Las Vegas, often referred to as Sin City, is always changing and adding new attractions for tourists to keep up with the demand for new vices. Long gone are the days of mobsters and assassinations taking place in the desert, the city now glitters with new structures and high end patrons just looking for harmless fun, but a sad part of this transformation is the loss of the casinos and other surrounding businesses that made it into the town we have come to love and idolize. One of those sad losses is that of the Tropicana hotel and casino, which closed its doors on April 2024 to make way for a new ball park and mixed used venue right on the Strip.
The Tropicana hotel and casino, one of the last Vegas legends
It was the last of its kind, a legend of the ratpack era that brought its clientele back to the glory days of the Las Vegas popularity. Opened in 1957, the Tropicana was developed by Miami-based businessman Ben Jafee and was designed in the style of South Beach hotels of the late 1950s, but sadly its journey came to a close in October 2024 in just over one minute, taking down so much history along with its walls.
Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim gave a statement after the demolition to commemorate the hotel, but still look out into the future of the property “The Tropicana Las Vegas was one of the original pioneers of the Strip, setting the stage for the vibrant, larger-than-life entertainment destination we know and love today. It’s fitting that this iconic site now represents the future of Las Vegas as we look forward to welcoming Major League Baseball, the Athletics and an exciting new entertainment complex.”
Given the changes that have happened on the strip over the past 20 years, it is unlikely that another grand casino gets demolished any time soon, as confirmed by Michael Petrivelli, director of market analytics for CoStar Group in Nevada and Utah “Never say never in Las Vegas, but the probability we see the same number of demolitions in the next 20 years as the past 20 years is unlikely.” There will be no need, besides the Flamingo, most of the bog old casinos have been taken down and refurbished enough times that they are unrecognizable. In fact, even the Flamingo, in business since 1946 and the first hotel to open in the Las Vegas strip, is expecting another major overhaul soon to keep it relevant, and seemingly striped down of its history often enough to keep tourists interested.
The Mirage, another pillar of the Vegas entertainment scene has also closed withing the last year, making way for another Hard Rock Hotel, this time in a much better location. The closings of all of these hotels and casinos has left a hole in the number of vacancies that tourists are used to being able to take advantage of. As Emmy Hise, CoStar Group’s senior director of hospitality analytics explains, the demolition of both the Mirage and the Tropicana has left a total of 4,600 hotel rooms unavailable, never mind the ones that will close for the refurbishment of the Flamingo.
“This is the most significant decline in hotel rooms in the past decade,” Hise said. “Demolitions and closures like this don’t happen often. It will be years before the Las Vegas hotel supply returns to its previous levels.”
But change is the only constant in the city of vices, and while it is hard to recognize it nowadays, it continues to offer the same spirit as it always did, a place where people can go a let loose, while they lose a lot of money in the process. After all is said and done, the Viva Las Vegas sign will continue to greet us.