Executives detail last days for Tropicana Las Vegas ahead of closure, ballpark development

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Executives with Tropicana Las Vegas' parent company detailed plans for the historic hotel-resort's final days before closing to clear the land for a new baseball stadium and resort.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board heard from executives with Bally's Corporation, which operates the Tropicana hotel-casino, as part of a licensing hearing on Wednesday.

Ameet Patel, senior vice president and regional general manager, said the property will continue to operate through the closing date of April 2. Executives say it will eventually be demolished to clear the land for a ballpark for the Oakland Athletics and a new hotel-casino.

There will be a scaling-down process that will begin a week prior on March 27, he said. Gaming will stop by 3 a.m. April 2, while dining and hotel operations will end at noon to accommodate guest checkouts.

Post-shutdown, there will be a 90-day decommissioning process to wind down employees, Patel told the board. A job fair will be held later this month exclusively for Tropicana employees to help them find new jobs, he said. Some employees have worked at the Tropicana for more than 20 years, and the resort is recording testimonials to capture their history.

After redevelopment, the Tropicana has committed to re-employing team members based on seniority, Patel said.

Treasurer/director Marcus Glover told the board that Bally's is working with its construction partner on preparations and abatement to hand over the site to the Oakland Athletics by 2025. A three-party agreement is being developed for a master redevelopment plan that will be shared publically when available.

"The stadium had to be the first kind of domino to fall in terms of how they're thinking about that from a vision standpoint," Glover said. "We will do a master redevelopment around the stadium as the anchor of that corner."

The A's released new renderings of the proposed ballpark on Tuesday.

When asked if Bally's was considering a "celebratory sendoff demolition," Glover said they hadn't confirmed anything yet, but Bally's chairman was excited at the possibility of an implosion. It was noted that an implosion will require a significant environmental assessment.