Jeff Simpson on looking out across a vibrant Las Vegas Strip that is constantly renewing itself

Tuesday, March 20, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

As I stood on the roof of the Rio's parking garage at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday preparing to watch the Stardust implosion, I turned to look at the rest of the Strip.

As impressive as the mammoth megaresorts that line Las Vegas Boulevard are, all will eventually be imploded - even the ultraluxurious new properties now being built.

It's the cycle of a resort's life on the Strip.

The dozens of cranes helping to build Las Vegas Sands' Palazzo, Wynn Resorts' Encore and MGM Mirage's Project CityCenter, will, in 30 or 40 or 50 years be replaced by cranes with wrecking balls, knocking down concrete and preparing those same resorts for their own implosions.

The Stardust tower cost Boyd Gaming Corp. about $135 million. The tower did its job, albeit for a short life span of 16 years, keeping the Stardust profitable and competitive with the pre-Mirage era hotels until Boyd decided the time had come to use the site for its Echelon Place development.

The Stardust implosion illustrates an important fact about which buildings stay and which do not.

Implosion decisions aren't based on which hotels are the least attractive or oldest - buildings are usually imploded to make way for new development.

That reason, and because of strong hints from Harrah's Entertainment management, is why many folks thought the Imperial Palace and Bally's oldest hotel tower would soon be demolished - to make way for Harrah's long-awaited redevelopment of the center Strip.

But now that Harrah's is in the process of being bought out by two private equity outfits, the company will be saddled with so much debt that it's hard to see how it can afford in the near term to implode the IP, not when the property is believed to generate $100 million in annual cash flow.

For Imperial Palace workers the Harrah's takeover should prove to be a stay of execution, at least for a couple of years.

If implosion decisions were based on which properties are the least attractive, leaving aside whether the hotels' owners actually plan to start over and build something new, I offer my own lineup of prospective Strip implosion targets.

No. 1: New Frontier. Owner Phil Ruffin has been promising to build a new megaresort on the site of the New Frontier since the last millennium, but has yet to announce a timetable. The property's management does the best job they can with the aging eyesore, but the New Frontier needs to come down, and soon.

No. 2: Imperial Palace. It's hard to believe that it is even tackier than it is profitable, but it is. And, as I've written before, the IP is home to the worst parking garage on the Strip.

No. 3: Sahara. The Los Angeles-based businessman with a deal to buy the Sahara says he's going to make the place a hip, happening spot, with new nightclubs and great restaurants. Unless plans call for imploding the existing structure, which is decades past its prime, the new owner is almost certain to fail.

No. 4: Circus Circus. Another property that targets the budget-minded demographic, Circus Circus is seedy, with a carnival theme that seems increasingly out of place in the modern Las Vegas. Once MGM Mirage finishes its big CityCenter project, the Circus Circus site would be a good place to point the company's redevelopment staff.

No. 5: Riviera. Arguably the last of the old-school Strip resorts, that's not enough reason to keep the Riv around much longer. Nor are its never-ending succession of billiards tournaments, Sweet Adelines conventions or cheesy shows.