After an announcement last week by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, it’s official; the Riviera will be no more. A deal has been approved for the purchase of the iconic, classic casino for 2.5 million, and another .5 million for legal and miscellaneous expenses. Morgan Stanley, hired to oversee the transaction, will receive a flat .5 million fee.
The casino is expected to close within six months, after celebrating 60 years of operations, this April. Built in 1955, the Riviera was one of six casinos to open in Las Vegas that year. It only took three months for the original Miami-based owners to go belly up, after getting into the casino business with no prior experience.
At the grand opening of the casino, guests were greeted by official hostess Joan Crawford, and dazzled by the awe-inspiring, larger-than-life Liberace, who was paid an at-the-time mind-blowing $50,000 per week. Early owners of the property included Harpo and Gummo Marx, and even Dean Martin even had a piece of the property while he performed there.
However, those days are long gone. The once revered Las Vegas icon, in and out of bankruptcy three times during its run, has seen the mystique and romance of the casino itself fade, and struggled to find its identity after the Strip became what it is now, the land of the mega resorts. With no celebrity chefs, high-end gaming, nightclubs, or other amenities most tourists associate with casino-resorts on the Strip, the property will now follow in the footsteps of many from the past, left in the dust to make way for new Las Vegas.
The LVCVA have a plan in place for a $2.3 billion upgrade to the outdated Las Vegas Convention Center. The plan will be for what will be called the Global Business District, and it will not just be massive, even for Vegas standards, but will feature cutting edge technology, and truly take the convention experience to the 21st century.
Last year, the LVCVA was forced to turn down roughly 20 large-scale conventions due to a lack of space to accommodate them. With conventions and other non-gaming sources of revenue skyrocketing, it makes sense for the LVCVA to make this purchase to clear up some extra room for the new center, which will see an increase of about 1 million square feet of total space once the project is complete in five to eight years. The new district will also give the LVCVA something it has lacked throughout its entire history: access to the Strip.
After years of struggling to turn a profit, the managers of the casino turned to Paragon Gaming in June 2013, and included major shake-ups, including the firing of then-CEO Andy Choy. Paragon is headed by Diana Bennett, daughter of Vegas legend William Bennett, who owned Circus Circus starting in 1974, and was a founder of what eventually became the Mandalay Resort Group, bought by MGM Resorts in 2001. Bennett also owned the Sahara until his death in 2002.
Paragon currently operates the Edgewater Casino in Vancouver, Canada, and has also formed a partnership with Dundee Corporation and 360 Vox to create a $535 million urban resort in Vancouver, as well. The resort will feature two luxury hotels, a conference center, spa, retail space, restaurants, and provide a new home for Edgewater Casino.
Starwood Capital Group, owners of the casino, began negotiations with Morgan Stanley last August, and while the report of this deal surfaced two weeks ago, both Starwood and Paragon offered no comment on those reports. Under the deal, six months will be granted to property managers to close and vacate the building. Due to the circumstances, a 90-day extension may be granted to assure the closing meets provisions of the state’s gaming laws.
Jim Murren, MGM Resorts International chairman, fully supports the transaction, which would increase the allure of Las Vegas to the meetings and convention business. The Global Business District, he said, will also be an extra shot in the arm for a rebounding Las Vegas economy, and can give a great edge in the convention competition from cites such as Chicago and Orlando.
“I love this deal because it will create an attractive corridor from the Strip to the Convention Center,” Murren said. It has been speculated for some time that the area surrounding the Convention Center will probably be the next area to experience a development boom, and this purchase seems to emphasize those views.
While the Strip seems to be associated with cutting edge and flash, whereas Downtown Vegas is synonymous with “Old Vegas”—good deals, and cheap gambling—the Riviera and Circus Circus served as an unofficial gateway between the two, offering both worlds to gamblers and tourists alike. It may be time for people to come down and experience the historic casino one last time for some $1 blackjack, or to get their picture taken in front of the iconic Crazy Girls’ bronze statue out front, because once it’s gone, it’s gone … and truly the end of an era.
