Abandoned off-the-Las Vegas Strip casino finds new life

Las Vegas hotel casino resort developers have snatched up almost every available piece of vacant land on the Las Vegas Strip for new projects, leading builders to redevelop existing properties for new facilities.

The Tropicana Las Vegas, which began as a high-end hotel casino on the Vegas Strip when it opened in 1957, is slated to close April 2 and be eventually demolished to clear space for a new stadium for Major League Baseball's Athletics who are set to begin playing there in 2028.

Related: Las Vegas Strip’s new casino brings on popular classic rock band

Another popular property on the Strip, the Mirage Volcano, has been erupting in front of big crowds since opening in 1989. However, the popular attraction is set to close after Hard Rock International bought the Mirage from MGM Resorts International  (MGM)  in 2022 with plans to build a Guitar Hotel on the site.

Hard Rock has not been clear on when the volcano will be closed and demolished for the hotel, but Clark County has approved the plans for the project.

Some resort developers in recent years have set their sights on classic downtown Las Vegas for projects as the price of real estate on the Strip is much higher. Circa Resort and Casino, which opened downtown in 2020, is a Strip-style resort casino that anchors the downtown area. The Fremont Street Experience is also downtown, drawing crowds for entertainment, but most hotel casinos in the area are smaller that those on the Strip.

Closed Fremont Street property being marketed 

Another chance to bring a Strip-style hotel downtown may be right around the corner, as a historic hotel casino property is being marketed for sale on Fremont Street. 

A longtime-shuttered downtown Las Vegas hotel casino, the Western Hotel Casino, may rise again as a new resort in the next few years, as the family of the late former owner Tony Hseih reportedly has indicated that it wants to sell the property to the Nevada Gaming Commission for possible redevelopment.

The late owner's father and administrator of the estate, Richard Hseih, has applied for a one-day license to operate slot machines to keep the Western's gaming license active and also extended the casino's tavern license with the City of Las Vegas until February 2025, Casino.org reported.

Active interest in Vegas hotel casino property

The attorney for the Hseih estate, Dara Goldsmith, reportedly told the gaming commission that the estate has "active interest in the property and are optimistic we will get this property set up for redevelopment."

The Western opened in 1970 at Fremont and 9th streets in downtown Las Vegas and was known as the world's largest bingo parlor consisting of 1,020 seats and 15,000 square feet of gaming space. By the 2000's, the hotel casino had become run-down, with the hotel closing in 2010 and the casino shuttering in 2012.

The hotel casino's original owner Jackie Gaughan had sold the property to Barrick Gaming in 2004, and Tamares Real Estate which purchased a lease from Barrick the following year, sold the property in 2013 to one of Hseih's companies affiliated with his Downtown Project revitalization group for $14 million. Except for demolishing the hotel on the property, Hseih did not complete any improvements on the property before dying in 2020.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024