Time to fold for several Nevada casinos

The corporate owner of three Nevada casinos that have remained closed ever since pandemic restrictions were introduced in the spring of 2020 says the three buildings will be demolished to enable redevelopment.

Media outlets in Nevada are reporting Fiesta Rancho in Las Vegas; Texas Station in North Las Vegas; and Fiesta Henderson will be demolished so the land can be resold, with the exception of an ice rink at the Fiesta Rancho site.

A statement attributed to Red Rock Resorts, owner of the three buildings and the Station Casinos brand, published on the KNPR, quotes Scott Kreeger, president of Station Casinos, as saying, “While the decision was difficult, throughout our 46-year history, Station Casinos has adapted and grown with the Las Vegas Valley.”

A report from the Reno Gazette Journal says while some 20 Station Casinos properties were closed during pandemic restrictions in the spring of 2020, the three to be dismantled never reopened after restrictions were lifted.

The newspaper says a Red Rock executive had portrayed the closings as potentially permanent during an earnings call in August of 2020.

Wikipedia entries for the three casinos list Fiesta Rancho as having about 60,000 square feet of gaming space and 100 hotel rooms. Texas Station is twice as large, with more than 120,000 square feet of gaming space and 200 guest rooms. Fiesta Henderson has nearly 75,000 square feet of gaming space and more than 220 hotel rooms.

Details of the demolition processes will not be known for some time. In 2016, former Las Vegas resort the Riviera was taken down via implosion, in an event treated as entertainment, as might be expected in its host city.