LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A condo complex from the golden age of Las Vegas is finally under demolition after a history of constant fires.
For years, buildings at Paradise Spa, located near Silverado Ranch Boulevard and I-15, were reduced to rubble due to fires plaguing the complex. Now, they’re falling apart on purpose.
Homebuilder Taylor Morrison is under contract to buy the property and turn it into housing, with a planned closing date of September 5. The first phase of demolition is underway, tearing down the heavily burned properties.
HOA president Dennis Snapp has overseen Paradise Spa throughout the countless fires.
“This is an end of an era, or an era of the end,” He said.
Snapp is experiencing mixed emotions.
“It put a smile on my face, and it made me cry,” he said. “I knew people that lived there, and a lot of them are no longer with us, and now the building they lived in is no longer with us.”
Thomas Reese lived and worked at the Paradise Spa in 1969, when he said it was the place to be.
“It was really nice. One of the, I’d say, the nicest place in town,” he said.
Snapp and Reese said the stars of old Vegas were a common sight at Paradise Spa, but it’s no longer what it used to be.
“When I came here, like I said, it was the most beautiful place in Vegas,” Reese said. “Now, when I look at it, it’s very disappointing.”
As for the people who live there today, they will have to move by the end of August. The move poses a challenge with the difference in rent. Snapp said some residents pay as low as $300 per month. One neighbor, named Zach, said it is tough.
“They might not be able to find something as affordable as this place, and just with the rents going up, in Vegas, you know, I think something needs to change,” he said.
Seventy-two units of Paradise Spa are currently occupied.
