Apr. 13--Martin-Harris Construction was granted a preliminary injunction against the Race Rock Restaurant that closed its downtown business earlier this week from removing equipment and furnishings, Frank Martin, president and chief executive officer of the Las Vegas construction company, said Thursday. 

Martin claims he's owed $1.4 million for construction costs on the 30,000-square-foot, race-themed restaurant that's built into the Fremont Street Experience parking garage, and already has a mechanics' lien against the property. 

He said Orlando, Fla.-based Race Rock International has paid about 90 percent of its $4.7 million construction contract, which increased by another $1 million with change orders. 

Speaking Thursday at his company's new offices at 3030 S. Highland Ave., Martin said he wanted to bring attention to the alarming trend of contractors not being paid for their work, such as those who've been embroiled in legal battles against The Venetian, Regent Las Vegas (formerly Resort at Summerlin) and Aladdin. 

Some of them have gone out of business waiting on payments while the lawyers argue their cases. 

Martin said he has run a construction firm for 24 years in Las Vegas and couldn't explain the recent rash of nonpayments. 

"I wish that I knew for sure," he said. "I think part of it is that our laws as they exist on the books today don't allow us enough protection. 

"For somebody to use our services without paying for it, there's something inherently wrong with that." 

Martin said there was $470,000 in retention money that was due contractors after the Race Rock opened in November 1999 and was never paid. While no liens were placed on the property when it opened, contractors had 90 days from "substantial completion" to file them. 

Andrew Newman, chairman and chief executive officer of Race Rock International, said he's paid everything on the contract he quoted at $4.2 million, plus some authorized changes. 

He contends additional expenditures went beyond the contract's guaranteed maximum price, sounding much like The Venetian's point taken against general contractor Lehrer McGovern Bovis. 

Martin said many of the changes were required by fire and building inspectors to bring the garage to code. 

"We didn't put an extra 50,000 pounds of steel in there because we wanted to," he said. 

Newman said the delay in construction of Neonopolis, a retail and entertainment complex touted by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman as a key to downtown redevelopment, hindered Race Rock's success. 

"That was one of the things in the mix as we looked forward to how things would be in the next year," he said. "We certainly were counting on Neonopolis to be part of the draw on our block. We still believe in the future of downtown." 

Newman is hoping to overcome the complexity of market conditions in downtown Las Vegas and intends to reopen Race Rock when Neonopolis is completed next spring. 

Martin said the Fremont Street Experience, owner of the parking garage and Race Rock's lessor, failed to file a notice of nonresponsibility on the project, so the mechanics' lien has rolled over to the building's owner. 

That's a legal question that will take at least a couple of years to resolve, said Mark Paris, president and chief executive officer of Fremont Street Experience. He said the date the agreement was filed is different than the date construction started. 

Martin said he sought the preliminary injunction against Race Rock April 6 after surveillance cameras at the garage recorded workers removing equipment. 

He wants to protect the race memorabilia on display in the restaurant, including stock cars, Indy cars, sprint cars, trucks, motorcycles and hydroplanes. He's going back to court next week to get a permanent injunction. 

Newman said some of the memorabilia is owned by individuals connected to the cars, while some of it is owned by Race Rock. 

Despite estimates of 21 million visitors to downtown Las Vegas in 2000, there was not enough steady traffic to sustain Race Rock's business, and its location beyond the Fremont Street canopy didn't help. 

George Connor, retail broker for Colliers International in Las Vegas, said it met the same fate as its themed-restaurant predecessors -- Country Star, Official All-Star Café, Motown Cafe and Nitro Grill. 

"It's a novelty item. The first time people see it, it's an attraction. But once you've seen it, you've seen it," he said. 

If it's in a great location, like the Rain Forest Cafe at MGM Grand or Planet Hollywood in The Forum Shops at Caesars, it's got a chance, Connor said. Even the NASCAR Cafe, which opened inside the Sahara hotel last year and was seen as competition for Race Rock, has maintained solvency with a limited clientele. 

But the novelty of a restaurant's interior has a tough time competing with so many great attractions in Las Vegas, he said. 

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(c) 2001, Las Vegas Review-Journal. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.