
Tivoli, owned by Israeli conglomerate IDB Group, and Downtown Summerlin, owned by Dallas-based Howard Hughes Corp., “undoubtedly compete” for many of the same tenants. But thanks in part to the area’s demographics — Summerlin is one of the most affluent places to live in Las Vegas — both projects can succeed “if managed correctly,” said broker Dan Hubbard, a senior director of retail services with Cushman & Wakefield Commerce Real Estate Solutions.
One of the biggest problems for Tivoli has been its “lack of critical mass due to the limited size of the first phase, and the extended timing on getting the second phase completed,” Hubbard said. Landing Restoration Hardware and H&M was a “huge win” for Tivoli, he said, but the property’s success “will still ultimately depend” in part on signing other tenants.
Another broker, an industry veteran who described himself as a “cautious fan” of Tivoli, blamed the construction delays in part on Tivoli going after tenants who ultimately took space at Downtown Summerlin. He also said there’s “a lot of fatigue with people,” given how long the expansion has been planned.
“Everybody’s heard about it for so long,” he said.
Overall, Tivoli has fared “OK,” RCG Economics founder John Restrepo said. The stylish property has a number of restaurants that draw strong crowds, but he said other retailers there have "kind of suffered.”
“Personally, I don’t understand why they’re expanding at all at this point,” said broker Ray Germain, associate vice president of retail investments with Marcus & Millichap.
Efforts the past few weeks to interview Tivoli President Patrick Done about the project's timeline and tenants were ultimately denied by a public relations representative.
Tivoli management announced in May that Restoration Hardware, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, would be the new portion’s anchor tenant. The four-level store was set to open in 2016, the news release said.
Restoration Hardware spokeswoman Emily Reaman said this week that “we do not have any further information to share” at this time.
Kimpton, based in San Francisco, operates more than 60 hotels.
"At this point we don’t have any news to share. …I look forward to talking with you down the road," spokesperson Brandyn Hull said, in response to inquiries about the possible hotel at Tivoli.
Tivoli’s expansion is a long time coming. Built during the boom years at Rampart Boulevard and Alta Drive, Tivoli was supposed to open in 2009 with 500,000 square feet of retail and 200,000 square feet of offices, but then the recession hit. Developers considered mothballing the project but chose to build in phases instead.
The first portion opened in spring 2011. In fall 2012, Done said the second and final phase — the current expansion — was expected to be completed in late 2013. But construction didn’t begin until October 2013, and at that time, developers expected to finish in spring 2015.
About five months after construction began, New York-based Carlton Group announced that IDB had hired the firm to sell a 50 percent stake in its Las Vegas real estate holdings. The portfolio included Tivoli; a dozen unsold units at high-rise condo complex One Queensridge Place; and almost 20 acres of nearby land.
At the time, Carlton said H&M and Restoration Hardware had signed leases for 25,000-square-foot and 70,000-square-foot stores, respectively, in the new section.
A call to Carlton seeking comment for this story was not returned, and efforts to speak with H&M also were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed in May by First 100 LLC — which buys delinquent accounts from community associations which then foreclose on properties in exchange — claims that it signed a lease for office space at Tivoli in spring 2013. The Las Vegas company received 40 months of free rent, a perk valued at more than $2 million, says the lawsuit in Clark County District Court.
However, in late 2013, Tivoli allegedly terminated the lease with “a curt” four-line letter and changed the locks on First 100’s offices, without first getting an eviction notice or hearing, the lawsuit claims.
While first meeting with First 100, the landlord said the amount of space the company wanted “would satisfy” a rental threshold that would let Tivoli “access ‘millions of dollars’ of funding or financing” for the expansion project, the suit alleges.
According to the complaint, Tivoli signed the lease “for the purpose of” getting that money. Management “defrauded and deceived” First 100, as the landlord “did not intend to honor” the lease, the lawsuit claims.
Hashem Karoum, general counsel for Tivoli Village, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
IDB developed Tivoli and One Queensridge — two 18-story towers across Rampart — with Las Vegas-based EHB Cos. The two companies reportedly split ways a few years ago, with IDB taking control of Tivoli and One Queensridge.
Before that, EHB filed plans with the city in spring 2011 to build a 750,000-square-foot indoor mall and 100 condo-type units across the street from Tivoli. The company had bought the 23-acre site, adjacent to shopping center Boca Park, from City National Bank, which had foreclosed on it.
The planned mall, dubbed Las Vegas Renaissance, was poised to be connected to Tivoli via a pedestrian bridge over Alta Drive, and slated to open by spring 2015.
Today, however, the fenced-off dirt site is empty with no signs of work. On a project sign, space has been blackened out under the words “For leasing information on this enclosed retail center.”
City National sued the landowner in spring 2013. The lender claimed it gave a $4.7 million loan to the buyer, who allegedly owed that much and more by the time the lawsuit was filed.
Asked for an update on the mall’s development plans, EHB President Frank Pankratz said: “We’re in litigation, so I can’t provide any further comment.”
