Final tower of Riviera coming down Tuesday morning

Another piece of Las Vegas history bites the dust Tuesday.

Demolition contractors hired by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will finish the job they started in June — bringing down what’s left of the Riviera — with an implosion that will lack the pomp and ceremony that accompanied the destruction of the 24-story Monaco tower two months ago.

There won’t be any fireworks accompanying the implosion of the 17-story Monte Carlo tower of the Riviera when it comes down, weather permitting, at 2 a.m.

LVCVA officials said this week that there won’t be any special viewing areas provided for the public. The tower, in fact, won’t even be illuminated for the event.

“It’ll be a lot more low key than the June implosion,” said Amanda Arentsen of the authority.

The LVCVA got some publicity mileage out of the June 14 Monaco tower implosion that went off without a hitch on the morning before local voters went to the polls for a primary election.

The Monte Carlo implosion will be one of the last pieces of the $42 million clearing of the Riviera site, which will be converted to outdoor exhibition space by W.A. Richardson Builders LLC.

Richardson is expected to deliver a cleared space by the end of the year so that it can be prepared for the massive ConExpo-Con/Agg construction industry trade show in March.

LVCVA officials have said the land could also be used for parking until a portion of it becomes a construction zone for the $1.4 billion expansion and improvement of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The 11-member Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee has approved a recommendation supporting the financing of the convention center project to be delivered next month to Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Nevada Legislature.

The Monte Carlo tower, which had 361 rooms when operating, was completed at a cost of $20 million in 1975.

The Monte Carlo demolition proved to be more complicated than the Monaco tower because Richardson workers had to wrap the building in plastic and chisel away the finish and haul the debris away to prevent asbestos particles from becoming airborne during the implosion, which normally produces large dust clouds.

The plastic wrapping has been removed and the structure has been scraped clean of the building’s finish.

There also was asbestos in the building’s interiors that had to be removed before the implosion could occur.

LVCVA officials say there is no health risk from the dust that will fly from the implosion.

Some street closures are expected in the vicinity of the site prior to demolition, with Las Vegas and Riviera boulevards and Convention Center Drive to be affected.

The implosion of worn-out hotel-casino properties has become a cultural phenomenon for Las Vegas with more than a dozen places taken down in a flurry of implosions, collapsing towers, billowing smoke and dust and then deadly silence — except for the cheers from onlookers — all in less than a minute.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.