Boyd Gaming Corp. has hired a company with a history of demolishing casinos to demolish a shuttered Las Vegas hotel, records show.
The Clark County Building Department on Oct. 20 issued a $7.5 million commercial demolition permit for the Boyd-owned Eastside Cannery on Boulder Highway, records show.
Las Vegas Demolition is on the permit as a contractor. The firm, owned by brothers Joe and Sal Catania, demolished Fiesta Rancho, Fiesta Henderson and Texas Station, among other projects listed on its website.
These three properties were owned by Station Casinos and, like the Eastside Cannery, never reopened after pandemic closures.
Las Vegas Demolition declined to comment for this story.
Boyd spokesman David Strow said Friday that there is not “sufficient market demand to reopen” the Eastside Cannery and that the company is “finalizing plans to demolish” the hotel-casino.
Boyd is also “in discussions to sell the site for residential use,” he said.
Strow declined further comment on Monday.
Boyd acquired the Cannery hotel-casino in North Las Vegas and the Eastside Cannery, on Boulder Highway between Flamingo Road and Tropicana Avenue, for about $230 million combined in 2016.
The Eastside Cannery featured over 300 hotel rooms, a 64,000-square-foot casino, several bars and restaurants, a 250-seat entertainment lounge, and 20,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom space.
In March 2020, then-Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered casinos and other businesses in Nevada to close to help limit the outbreak of the coronavirus. Nevada’s casinos were allowed to reopen in June 2020, but the Eastside Cannery remained closed.
Boyd bought the land under the Eastside Cannery in February for $45 million, property records show. It had leased the approximately 29.5 hectare footprint.
At the time, Boyd declined to comment on the land purchase.
Although the Eastside Cannery has been closed for business, other organizations have made use of the site.
Three Square Food Bank used the property for a weekly food distribution site during the pandemic, and police and firefighters used it for training exercises.
The Metropolitan Police Department conducted training exercises at the Eastside Cannery, including room clearance, active shooter scenarios and cadet seminars. Criminal investigators also used hotel rooms as part of their academy testing.
Additionally, the Clark County Fire Department used the property for stairwell training and to practice room searches and elevator rescues.
Las Vegas-based Boyd operates several other hotel-casinos in Southern Nevada, including The Orleans, Suncoast, Gold Coast, California Hotel and, on Boulder Highway, Sam’s Town.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@ theplayerlounge.com or 702-383-0342.
