LAS VEGAS — The Tropicana Las Vegas, a Sin City landmark for greater than six many years, is shutting its doorways within the spring to make room for a $1.5 billion Major League Baseball stadium that will likely be residence to the relocating Oakland Athletics.
Bally’s Corp. made the announcement Monday, saying the closure on April 2 — days earlier than the 67th anniversary of the Tropicana’s opening — marks the start of preparations for demolition of the resort on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Tropicana was dubbed the “Tiffany of the Strip,” described as the costliest hotel-casino in-built Las Vegas when it opened with three tales and 300 rooms in 1957 at a price of $15 million.
Now, that parcel is the deliberate web site of a 30,000-seat ballpark with a retractable roof. All 30 MLB house owners in November gave their approval for the A’s to maneuver to Las Vegas.
In a press release, Bally’s President George Papanier described the ballpark plans as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“Bally’s looks forward to the development of a new resort and ballpark that will be built in its place and will become a new landmark, paying homage to the iconic history and global appeal of Las Vegas and its nearly 50 million visitors a year,” the corporate mentioned in a information launch.
The ballpark, backed by $380 million in public funding, is anticipated to open in 2028, close to the houses of the NFL’s Vegas Raiders, who fled Oakland in 2020, and the NHL’s Golden Knights, who gained the Stanley Cup final 12 months in simply their sixth season.
Bally’s says it can now not settle for lodge bookings after April 2 and can relocate any clients who reserve previous the deadline.
The firm’s announcement got here only a month after the Tropicana and the Culinary Workers Union, which represents about 500 staff there, reached an settlement for a brand new five-year contract.
Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer, mentioned he hopes the severance package deal secured within the newest contract will ease what he expects to be a tough transition for the Tropicana’s largely senior workforce, a lot of whom, he mentioned, have labored on the hotel-casino for many years.
Under the brand new union contract, the staff will obtain severance pay of $2,000 for every year of labor. For veteran staff on the Tropicana, Pappageorge mentioned, that totals tens of 1000’s of {dollars}.
“In Las Vegas, hotels are bought and sold on a regular basis,” Pappageorge mentioned. “These new projects are welcome, but workers can’t be discarded like an old shoe.”
Rhode Island-based Bally’s bought the Tropicana in 2021 for $308 million.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”