Yes, it's going to cost more than the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority originally thought – at least $1.84 million more than the $42 million initially budgeted, according to the latest estimate. Cordell Corp., a Sacramento-based outfit, has the contract to tear the Riviera down. It also has a firm deadline to get the job done because the LVCVA has booked the space as a staging area for the 2017 ConExpo/Con-Agg convention, which runs from March 7 to March 11 of next year. "Con-Expo/ConAgg, a construction-equipment trade show, is the largest event, by exhibit space, featuring Convention Center parking lots filled with cranes and massive trucks and loaders," reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Rick Velotta.
The LVCVA had considered giving the Riviera a two-year reprieve while it sought financing to expand the convention facilities that are eventually slated to replace it, but ultimately decided to monetize the acreage sooner rather than later. One incentive may have been the money the LVCVA would have had to pay to keep the Riviera's vacant hulk intact but shuttered: as much as $10 million a year in security costs, apparently. (To put that into perspective, the LVCVA paid $191 million to acquire the Riv, or rather the land upon which it sits.)
Cordell has set an unspecified "early spring" timeline to begin demolition. It had planned to start earlier but suspicions about the presence of asbestos within the Riviera have slowed progress. Hazmat remediation is scheduled for this spring, with demolition work to begin thereafter. (So much for the six-month timeline originally envisioned for the project.) In addition to the demolition of the main hotel tower (2,100 rooms spread over 23 floors), Cordell will have 12 other structures on the site to demolish. When coupled with the fact that the Riviera has no setback from Las Vegas Boulevard and extends all the way to Paradise Road at its rear, a conventional implosion would appear to be out of the question.
On its "Casino Deathwatch" page, LVRevealed.com speculates "an implosion would be the most efficient way to topple the … Monaco tower, as well as the parking garage, but it certainly may make sense to use less spectacular means to take down some of the other buildings on site."
When the Riviera is finally erased from the map, the LVCVA will begin work on its planned replacement: a World Trade Center, plus 750,000 more feet of convention space, and more. Originally dubbed the Global Business Center, that grandiose moniker for the LVCVA's expansion onto the Strip has now been downsized to Las Vegas Convention District. However, the realization of this plan may prove more difficult than tearing down the Riviera: Financing for the $2.3 billion worth of proposed improvements doesn't presently exist, requiring Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval to convene a special committee to come up with a funding solution.
As for the Riviera, its signature neon façade was reignited briefly to provide part of the backdrop for a Las Vegas Strip car chase (spoiler alert: the chase culminates by crashing right off Las Vegas Boulevard and onto the casino floor) in the movie Jason Bourne. Keep your eyes peeled for a potential final glimpse of the Riv when the film, starring Matt Damon, debuts this July 29 (for now, you can catch some "behind-the-scenes" footage, and the official trailer, via the previous link, courtesy of our mate VitalVegas.com, who wasted a week of his life staying up all night so that we didn't have to).
