October 18 Marks The Last Day Of The Sands Casino Hotel
The former Sands Casino Hotel will implode at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 18, following a fireworks display.
The event marks the first casino hotel implosion in Atlantic City and on the East Coast and the state’s first nighttime implosion.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine is expected to attend the event, joining Pinnacle Entertainment CEO Daniel R. Lee, Mayor Robert Levy and others for comments in the half-hour before the 21-story building is destroyed. A perimeter will be set up to provide the best viewing options.
Designed by Wayne McAllister, the Sands Hotel was a legendary Las Vegas, Nevada hotel/casino that operated from December 15, 1952 to June 30, 1996. It was the seventh resort that opened on the Las Vegas Strip.
But in the years prior to its closing last November, the Sands fell on hard times, a victim of its location off the boardwalk. When Harrah’s Entertainment bought Caesars, it sold the parking lot and storefronts between the hotel and the boardwalk, paving the way for Pinnacle’s purchase of the Sands from financier Carl Icahn for $250 million last September. The deal involves land stretching from the old Traymore Hotel site along the Boardwalk across Pacific Avenue.
The Las Vegas corporation anticipates construction of a $1.5 billion plus megaresort on a par with Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. Environmental testing is complete. Pinnacle is meeting with owners of smaller parcels expected to be part of the project. At this time, the aging Madison Hotel adjacent to the Sands will not be part of the project.
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