An implosion marks the end of a building in the most ostentatious way possible.
It's both a death and a celebration of life — sort of like when some Jedi are sent off with a funeral pyre rather than simply fading into dust.
And it's a fitting end for Las Vegas Strip resort casinos. These are massive properties that millions of people have passed through. Ending something so grand with a wrecking ball seems anticlimactic, but implosions are a relatively new phenomenon.
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They date back to 1993 when the now-disgraced developer, Steve Wynn, cleared the property that had once been The Dunes. At the time, the Las Vegas Review-Journal called the implosion "one of the biggest publicity stunts in the history of Las Vegas."
As a publicity stunt, it worked, drawing more than 200,000 people to the Las Vegas Strip to watch the dramatic end of The Dunes. And while it may not have been his intent, Wynn created a new way to mark the end of one era while promoting whatever was coming next.
"It soon became the norm — minus some of the theatrics — as 13 additional casinos on and around the Strip have been imploded, all by Maryland-based Controlled Demolition Inc.," the Review-Journal reported.
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Tropicana's implosion will be huge
The Tropicana closed on April 2 to begin efforts to clear the site and build a stadium for the soon-to-be Las Vegas Athletics Major League Baseball team. The first part of that process involved stripping the hotel of any saleable assets.
Entire suites of furniture were sold, as were pretty much any fixtures that could be removed. While that was happening, some basic demolition took place to prepare the site for its implosion.
"Tropicana Las Vegas owner Bally’s Corp. and the A’s will host an Oct. 8 celebratory event that will include a drone and fireworks show from Fireworks by Grucci," according to Bally’s Corp. The event will lead to the implosion of the Tropicana, scheduled to occur at about 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 9," the Review-Journal reported.
Bally's (BALY) does plan to build a new resort casino on the former Tropicana property after the stadium opens. That's a long-range plan that's subject to change given that the A's are not expected to make their debut in Las Vegas until 2028.
The company could name a new Las Vegas Strip resort casino Bally's since Caesars (CZR) renamed its former Bally's using the Horseshoe name.
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Tropicana implosion will be an event
Implosions are a bit like solar eclipses or visits from a comet as they are relatively rare. The Tropicana implosion, however, will be a lot easier to see assuming you can land a spot on the Strip in view of the property.
"Hotel rooms with a view of what’s left of the Tropicana were selling out this week, for prices way higher than usual," according to a Casinos.com report. "Room rates in Las Vegas already tend to be a little high during the second week of October thanks to G2E, the Global Gaming Expo, which brings some 25,000 gaming industry professionals to town."
The Tropicana implosion is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 2:30 a.m. local time pending regulatory approval.
Here's a look at some hotel prices, according to the report:
- MGM Grand is charging more than $1,780 for a suite in the hotel on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9. No regular hotel rooms are available at this time. Regular room rates midweek for a Tuesday and Wednesday at MGM Grand started at $59/night a week earlier.
Vdara, nearly two-thirds of a mile away with only a few dozen rooms having unobstructed views of the Trop, is pushing an average daily room rate on Oct. 8 of $749, more than double the typical October Tuesday closer to $300/night.
Excalibur, directly across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Tropicana, is sold out now, too, but it still had a few rooms available when we first started checking prices. At the time, the average room rate at Excalibur was $210 on Implosion Tuesday. That's roughly 10 times the $21 average rate people pay to stay at Excalibur on a normal weeknight.
Several MGM Resorts International (MGM) hotels that would offer good views of the implosion, including Mandalay Bay, Delano, Luxor, Park MGM, New York-New York, Aria, and Cosmopolitan, have already sold out.
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