KVIG Informative

Demolition crews imploded the Eastside Cannery’s 16-story hotel tower at 2 a.m. Thursday at the corner of Boulder Highway and Harmon Avenue. The implosion was not a public event. No public viewing areas were designated. Boulder Highway closed overnight between Harmon Avenue and Sun Valley Drive to accommodate the blast.

Controlled Demolition Inc. handled the implosion. The same company served as explosives subcontractor for the Tropicana hotel-casino demolition in 2024. Clark County issued a commercial demolition implosion permit valued at $487,210 on Feb. 24. The broader demolition permit for the entire site, issued in October 2025, was valued at $7.5 million.

The Eastside Cannery opened Aug. 28, 2008, in the middle of the Great Recession. The property replaced the Nevada Palace, a small hotel and casino that had operated on the site since 1979. Cannery Casino Resorts developed Eastside Cannery at a cost of $250 million. It employed nearly 1,100 people. The property included 307 hotel rooms, a 64,000-square-foot casino with 2,187 slot machines and 26 table games, a 450-seat bingo hall, a sportsbook, multiple restaurants including a buffet and steakhouse, a 16th-floor lounge with views over the valley, a pool, a spa, and 20,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom space.

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Boyd Gaming purchased Eastside Cannery and the Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas for a combined $230 million in 2016. Boyd had been leasing the land beneath Eastside Cannery. In February 2025, Boyd purchased the underlying 29.5-acre site from Bill Wortman, co-founder of Cannery Casino Resorts, for $45 million. The ground lease was terminated when the sale closed.

In March 2020, then-Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered Nevada casinos closed to contain the spread of COVID-19. Casinos were allowed to reopen in June 2020. Boyd reopened the Cannery in North Las Vegas but never reopened Eastside Cannery. Boyd said at the time that market conditions did not support reopening amid excess capacity at its nearby Sam’s Town hotel-casino, which absorbed most of Eastside Cannery’s customer base.

Between closure in March 2020 and demolition in 2026, Boyd invested more than $500,000 per month to maintain the property, according to a 2024 letter from Boyd’s chief compliance officer Michelle Rasmusson to Clark County officials. The money went to utilities, IT systems upkeep, security, and routine maintenance. Despite being closed, the site served the community. Three Square Food Bank used the property for weekly food distribution during the pandemic. LVMPD conducted more than a dozen training exercises there, including room clearing, active-shooter drills, and cadet seminars. Crime scene investigators used hotel rooms for academy testing. Clark County Fire Department trained on stairwells and practiced room searches and elevator rescues.

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In October 2025, Boyd announced plans to demolish the building and sell the site for residential use. Spokesman David Strow said in a statement that it had been more than five years since Eastside Cannery closed and there was not sufficient market demand to reopen the facility. The company confirmed it was in discussions to sell the site for residential use but provided no details on potential buyers or timeline.

The Eastside Cannery demolition marks the final major casino property closure stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Las Vegas Valley. Red Rock Resorts previously sold and demolished three shuttered properties: Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho in North Las Vegas, and Fiesta Henderson in Henderson. The North Las Vegas sites are being transformed into a retail plaza. Henderson officials are reviewing plans for the Fiesta Henderson site.

As of this writing, Boyd Gaming has not announced a sale agreement, identified a buyer, or disclosed plans for the 29.5-acre site beyond stating residential use. The property sits on Boulder Highway in the eastern Las Vegas Valley between Sam’s Town to the north and the former Joker’s Wild site to the south. Boyd broke ground on Cadence Crossing in April 2025 to replace Joker’s Wild in Henderson.

The Eastside Cannery replaced the Nevada Palace. Now the Eastside Cannery is rubble. The land waits for the next buyer. The east side waits to see what gets built.

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