The SoHo Lofts is the much-touted debut project from young Las Vegas developer Sam Cherry. The $61 million building has been received glowingly in other publications as an avant-garde move to establish viable luxury living in downtown Las Vegas.
But underneath the hype, workers building the condos are complaining about safety and pay conditions. "This is the only one that we're tracking that is under current construction where people aren't getting health care," says Frank Hawk, senior representative of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, which oversees the local carpenters union in Las Vegas. "People aren't getting fringe benefits like pension, let alone (dealing with) working conditions that put you in an unsafe manner."
When it opens later this year, SoHo will feature 120 lofts—priced north of $400,000—as well as ground-floor shops. According to Hawk, the building has had several safety problems. Most notably, one worker fell 10 feet and tore several ligaments in his hip and back. "He can't even put a boot on," says carpenter Tony Estrada, one of several carpenters who met with the Weekly to talk about the new high-rise. The carpenters say the worker had not been trained on using a safety harness and that such safety training is common before a job begins.
Further, there are no covered walkways on the Las Vegas Boulevard side of the site, so pedestrians either have to cross the street at an intersection with no light, or hazard stepping onto the street. "You never want to put a pedestrian or tourist in the street if you don't have to," says carpenter Lenny Taylor.
Though the union says Cherry Development bears ultimate responsibility for the project, their real targets are the builders.
The general contractor on the project is Breslin Buildings. "Usually this company, Breslin, builds structures that are two or three stories, four at the tops," says Taylor. "And they're usually strip malls. Shopping malls, office buildings, that type of thing. They don't really have any experience that we know of doing high-rises."
Jack Breslin, president of Breslin Builders, says his staff has "deep experience" in high-rise work. "We're more than capable of doing the project."
The union's other focus is one of Breslin's subcontractors, Precision Concrete. According to documents reviewed by the Weekly, Precision issued safety harnesses to some of its workers, but made the workers pay for it by withdrawing money from workers' paychecks. This would appear to violate Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations that require employers to furnish safety devices to workers.
According to one Precision Concrete contract, a worker was required to pay $200 for a harness, and were the harness to be deemed "non-operational," the contract required the worker to purchase another one.
In response, several workers signed a petition demanding that Precision provide "all necessary safety devices and safeguards (including harnesses) without cost to employees" and that the subcontractor reimburse "all monies already deducted from our paychecks for the cost of safety equipment and cease from deducting any further monies from our paychecks."
Chad Stewart, president of Precision, says he would have no problem paying for the harnesses but says OSHA officials have told him he doesn't have to. Tom Czehowski, chief administrative officer of OSHA's Occupational Safety and Health Enforcement Section, says that if safety harnesses are required on the job site, "we would look for the employer to be providing them."
As is, the workers on the project are already being underpaid, says Hawk. Carpenters in the area make, on average, $27.93 an hour, plus health care and pension. The highest pay stubs he's seen on the SoHo project are around $20 an hour; some carpenters are being paid as low as $11 or $12 an hour. Even rookie carpenters, Hawk maintains, earn $14 an hour plus health care.
"We just don't think it's right for these people to put themselves in that position for $400 a week," Hawk says. "It gets pretty scary when you're strapped 19 floors up on the outside of the building." Stewart points out that union workers typically make more than non-union workers, but that there are some workers on the project earning above Hawk's average.
The developers and builders tell the Weekly that what is driving all this is the union's opposition to non-union contractors on such a big project. "The union, when they're making such allegations, it's done through personal motivation and special interest," says Ryan Stibor, legal counsel for Cherry Development.
"This isn't just an issue with Precision Concrete," Hawk responds. "This is the fact that this particular project is being handled so irresponsibly."
So far, the carpenters have been unsuccessful in their attempts to reach Cherry; they say their concerns have basically been dismissed by Breslin Builders.
But the workers aren't the only ones with complaints. Neighbors also have complaints—but, as it turns out, about the workers. Harry Wainwright lives a few blocks from the SoHo Lofts. He's gathered more than 80 signatures to protest noise the workers make and the trash they leave at the project. Of course, construction sites are loud by their nature, but Wainwright says workers often work from midnight to 5 a.m. "That's getting to be two, three, maybe four times a week. We don't believe it's fair," says Wainwright. Neighbors hope to present their petition before the city soon.
There has been some safety progress in recent weeks. A large orange net now hangs above the curb-front on the Las Vegas Boulevard side; it's already caught some debris. A manlift, the large elevators on the side of the building to ferry up supplies, or ferry down workers in an emergency, has been installed. And there are markers on 4th Street separating road traffic from construction traffic.
As SoHo continues to rise, Cherry is underway with another splashy project, the Newport Lofts at the corner of Casino Center and Hoover Boulevard, a few blocks away. The new tower features a dynamic angled roof shade. Hawk says the union is keeping their eye on future projects. "This project has really opened our eyes to look at other Cherry developments. We're gonna make sure that the letter of the law is followed."