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
| May 25, 2011
Hotel offers water beds on a grand scale
A semi-submerged resort hotel is the newest project from Giancarlo Zema, a Rome-based architect known for his organic maritime designs. The hotel spans one kilometer and has both land and sea portions.
| May 20, 2011
Hotels taking bath out of the bathroom
Bathtubs are disappearing from many hotels across the country as chains use the freed-up space to install ever more luxurious showers, according to a recent USAToday report. Of course, we reported on this move--and 6 other hospitality trends--back in 2006 in our special report "The Inn Things: Seven Radical New Trends in Hotel Design."
| May 18, 2011
Design diversity celebrated at Orange County club
The Orange County, Calif., firm NKDDI designed the 22,000-sf Luna Lounge & Nightclub in Pomona, Calif., to be a high-end multipurpose event space that can transition from restaurant to lounge to nightclub to music venue.
| May 10, 2011
Dinner is now served…atop the Lincoln Memorial?
Take a look at the temporary restaurant sitting atop Brussels’ historic Arc de Triomphe-Triomfboog. The Cube, by Electrolux, offers 18 diners a spectacular view of the Parc du Cinquantenair, and is one of two structures traveling across Europe, making stops at famous landmarks in Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, and Russia. What do you think about one of these 60-tonne structures being placed on a U.S. memorial?
| Apr 13, 2011
Southern Illinois park pavilion earns LEED Platinum
Erin’s Pavilion, a welcome and visitors center at the 80-acre Edwin Watts Southwind Park in Springfield, Ill., earned LEED Platinum. The new 16,000-sf facility, a joint project between local firm Walton and Associates Architects and the sustainability consulting firm Vertegy, based in St. Louis, serves as a community center and special needs education center, and is named for Erin Elzea, who struggled with disabilities during her life.
| Mar 17, 2011
Hospitality industry turns to HTS Texas for ‘do not disturb’ air conditioned comfort
Large resort hotels and hospitality properties throughout the Southwest have been working with local contractors, engineers and HTS Texas for the latest innovations in quiet heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment. The company has completed 12+ projects throughout Texas and the Southwestern U.S. over the past 18 to 24 months, and is currently working on six more hotel projects throughout the region.
| Mar 11, 2011
Holiday Inn reworked for Downtown Disney Resort
The Orlando, Fla., office of VOA Associates completed a comprehensive interior and exterior renovation of the 14-story Holiday Inn in the Downtown Disney Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The $25 million project involved rehabbing the hotel’s 332 guest rooms, atrium, swimming pool, restaurant, fitness center, and administrative spaces.
