Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

First of 2 Riviera hotel towers set to come down June 14

Riviera

Steve Marcus

Lights are shown on the Riviera facade Sunday, May 3, 2015, before the casino closed.

Updated Wednesday, June 1, 2016 | 1:04 p.m.

The first of two hotel tower implosions at the Riviera will take place June 14, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said today.

The authority announced that the shuttered hotel-casino’s Monaco Tower will be imploded about 2 a.m. on that date, with a separate implosion of the Monte Carlo Tower planned for later this summer.

Officials have previously said the second implosion would likely occur in August. Before then, workers have to remove asbestos in the exterior of the Monte Carlo Tower, a process that will involve scaffolding the tower and creating an airtight wrapping around it.

Crews have already started bringing down other structures at the Riviera site. They’ve demolished the hotel’s two parking garages and have made progress on the convention center, according to an authority spokesman.

The authority approved a $42 million demolition contract with Las Vegas-based WA Richardson Builders LLC in April.

The Riviera closed in May 2015 after it was bought by the authority, which plans to replace it with more convention space. By early next year, the site needs to be ready for use as outdoor exhibit space by a major trade show.

Eventually, the authority intends to build a new convention facility on the Riviera site as part of a $1.4 billion expansion and renovation of its Las Vegas Convention Center, located just across Paradise Road. It’s possible a proposed 65,000-seat football stadium may also be built there, but a site for that project has not been determined.

Both of those projects are being vetted by the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, which could send funding recommendations for them to Gov. Brian Sandoval in July.

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