Tropicana Las Vegas, a Sin City landmark since 1957, will be demolished to make way for MLB baseball

The Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino is set to shut its doors April 2 to make room for a $1.5 billion Major League Baseball stadium

LAS VEGAS -- The Tropicana Las Vegas, a Sin City landmark for more than six decades, is shutting its doors in the spring to make room for a $1.5 billion Major League Baseball stadium that will be home to the relocating Oakland Athletics.

Bally's Corp. made the announcement Monday, saying the closure on April 2 — days before the 67th anniversary of the Tropicana's opening — marks the beginning of preparations for demolition of the resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Tropicana was dubbed the “Tiffany of the Strip,” described as the most expensive hotel-casino built in Las Vegas when it opened with three stories and 300 rooms in 1957 at a cost of $15 million.

Now, that parcel is the planned site of a 30,000-seat ballpark with a retractable roof. All 30 MLB owners in November gave their approval for the A's to move to Las Vegas.

In a statement, Bally’s President George Papanier described the ballpark plans as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”