By Brett Clarkson, Jeff Burbank
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — A fatal fire at an apartment complex in west Las Vegas is the latest of several major fires there since at least 2020.
One person was found dead on Tuesday and another remained missing after a blaze tore through one of the buildings at the Tides on Charleston complex at 6501 W. Charleston Blvd., west of South Torrey Pines Drive.
The Clark County coroner’s office on Wednesday had yet to release the identity of the person who died.
It also wasn’t yet publicly known who the missing person is.
The Las Vegas Fire Department said Tuesday that seven people were injured in the fire, including a firefighter who suffered minor injuries and was cleared to return to duty.
Six other people were hospitalized and 18 people were displaced, fire officials said.
The department stated in an email Wednesday that it was still investigating the cause and other aspects of the blaze and did not release further information.
Previous fires
In February 2020, a fire broke out at the same complex, which was then called the Lantana Apartments, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal archives.
In that blaze, 19 people including five children were displaced after fire fully engulfed the second floor of a two-story wood-frame building with eight apartments at the complex. Damage was estimated at roughly $500,000.
In June 2022, about 75 firefighters responded to a fire at the Lantana Apartments that was also estimated to have caused $500,000 in damages. One person was hospitalized with smoke inhalation and more than 20 were displaced in that fire.
Authorities on Wednesday did not provide the cause of those fires.
A phone call to the office of the Tides on Charleston, run by PMG Property Management at the complex, was answered by a person who said “we’re not commenting.”
Another call to the firm’s main office in Scottsdale, Arizona, listed on its website, wasn’t returned and the company’s voicemail was full Wednesday.
The sprawling series of low-rise buildings, with 516 units, constructed in 1980, is on two land parcels, one extending to West Charleston to the north and another along Torrey Pines to the east, Clark County assessor records show.
Los Angeles-based owner
The owner of the complex is the Los Angeles company Tides Equities, which owns 23 other Tides apartment complexes in Southern Nevada where its holdings include 6,500 units and an investment of $1.7 billion, according to the company’s website.
Tides Equities, under the name “Tides at Charleston Owner, c/o R Andrade S Kia,” bought the property from Houston-based Lantana Apartments, LLC for $110 million in October 2021, based on county assessor records.
The name makes an apparent reference to the co-founders of the company who are Ryan Andrade and Sean Kia, based on its website.
An April 13 report from businesswire.com described the company as “ranked as one of the nation’s largest apartment owners,” with more than “31,500 units located across four major markets including Phoenix, Dallas, Austin and Las Vegas.”
The real estate news website therealdeal.com wrote on Feb. 3 that Tides Equities typically uses floating interest rate loans to buy complexes, “perform an assembly-line style renovation of its units” and then “hike rents” to set up “a lucrative resale” to new investors.
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