Get ready for another hotel implosion.
Las Vegas’ long history of explosive demolitions will continue next month when Boyd Gaming Corp. implodes the shuttered Eastside Cannery’s hotel tower.
Boyd spokesman David Strow said Monday that the tower will be imploded at 2 a.m. on March 5.
Eastside Cannery, on Boulder Highway at Harmon Avenue in the eastern Las Vegas Valley, has been closed since the onset of the pandemic. Work crews have been tearing down portions of the property lately, but the hotel tower, which has been gutted and stripped of windows, still stands.
Ultimately, Boyd intends to sell the site for residential use.
Casino implosions in Las Vegas are often early-morning parties, with fireworks and masses of people gathering to watch and cheer the destruction.
The Eastside Cannery implosion, however, is not a public event, and there will be no designated public viewing areas, Strow said.
Information about road closures related to the implosion will be provided later, he added.
Eastside Cannery featured 300-plus 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.
Boyd acquired the Cannery hotel-casino in North Las Vegas and the Eastside Cannery for about $230 million combined in 2016.
In March 2020, then-Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered casinos and other businesses in Nevada closed to help contain the coronavirus outbreak. Casinos were allowed to reopen in June 2020, but Eastside Cannery never did.
Boyd purchased the land under the shuttered hotel-casino last February for $45 million, property records show. It had been leasing the roughly 29.5-acre footprint.
Even though Eastside Cannery was closed for business, other organizations made use of the site, as outlined in a letter to county officials in 2024 from Michelle Rasmusson, Boyd’s chief compliance officer.
Three Square Food Bank used the property for a weekly food distribution site during the pandemic, and the Metropolitan Police Department conducted training exercises there, including room-clearing and active-shooter drills.
The Clark County Fire Department also used the property to train on stairwells and to practice room searches and elevator rescues.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.