Land-use consultant Nathan Taylor says a proposed downtown Las Vegas nightclub he was hired to advocate for at City Hall was supposed to be a shoe-in.
“This one was one of the easier ones,” he said about the application process.
But what began as a routine discussion at a March 11 Planning Commission meeting devolved into a squabble that led to Taylor’s public firing and the arrest on an out-of-state warrant of his now-former client.
Video from the public meeting captured the incident that stemmed from a disagreement about who was speaking on behalf of the applicant, Bilal Razzaq, of Sidrazz Investments, LLC.
Razzaq walked toward Taylor and pointed, as if signaling for him to leave.
Taylor, president of Taylor Consultant Group, said his client had threatened to hurt him.
Taylor alleged that Razzaq told him, “I’m going to kick your ass,” as he demanded to meet him outside the government chambers.
“I thought I was about to take a punch,” Taylor told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I didn’t know how far he was going to take it, physically.”
Taylor filed a restraining order against Razzaq, which a Las Vegas judge approved on March 19, records show.
The Planning Commission voted for a “final approval” of the club that night.
But as a result of the incident, Councilwoman Olivia Diaz told the Review-Journal she requested the item be pulled back for “review” at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
Taylor said marshals pulled him and Razzaq aside as planning commissioners took a break in the discussion.
“Through the course of the interaction, it was learned that (Razzaq) had a felony warrant out of Texas for public order crimes,” a city spokesperson wrote in an email. He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center.
Razzaq, who isn’t facing charges for the City Hall incident, was later booked in Texas, according to Las Vegas court records.
It wasn’t clear what charges Razzaq was facing in Texas. Records related to his City Hall arrest were not immediately available.
His listed attorney for the warrant could not be reached for comment.
Steven Mack, a real estate attorney who represents Sidrazz, said Friday that Razzaq is no longer part of the investment entity.
Razzaq confirmed the split in a brief phone call, noting that he needed to speak with his attorney to comment further.
“I’m done with Las Vegas and I’m done with Nevada,” he said, without adding more.
Public meeting video partially captures confrontation
In video from the meeting, Taylor could be heard calling for help, though audio didn’t capture what Razzaq told him.
“Marshals, I’ve been threatened,” Taylor shouted.
Razzaq appeared perplexed.
“That’s on the record,” Taylor said. “I ask for him to be removed. This has never happened before in 25 years of me doing this.”
The men returned to the dais where Razzaq fired Taylor.
“Yes, we did retain Mr. Taylor,” Razzaq told planning commissioners. “I, as the owner of Sidrazz, would like him to be excused and not speak on my behalf anymore.”
Taylor said he’s never experienced anything similar at a public meeting.
“I’m dumbfounded with what’s going on,” he said in an interview. “This is not normal behavior at a planning commission meeting, for anybody.”
Commission Chair Jennifer Taylor initially tried to delay the discussion 60 days, but acknowledged that pushing it back “might tank the deal,” she said.
“We haven’t even gotten to public hearing yet and you guys have so much in-fighting going on that we can’t actually have a cogent conversation about conditions,” Jennifer Taylor said.
‘They’re going to bring business to downtown’
Sidrazz Investments wants to open a 10,000-square-foot nightclub at the site of the former Azul Tequila at 115 N. 7th Street at Fremont Street across from the Downtown Container Park.
City staff recommended approval for the special-use permit with conditions.
“My clients are going to employ about 30 people,” Nathan Taylor said. “I think that’s worth mentioning.”
He said the investment group does “a very good job” with a club they operate in Texas.
He said the investment group had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars renovating the Las Vegas property, which they leased.
“They’re going to bring business to downtown,” Taylor said. “It’s going to be another great addition to our entertainment district overlay.”
Taylor said the nightclub faced pushback from executives of the adjacent El Cortez hotel-casino and from the Downtown Project, which was founded by the late Tony Hsieh.
He alleged that El Cortez executives were “quite intimidating” in a meeting weeks earlier.
“I don’t think we need the blessing of anyone for a business that belongs in the entertainment district overlay,” Taylor said.
Noise concerns
Downtown Project attorney Dara Goldsmith said her client owns and operates about 60 properties in the area and the city staff’s report that Nathan Taylor cited failed to recognize all of the properties that would be affected by increased noise levels.
El Cortez CFO Joe Woody challenged Taylor’s interpretation of the meeting.
“We were not intimidating,” Woody said, adding that the hotel had invested significant funds for expansion plans.
“We want to make sure they adhere to that and we have an opportunity to object during this one-year period,” he said.
Taylor said city staff had been thorough in their report and disputed the fact that any conditions were agreed to in the first place.
Client happy with outcome
The consultant said that he was caught off-guard that Mack had made a deal with the hotel-casino and Downtown Project without informing him.
“The attorney went behind my back and made horrible deals on behalf of his client,” he added.
The attorney contended that Taylor had to do what was “best for his client” and that, too, was Mack’s job, he told the Review-Journal
“We all did that and my client was very happy with the outcome,” said Mack, noting that he represents the investment group and not Razzaq. “Whether or not the consultant was, that’s a different issue.”
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.