Tales of casino closures during the past year or so have emanated mostly from Atlantic City, as the east coast gambling hub’s economy has been struggling. But the next landmark casino to become memory will be in Las Vegas: the Riviera. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported that the famed gaming venue has not only been sold, but will soon be nothing but a pile of rubble.
On Friday, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) board of directors agreed to buy the hotel for $182.5 million plus another $8.5 to cover costs associated with the purchase. Included in the deal is the casino hotel plus most everything on the property, which covers about 23 acres. Starwood Capital Group has owned the Riviera since 2010, after Riviera Holdings Corp. filed for bankruptcy. As part of the deal, Paragon Gaming will continue to operate the casino as it has been under Starwood’s ownership since 2013.
Paragon will essentially serve as undertaker, as the Riviera will close for good. At that point, the LVCVA will take control again and get the property ready for demolition. Once the site is cleared, construction will begin on the Las Vegas Global Business District. The first phase will create nearly a million square feet of meeting and exhibition space, while the second phase will add another 200,000 square feet. The LVCVA believes the project will create 6,000 construction jobs and 6,000 permanent facility jobs.
That is little consolation, though, for the approximately 1,000 Riviera employees who will be out of a job in a couple months. Also an issue: all of the reservations that the Riviera has accepted beyond the May 4th date. 150,000 room nights need to be cancelled and many organizations are going to need to reschedule conventions.
The Riviera is the oldest casino on the Las Vegas Strip, opened on April 20th, 1955. It was the first high-rise casino on the Strip, as well – believe it or not, casinos before it were fairly rinky-dink, not impressive looking at all compared to the glitzy behemoths we are used to today. Much of the Riviera’s decline can really be traced to the rise of all of the gigantic, resort-style casinos that have been built over the years. Casinos like the Bellagio, the Wynn, Mandalay Bay, New York-New York; when tourists go to Vegas, they are more interested in the luxurious properties than the old ones. Additionally, several similar, older casinos around the Riviera – Stardust, Westward Ho, and New Frontier – have all been razed, hurting foot traffic and leaving the Riviera essentially alone with Circus Circus as the more modest properties on the north end of the Strip. People just don’t want to make the trek all the way to the Riviera when there are so many other cool casinos to see up and down the strip.
