LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nearly a month after their businesses were reduced to rubble, several business owners at University Gardens across from UNLV say they're now fighting another battle.
WATCH | Business owners left in limbo after fire destroys UNLV shopping center, landlord goes silent
Several owners claim they're still waiting to be made whole but haven't heard from their landlord since the blaze, and they want their security deposit and prepaid rent back. Crews are already demolishing what's left of their burned out building.
Owners Marsean and Trish Nelson of Tastebudz Creole Kitchen tell me the site was hard to see.
“This is my first time seeing the demo equipment in there, they’re knocking down our dream, they’re knocking down our baby," Marsean said. “It’s like going to a funeral. It’s surreal, heart wrenching, devastating.”
Marsean and Trish just opened this new location at the University Gardens Shopping Center at the start of 2025. I asked him if they ever thought they'd be in this position after opening up.
“Did you ever think you’d be in this spot when you opened it? Absolutely not, I couldn’t even fathom it," Marsean said.
He says his family was on a roadtrip three days in when they got the news, and the high of family fun and celebration was immediately interrupted when they learned around 8 a.m. on July 25. He says while it was horrific news, he couldn't imagine receiving notice like that in any other place, except with his family.
He tells me so many memories went through his head of late nights working together and enjoying the family they've built there.
“Everybody leaving out so happy and so full and so full of love to what we see know, ashes," he said.
He tells me since then, he has had no contact with his landlord, leaving his business and several others left in limbo.
“We’re just asking for what’s due to us. We’re just asking for a little bit of humanity, a little bit of compassion and it seems like we can’t find it from our landlord. He’s nowhere to be found," he said.
WATCH | Ryan Ketcham talks to locals who frequented local strip mall
I reached out to try and find the building owners. According to the Clark County Assessor's website, the owner is listed as Las Vegas University Gardens LLC.
I spoke to the leasing agent who initially connected these businesses to the property. He says he's not actively working with these businesses, but he did tell me the property owners won't speak to the media.
“It doesn’t shock me, it doesn’t shock my wife. It shows exactly who they are," Marsean said.
Not only are the businesses burned down, but so are ones connected to the building. Marsean tells me while he has another location, but many at University Gardens don't.
“We’re talking about people’s whole line of income, everything that they’ve depended on for all of these years, came to a screeching halt," he said.
Marsean tells me not receiving any rent or deposit back is putting them out more than $20,000 and says some businesses could be near $30,000.
To try and make up that cost they started a GoFundMe page, as they plan to try and open a new location — and eventually rebuild this one.
The Nelsons currently have a food truck and an original location off of Decatur Boulevard.
Tenants like the Nelsons have a lot of questions, including if the landlord is responsible for paying these business owners back.
I got some answers. A local attorney tells me, according to state law, if the tenant is not at fault and the business cannot operate inside, then they are required to pay back any security deposits and prepaid rent.
Marsean says that's all they want.
"That’s all we’re asking for," he said.
As for who's at fault, I also reached out to the Clark County Fire Department. They told me Monday, the fire is still under investigation and it may take longer than usual due to access to the damage.
Last month the county told us an undetermined cause is likely to be the case due to all the damage.