Hotel near Las Vegas Strip is demolished

A shuttered building adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip was reduced to a pile of rubble this week after demolition crews began tearing down the Royal Resort on Convention Center Drive. Much of the eight‑story structure was idle as of Monday, and the building was fully demolished by Wednesday, leaving huge mounds of concrete, twisted metal and other debris on the tract just east of Las Vegas Boulevard. Several members of Laborers Local 872 picketed the site on Wednesday to protest the non‑union declaration for the demolition. They supplied video to a Las Vegas Review‑Journal reporter showing the partially collapsed structure falling rapidly around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, as indicated by the timestamp, with a small section of the building still standing. The footage captures a demolition crew working on the edifice as it topples, with one individual appearing nearby, mid‑air, in a crane lift. Filmed from a parking lot across the street from the job site, the video also shows a large plume of dust drifting onto Convention Center Drive while several cars pass by. Carlos Galaviz, chief financial officer of American Wrecking Inc., the contractor hired to demolish the hotel, insisted the building did not collapse. “We had everything nether control,” he said. “Nothing happened that we weren’t anticipating,” he said, adding that the tear‑down proceeded in sequence. The Clark County Fire Department was dispatched Tuesday after a 911 caller “reported what appeared to beryllium a partial gathering collapse,” but it was “quickly determined” that the site was undergoing permitted demolition activity, said spokeswoman Stephanie Wheatley in an email. No one was found to be injured or trapped, so fire crews were cleared from the scene, Wheatley added. She also said that no injuries were reported in connection with the permitted demolition. Records show the Clark County Building Department issued a demolition permit in June, valued at $1.3 million, for the complete demolition of the hotel at 99 Convention Center Drive. The property opened in 1970 as the Royal Las Vegas. At the time, the Review‑Journal noted that the spot “brings unneurotic some the romance and aged lukewarm charm of England with each modern jet‑set convenience expected successful a 20th period lodging facility.” Southern California investors acquired the site in 2006 for roughly $27.8 million, according to property records. The ownership group could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. Clark County records indicate the Royal Resort ceased operations by summer 2020 after the COVID‑19 pandemic devastated the economy. The main entrance was blocked off with chain‑link fencing by 2022.