Riviera Demolition Update: Because Drone

By Scott Roeben, on April 30 2016
1 min read 5 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Hotels

Yes, we did a recent post about the demolition under way at Riviera. But we have a drone. So, update!

Riviera Las Vegas demolition
Baby-sized bulldozers, sometimes called skidsteers, shove stuff out the windows. It’s quite the demolition party going on in there.

Here’s a peek from a better vantage point. Buildings are being tore up or gutted all across the Riviera site.

Consider this the “before” video.


It’s expected Riviera’s two main towers will be brought down in separate implosions later this year.

Las Vegas blows up things real good, despite the fact it’s been awhile since we had a legit implosion extravaganza. It’ll come back us, promise.

The Riv closed May 4, 2015 to make room for an expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center. That is, unless mysterious forces (Sheldon Adelson) get their way and divert resources away from the planned expansion to building a new sports stadium so the new convention space won’t compete with existing convention space (Sands Expo & Convention Center) offered by the aforementioned forces (Sheldon Adelson, again—please try and keep up).

Oh, Las Vegas.

Riviera demolition
A convention center being demolished to make room for convention space. Think of it as the Möbius strip of The Strip.

In either scenario, convention spaces and sports stadiums will always be less interesting than even a fading casino.

But it’s still Vegas, so we’ll keep you up-to-date on all the latest conventioning and sporting, assuming those are actual things.