A contractor has told the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority that demolishing the vacant Riviera Hotel & Casino and paving over that 26-acre site could cost up to $42 million.
Last February, the Authority purchased the Riviera for $182.5 million, plus $8.5 million in transaction costs. The Authority intends to use this space to expand the Las Vegas Convention Center out to the Las Vegas Strip, according to the Associated Press.
On August 11, the Authority’s board of directors unanimously approved a plan to demolish the Riviera and pave over the land rather than let the building sit vacant while the Authority finds the $2.3 billion needed to increase the size of the convention center to 5 million sf, from its current 3.1 million sf.
The contractor, Terry Miller of Cordell Corp., which is managing the Las Vegas Convention Center District project, told the board he expects the demolition would require an implosion as well as a teardown. However, the precise cost of that razing won’t be known until the Authority officially bids out the job.
The board had already rejected an alternative proposal that called for maintaining the vacant historic building—Las Vegas’s first high-rise resort when it opened on April 20, 1955—while demolition financing was sought. Miller estimated that option would have cost between $5 million and $10 million per year.
The 60-year-old Riviera, which closed on May 4, would be inventoried for hazardous materials before it is demolished.
Perhaps coincidentally, a week after the Authority’s board made its decision, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, at the far end of the Strip, opened a 350,000-sf expansion of its convention center that now exceeds 2 million total sf, and over 900,000 sf of contiguous exhibit space.
Rossi Ralenkotter, the Authority’s president and CEO, said that expanding the Las Vegas Convention Center is among the efforts needed to avoid lose ground to other destinations interested in peeling away some of Vegas’ convention business. “The fact is, there’s a destination arms race all around us,” he told AP.
Through June, Las Vegas’s visitor volume was up 1.5% over the same period last year to 21,008,251, according to the Authority’s estimates. But gaming revenue was flat at $4.824 billion. Gaming revenue from casinos on the Strip was off 1.4% to $3.16 billion of that total.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval recently convened a new tourism committee, whose goals include examining Southern Nevada convention facilities and making recommendations about new space.
Related Stories
Hotel Facilities | May 19, 2017
Beyond market niches: Designing hotels that can flex
There’s a shift from accommodating to specific market niches towards places that can adapt to changing moods and activities.
Hotel Facilities | May 18, 2017
Manchester modular hotel is constructed of shipping containers
The 220-room Holiday Inn Express hopes to be completed in less than 12 months.
Events Facilities | Apr 27, 2017
20-acre lagoon highlights $1.5 billion Paradise Park planned for Las Vegas
The Wynn Resorts board recently gave the go-ahead for the project, which may begin construction on its first phase as early as December.
Hotel Facilities | Apr 12, 2017
Hotels embrace place
Today’s hospitality environments emphasize unique, localized experiences to attract and engage guests.
Hotel Facilities | Apr 11, 2017
What can hotels learn from Airbnb?
This new kid on the hospitality block is actually an extension of a long-standing tradition of lodging alternatives that range from renting villas in Italy to choosing timeshare properties in Florida.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Mar 30, 2017
Waldorf Astoria New York to undergo massive renovation
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Pierre-Yves Rochon prepared the designs for what will be one of the most complex and intensive landmark preservation efforts in New York City history.
Hotel Facilities | Mar 14, 2017
Hotels are becoming the favored places for retailers and consumer products to bolster their brands
Several high-profile names have launched hospitality divisions, often with well-established management partners.
Hotel Facilities | Mar 9, 2017
Robots. 70’s Retro. Biophilia. Co-Living Spaces. Two leading architectural firms single out 18 trends for hospitality this year.
HKS and HBA even see a demand for hotels catering to “agritourism.”
Mixed-Use | Mar 1, 2017
New hotel and residential tower coming to San Francisco’s Transbay neighborhood
The ground-up development will feature 255 hotel rooms and 69 residential units.
Hotel Facilities | Feb 20, 2017
The future of hotel design: Human-centered
Change is inevitable and it impacts on everything, not least on the way we design.
