You're in luck –- there are two scheduled casino implosions on the cards.
The first is later this week, when the Sands Atlantic City gets blown up on Oct. 18. It'll be the East Coast's first-ever implosion of a hotel-casino and they're planning to do it in style with a big fireworks display by Grucci, the company responsible for many of the most spectacular displays ever seen. The Sands closed on Nov. 11 last year and is being razed to make way for Pinnacle Atlantic City's new megaresort development.
The next scheduled Las Vegas casino implosion is the New Frontier, originally planned for the summer of 2000, but postponed because of the financial climate back then, among other things. The last we heard, it's still scheduled to take place at 2 am on Nov. 13 and if you're planning to attend, be aware that implosions can be pretty unpleasant events if you're too close, with all kinds of miscellaneous and potentially toxic dust in the air. So large crowds aren't encouraged in Vegas these days, where the implosion novelty's worn off.
Back in 2000, a San Francisco-themed resort was proposed for just over half the 41-acre New Frontier site, with the fate of the rest of the plot left undecided. Over the years, other redevelopment plans have included talk of a highly ambitious Ferris/observation wheel, which we doubt will see the light of day any time soon. Our current understanding is that Elad Group, which is controlled by Israeli billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva, is planning to spend $5 billion to construct a replica of New York's famous Plaza Hotel as part of an upscale mixed-use complex that would include a casino and a hotel with 3,500 rooms and 300 private residences.
If you can't make it to either of these events and would like to witness a past casino implosion -- they are pretty dramatic, if brief -- visit vegastodayandtomorrow.com/implode.htm, which includes video clips of the final moments of many Las Vegas properties including the Dunes, Landmark, Sands, Hacienda, Aladdin, Desert Inn, Castaways, Boardwalk, and Stardust.
