Lakeside Inn and Casino in Stateline, on Lake Tahoe's South Shore, which initially temporarily closed at the onset of the pandemic last March, closed permanently in April.
Courtesy Photo
Barton Healthcare System purchased the Lakeside Inn for $13.3 million according to the Douglas County Recorder’s Office.
The deal for the Stateline casino closed at the outset of the coronavirus outbreak was recorded on May 4.
The purchase will pave the way for removal of an aging property later this year and an environmental remediation of the site, the hospital said in a statement on Thursday. Barton, in partnership with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and other local agencies, will maximize environmental remediation efforts due to the property's size and proximity to the lake.The casino closed as part of the statewide lockdown and never reopened.
The 35-year-old casino announced April 14, 2020, it would not reopen less than a month after the St. Patrick’s Day lockdown. The casino’s 218 employees were left without jobs.
More than $7 million in the casino’s assets went up for auction on March 4-6.
The casino opened as the Lakeside on May 24, 1985, after investors purchased the former Harvey’s Inn.
Harvey’s Resort sold the property saying it was necessary so they could focus on an expansion project. Before the purchase, Harvey’s had invested $800,000 in the property, Record-Courier Publisher Tom Wixon reported at the time.
The casino opened as the Caesars Inn in 1968 before it was purchased by Harvey Gross in 1972. The property was once home to the first airport in the Lake Tahoe Basin, Tahoe Sky Harbor.
The airport opened May 30, 1946, with an air show, The Record-Courier announced on May 17, 1946.
The airport was located just north of the casino near Kahle Drive and opened with a 4,200-foot-long turf runway. It didn’t last long and was closed sometime in the first years of the 1950s.
