When Ozzie Arias saw a news segment about a local school band's instrument trailer being stolen and stripped, he did not hesitate to step up and help. He is the regional manager of Big Rig Collision (BRC) Coach and Transit in Las Vegas, Nev., and he knew his team could rally to repair it for Faith Lutheran High School.

Thieves stole a pickup truck and then proceeded to hook up the band’s trailer and steal it as well. They abandoned the stripped-down trailer underneath a Las Vegas overpass, completely damaged and the instruments taken.

Arias and the team at BRC were in a unique position to be able to help—BRC builds and repairs commercial vehicles such as semis, buses, and more. So, rebuilding a school’s band trailer was right in their proverbial wheelhouse.

“I thought, 'Let me reach out to them and just see if they would allow me to help them with the trailer,'” Arias said. “We had it towed in here with the assistance of some other vendors that helped us. We basically rebuilt that thing from the ground up—we paneled it, painted it, we upgraded it with new tires, wheels, brakes, jacks, I mean everything you can imagine. That thing left here looking amazing. They were so astonished when they saw it, they couldn't believe it.”

BRC is housed in the Tropical Speedway I location and has been operating in Las Vegas for 15 years. Recently, BRC has expanded to the Tropical Speedway Distribution Center with its sibling company, Big Rig Manufacturing (BRM), which partners with a company in the United Kingdom to build double-decker buses for North America. Arias says working with the Schnitzer Properties team has been great, and recalls meeting President and CEO Jordan Schnitzer to tour the Tropical Speedway Distribution Center after they had just moved in.

“We love it there,” Arias said. “The new building that we are in is down the street, and that's where a group, including Mr. Schnitzer, came down. And we had just moved in, so there wasn't really anything spectacular, but they came in to look at it. It’s a very nice piece of property, a great brand-new, state-of-the-art building.”

Arias says the best thing about being a Schnitzer Properties tenant is working with the Las Vegas team and how well they take care of the property.

“It's great,” Arias said. “Everything is nice and new, and [Portfolio Manager] Jaima Halliburton is as nice a person to deal with as you can get. I love him and [Assistant Property Manager] Denise Kunz as my managers.”