The billion-dollar Legends at Sparks Marina project has helped certain businesses within the area grow in a time when many are closing their doors or cutting staffing levels.
Oakcrest Landscaping performed a significant majority of landscaping at the massive development project. Originally contracted to install and maintain landscaping at the site, Oakcrest Landscaping took on the additional responsibility of housekeeping duties at Legends after forming a strong business relationship with Legends General Manager Dennis McGovern.
"As Scheels opened and Jazz opened, I took advantage of their labor that they had here to help me with housekeeping," McGovern says. "They were great to work with, and we sat day one day and I said, 'Listen, there is not a lot of rocket science involved with cleaning an outside center. Are you interested in expanding your company to pick up the housekeeping services for this facility?'"
Oakcrest hired six additional workers for housekeeping at Legends, which celebrated its grand opening June 18.
"The partnership has been fantastic, especially at a time when work is scarce," Oakcrest owner Jeff Claypool says.
Oakcrest won the job at Legends through low bid and its work at Golden Eagle Regional Park, Claypool says. During the peak construction, Oakcrest employed 16 at Legends, including supervisors. Meeting deadlines set by RED Development and Q&D required a team effort, Claypool says, led by project superintendent Terry Kaufman.
"We had just finished Golden Eagle, and we had had proven we could handle a job this size," Claypool says. "I definitely owe it to my staff for getting it done. I know I have the best people there are in this valley; one person can't accomplish it all it takes a lot of people thinking together."
Legends will use J&B Sweeping Company of Reno to clean parking lots, and it will contract with a local electrical company to service the lighting at the site. Although Rockwell Security is a firm that RED Development hired to service its Kansas City Legends project, the company opened a branch office here and hired locally to staff the Legends at Sparks Marina project.
In addition to helping some companies grow, Legends will continue to work with many of the contractors that built the place, McGovern says.
"If they were instrumental in construction of the property, it makes all the sense in the world for me to keep using them because they know the property," he says. "You develop that business rapport and relationship with a group of good people, and you really can make a win-win out of it."
