Motel demolitions wipe out pocket of old Vegas — CDC Gaming

After ex-Zappos chief Tony Hsieh died and left vast real estate holdings in downtown Las Vegas, Shalimar Cabrera thought of one use for the motels he owned.

Cabrera, who works in Las Vegas for a veterans-support group called U.S. Vets, wondered if Hsieh’s boarded-up Fremont Street motels could be turned into housing for the homeless.

Las Vegas developer Sam Cherry figured the motels could be renovated and given a hipster vibe. And local developer J Dapper saw the history and charm in the mid-century structures.

“They could have been pretty cool,” Dapper said.

But after fires, squatters and other problems turned the long-shuttered motels into blighted eyesores, work crews have now demolished the buildings, wiping away any chance of preserving a stretch of old Las Vegas that fell into steep disrepair.