Implosion of Vegas casino-hotel falls short

Building’s elevator core gets shorter, but still stands.

LAS VEGAS — An elevator shaft shortened and tilted a bit but withstood a more than 2-ton explosive punch meant to implode a Las Vegas hotel, and crews on Tuesday were planning a little more work to finish the job.

Most of the 12-story Clarion casino-hotel crumbled in a pre-dawn demolition.

But despite the detonation of 4,400 pounds of explosives, the elevator core just dropped about four stories and stayed standing.

It’s leaning, said property owner and developer Lorenzo Doumani, but appears to need some help to topple. One option being considered was a wrecking ball.

Doumani said he didn’t really know what kept the structure standing. Anthony Schlect, corporate safety coordinator for Burke Construction, said he was investigating.

“It’ll be knocked down some way or another because it’s a safety hazard,” Doumani said.

The hotel was the 13th to gain implosion infamy in a town that demolishes the old to make way for the new.

Doumani had hoped it would be a lucky number as he and his family counted down to the Clarion’s final seconds at nearly 3 a.m., flanked by two showgirls and having listened to a pre-implosion soundtrack by Frank Sinatra.

The 200-room casino-hotel opened in 1970 as the Royal Inn and was called the Debbie Reynolds — for its one-time owner — as well as the Greek Isles and the Paddle Wheel.

Amanda Dickerson had never stayed at the Clarion or any of its incarnations, but she reveled in its demise early Tuesday after traveling from Ripon, Wisconsin, to check an unlikely item off her life’s bucket list: witness a building implosion in person.

“We don’t do this in Wisconsin,” she said after the dust had almost settled. “It was truly amazing.”

Dickerson, 35, her boyfriend, Pete Kuhn, 38, and Las Vegas local Cherie DeWilde, who first alerted her friend to the impending implosion, had been scoping out the casino-hotel Monday when they got an exclusive invite to watch the building crumble from across the street beside the developer, his family, friends and media.

“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” Dickerson said.

GETTY Part of the Clarion casinohotel stands after the property was imploded Tuesday in Las Vegas. It was the first full-scale implosion in Las Vegas since 2007.