Hard Rock Hotel & Casino operations still rockin’ despite legal dispute

On Wednesday, the Park brothers reassured customers that a legal dispute with the general contractor won’t affect operations at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe.

A lien filed in Minden by Reno firm SMC Construction Co. seeks a payment of $9.6 million as a result of what they claim is rushed work that doubled the cost of constructing the casino.

In a written statement issued Wednesday, the Parks said that the contract they have with SMC requires the company to provide documentation of that work. According to court documents, SMC claims the Parks didn’t ask for an audit until after the bill was presented.

“We understand that change orders will occur on any major construction project,” said Jon Park, manager of Neva One LLC. “Our contract requires that supporting documentation must be provided in this situation. There are certain things that we need to see, including the backup information, in order to process the change orders.”

David Park, also a Neva One manager, said that he and his brother Jon have been personally involved in discussions aimed at resolving the matter.

“Our preference has been to resolve this directly with the parties involved, rather than airing this dispute in the media,” he said.

“Because of our respect for business confidentiality, as well as legal considerations, we have been hesitant to make public statements on the matter.”

Park said that Neva One felt compelled to issue Wednesday’s statement because of the continued public statements made by SMC.

According to the Hard Rock Casino Lake Tahoe’s website the 25,000-square-foot casino has 500 slot machines and a variety of table games. The hotel features 539 guest rooms.

Neva One was formed after Park Cattle split off from Edgewood Companies in fall 2013.

Park Cattle got the former Horizon and the Carson Valley cattle ranches.

The Parks also own the Overland Restaurant & Pub in Gardnerville which is under renovation and is expected to reopen this spring.