Building at Gramercy slated for implosion Sunday

The Las Vegas Valley’s second building implosion in less than a week is scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday.

And that will mean some road closures on the southwest side of town, including a section of the 215 Beltway.

An unused, nine-story building at The Gramercy residential and retail complex will be demolished due to “structural deficiencies,” according to Ofir Hagay of WGH Partners of Las Vegas. Hagay’s firm co-owns The Gramercy, which was purchased with The Krausz Cos. of California in September 2013.

The firms are still developing plans for replacing the soon-to-be imploded building, Hagay said.

“We don’t know exactly what we’re going to build there,” Hagay said. “But it’s going to be another high-rise to complement the entire project.”

The 500,000-square-foot, mixed-use project near Russell Road and the 215 has about 200 multifamily rental homes as well as 200,000 square feet of retail and office space. Initially launched as Manhattan West in 2008, the complex was renamed after its 2013 purchase.

At 7 a.m. Sunday, Oquendo and Russell roads will be closed from Fort Apache Road to Jerry Tarkanian Way. Port Maria Road and Quarthorse Lane also will be closed, according to Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin.

At 7:45 a.m., Nevada Highway Patrol will close 215 from Durango around the curve to Tropicana. All roads are scheduled to reopen between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m.

Before and after the implosion, NHP will slow traffic on the 215 at the Russell Road on and off ramps because of lingering dust from the implosion. The agency will use a manuever called rolling road blocks in which a trooper weaves across traffic lanes to slow it down.

There won’t be designated viewing points for spectators, but the implosion will be easily visible from the corner of Oquendo and Fort Apache, at Oquendo and Tarkanian and also along Russell, said Ken Mercurio, president of Diversified Demolition.

For easy entry and exit to viewing the implosion, spectators are encouraged to arrive before 6:30 a.m., Mercurio said. While the implosion will last for only 10 seconds, traffic could be delayed for up to 30 minutes. He also advised bringing earplugs.

On Tuesday, the Clarion Hotel and Casino took nearly 12 hours to fully demolish after an incomplete implosion left a part of the hotel standing.

Diversified Demolition also was involved with the Clarion implosion. Structural differences between the Clarion and Gramercy buildings would prevent a blunder like Tuesday’s to alter Sunday’s demolition, Mercurio said. The Clarion didn’t fully implode because it was built primarily from reinforced concrete, Mercurio said. The Gramercy building has a steel-structured frame.

“These are two totally different implosions and two totally different strategies,” Mercurio said. “What happened there has nothing to do with what’s going on here.”

Gusty winds can postpone implosions, but they generally have to be sustained at 10 mph, according to Clay Morgan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas. The forecast calls for winds between 5 and 10 mph on Sunday morning.

Contact Chris Kudialis at ckudialis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Find him on Twitter: @kudialisrj.