Las Vegas agency votes to demolish Riviera casino-hotel

LAS VEGAS – It wasn’t a matter of if but when the 60-year-old Riviera casino-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip would come crashing down. Its new owner voted Tuesday to do it sooner rather than later.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority decided to demolish the structure and pave over the land rather than let it sit vacant for years while the agency seeks the money needed to expand its convention center to the site.

The authority bought the Riviera for $182.5 million plus $8.5 million in transaction costs in February. It expects to spend $2.3 billion to expand the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Las Vegas Strip.

Any demolition wouldn’t happen for at least six months. How the building will be demolished hasn’t been decided, but the agency’s contractor, Terry Miller with Cordell Corp., told the board he expects it will require an implosion as well as tearing it down.