Tearing down the former Riviera casino property and its 13 structures will take several years to accomplish without disrupting the busy schedule of conventions and expositions at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority (LVCVA) bought the Riviera and plans to demolish to make way for outdoor exhibition space and plan to have the property at least partly in use for the massive Conexpo-Con/Agg March 2017 construction equipment trade show.
To do that, the former Riviera Casino’s 23-story tower and 12 other structures must come down, but that process is complicated by older, toxic construction materials, such as asbestos, that must be handled carefully and within strict state and federal guidelines for handling hazardous material.
The LVCVA allocated $42 million to demolish the Riviera, and Sacramento-based Cordell is in charge of the project and working on a hazardous materials disposal plan.
Cordell intends to bring down the Riviera structures during the first quarter of 2016, but needs to complete lab testing to determine what, if any, contaminants the structures contain and the best method to bring them down.
