The Tropicana Las Vegas was a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It operated from 1957 to 2024. In its final years, the property included a casino and 1,467 rooms. The complex occupied at the southeast corner of the Tropicana – Las Vegas Boulevard intersection.
The resort was conceived by Ben Jaffe, part owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. The $15 million Tropicana opened on April 4, 1957, as the most expensive Las Vegas resort developed up to that point. The hotel originally opened with low-rise structures containing 300 rooms, and the property would later launch several expansions, including two hotel towers added in 1979 and 1986 respectively. The latter tower was accompanied by the introduction of an island theme for the property. The Tropicana was host to various live entertainment, including the topless showgirl revue known as Folies Bergere. It ended in 2009, after nearly 50 years, and remains the longest-running show in Las Vegas history.
The Tropicana underwent numerous ownership changes throughout its history. Mob connections were present at the time of its opening, and an FBI investigation in 1979 uncovered a skimming operation at the resort. It was sold that year to Ramada Inns, which later transferred ownership to its spin-off company, Aztar Corporation, in 1989. During the 2000s, Aztar considered demolishing the Tropicana for development of a new resort, although this did not come to fruition. Columbia Sussex bought the resort in 2007, but lost it to bankruptcy two years later, with Onex Corporation emerging as the new owner. Onex launched a $180 million renovation, the property's first since 1986. The project was completed in 2011 and added a South Beach theme.
Penn National Gaming bought the Tropicana in 2015, then sold the property to its spin-off company, Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (GLPI), in 2020. Bally's Corporation purchased the Tropicana two years later and leased the land from GLPI. In 2023, Bally's and GLPI reached a redevelopment agreement with the baseball team Oakland Athletics, who plan to relocate to Las Vegas. The Tropicana would be demolished to make way for two new projects: a baseball stadium (tentatively the New Las Vegas Stadium) on nine acres of the site, and a new Bally's Las Vegas resort on the remaining land. The Tropicana closed on April 2, 2024, and demolition began within a month. The last remaining structures, the two hotel towers, were imploded on October 9, 2024.
History Development and opening The Tropicana was conceived by Ben Jaffe, part owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. In 1955, Jaffe came to Las Vegas and bought the vacant property that would become the site of the Tropicana. M. Tony Sherman of Miami was the architect and Taylor Construction Company was the general contractor. Jaffe intended the Tropicana to be the finest hotel in Las Vegas.
Construction ran over schedule and over budget, due in part to competition for labor with the under-construction Stardust, also on the Las Vegas Strip. Jaffe had to sell his interest in the Fontainebleau to complete the Tropicana. Originally proposed as a $4.5 million project, it ultimately cost $15 million, including $800,000 for decorating and tropical landscaping. It was the most expensive Las Vegas resort developed up to that point, beating the $8.5 million Riviera, which opened two years earlier. The Tropicana would be advertised as "the Tiffany of the Strip", in reference to the high-end jeweler Tiffany & Co.
The project had 30 investors, including singer Morton Downey, who owned a five-percent interest. Jaffe first leased the property to Phil Kastel, who supervised the project during construction. However, the Gaming Control Board raised suspicions over Kastel's apparent links to organized crime, prompting him to sell his interest in the Tropicana in early 1957. This paved the way for the issuance of a gaming license. J. Kell Houssels, owner of the Las Vegas Club, was hired to operate the Tropicana casino.
The Tropicana hosted a preview opening for local residents on April 3, 1957, before debuting to the general public a day later. The resort's involvement with organized crime was confirmed a month later, when a note bearing a Tropicana earnings figure was found in the possession of mobster Frank Costello, who was associated with Kastel. Costello had been shot in a failed assassination attempt, and police discovered the note while he was under hospital care.
The control board subsequently investigated to determine whether Kastel was still secretly involved with the Tropicana. Kastel had publicly invested more than $300,000 in the project during construction, and the Nevada Tax Commission eventually ordered the Tropicana to rid its ties with him as soon as possible by paying off the debt owed to him. The note was ultimately traced to Tropicana executive Louis Lederer and cashier Michael Tanico, both of whom would be removed from the property.
Early ownership changes By 1959, Houssels bought out Jaffe's interest, gaining a majority share in the Tropicana and becoming its new president. The Jaffe family, however, would retain ownership of the land for decades and continue leasing it. The Tropicana prospered throughout the next decade. Houssells sold out in 1968 to Trans-Texas Airways, for $8.7 million, but remained as manager for a few years.
In the early 1970s, the Tropicana fared poorly from competition with larger, newer hotels like Caesars Palace and the Las Vegas Hilton. During this time, the Tropicana hosted annual fiesta parties to increase gaming revenue, inviting celebrities and high rollers to attend. Deil Gustafson, a Minnesota financier, bought the resort in 1972. Sammy Davis Jr. also purchased an eight-percent interest, becoming the first black person to own a share in a Strip resort. Gustafson undertook an expansion plan, but encountered financing difficulties. In 1974, brothers Edward and Fred Doumani took over management on an emergency basis after investing $1 million into the property.
Mitzi Stauffer Briggs, heir to the Stauffer Chemical fortune, bought a majority interest in the Tropicana in 1975. Briggs said she knew "absolutely nothing about gambling or casinos", but invested in the Tropicana at the suggestion of a friend. Many of its top executives were either fired or resigned in 1976, as Briggs sought to make the resort profitable once again. She invested more than $6 million in the property. Briggs initially received only a probationary one-year gaming license, due to several business failures in her past. She received a full license in July 1977, and began construction of the property's first high-rise structure, the Tiffany Tower, which opened two years later. The casino floor was also renovated and expanded.
The Tropicana became the target of a mob skimming operation in 1978. Joe Agosto, then-owner of the casino's Folies Bergere show, oversaw the siphoning of money from the cashier cage to the Kansas City crime family. The scheme was exposed in 1979 through "Operation Strawman", an FBI investigation into hidden mob interests in Las Vegas casinos. Due to her inexperience, Briggs had relied on the advice of Agosto, whom she found to be charming. Because they had allowed Agosto to manage the casino without a gaming license, Briggs and Gustafson faced revocation of their own licenses. They had little choice but to sell the Tropicana. Hotel chain Ramada Inns purchased the business in December 1979, along with a 50% share of the property's real estate that had been owned by the Doumanis. Briggs lost an estimated $44 million during her involvement with the Tropicana, and did not receive any of the profits from the Ramada purchase. The Doumani brothers and Gufstafson later accused Ramada of breaching its contract on the sale, winning a $34 million judgment in 1989.
Gustafson was convicted in 1983 over a check kiting scheme involving the Tropicana, and served 40 months in prison. In 1995, he was also charged with bankruptcy fraud relating to the Tropicana's 1979 sale. He, in turn, named the Doumani brothers and two others involved in a scheme with him to divert money from the 1989 judgment; these four individuals were charged as well. Federal officials alleged that the diverted money had wound up in the possession of mobsters. Gustafson pled guilty and agreed to testify against the others. One defendant was dismissed because of lack of evidence, and the others were found not guilty in a 1998 trial.Retrieved December 27, 2023:
Later years
Amid the early 1980s recession, Ramada began targeting a middle-class clientele for the Tropicana, which had lost the luxury prominence it once had. In 1986, the resort completed a $70 million expansion which included a second high-rise, the Island Tower. The project also introduced a five-acre pool area of man-made lagoons, waterfalls and islands, accompanied by floating blackjack tables. The property began marketing itself as the "Island of Las Vegas".
Ramada spun off its gaming properties, including the Tropicana, in 1989 as Aztar Corporation. By the late 1990s, the Tropicana was largely seen as an aging, under-performing property in contrast to newer resorts on the Strip.
In 1998, Aztar bought an option to acquire the 50% interest held by the Jaffe family, which would make future renovations easier to implement. Aztar, however, held off its buyout for several years to assess whether Las Vegas had been overbuilt with new hotels. The company eventually consolidated ownership of the Tropicana in 2002, buying the half interest in the land and buildings from the Jaffe family for $117.5 million. The sale opened up the possibility of redeveloping the Tropicana site.
In 2003, Aztar unveiled potential plans for a $500 million expansion. The project would replace the northern half of the existing Tropicana facilities, adding additional rooms and timeshares. A decision about whether to proceed with these plans was expected in early 2004, but was pushed back by Aztar to focus on an expansion at its other Tropicana resort, located in Atlantic City. Following the latter's completion, Aztar would continue to put off its Las Vegas redevelopment plans to further evaluate the best use of the land.
In 2006, Aztar unveiled new plans to demolish the Tropicana and build a $1.2 billion casino resort. Gaming analysts viewed the redevelopment plans as a certainty; Aztar had already hired Marnell Corrao Associates to manage construction, and sought bank financing to fund the project. However, a bidding war soon began for Aztar, with Ameristar Casinos, Columbia Sussex, and Pinnacle Entertainment competing to buy the company. Aztar was desired for its ownership of the Tropicana, which presented ample redevelopment opportunities. Columbia Sussex ultimately prevailed, finalizing its purchase in January 2007.
Columbia Sussex planned to renovate the Tropicana as part of a $2 billion expansion project, adding five new towers for more than 8,000 rooms. However, this project was delayed due to the 2008 financial crisis, and it later became moot when Columbia Sussex's gaming arm filed for bankruptcy in 2008. The Tropicana, which had a $440 million secured loan against it, was bought from the bankrupt company in July 2009 by its creditors, led by Canadian private equity firm Onex Corporation and former MGM Mirage CEO Alex Yemenidjian, who took over as the Tropicana's CEO.
The remainder of Columbia Sussex's gaming business, reorganized under new ownership as Tropicana Entertainment Inc., promptly sued the Las Vegas property, demanding royalties for use of the Tropicana name. The case was eventually settled, with the Tropicana Las Vegas receiving exclusive rights to use the name in the Las Vegas region, royalty-free.