Las Vegas, Nevada - Closing down nearly a year ago on May 16, after 59 years of operation, the Sahara Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas strip orphaned a unique roller coaster in Speed: The Ride. When the Sahara closed down after suffering drastically during the economic recession this past decade, the NASCAR Café within and Speed: The Ride were shut down as well. But the unique coaster has not yet met its end; after 11 years of operation at the Sahara, the coaster has found a new nearby home.

According to a blog by Breslin Builders, Chetak Development, the company responsible for removing the coaster from the Sahara, has partnered with Breslin Builders to move Speed to the Akita Retail Center just south of the strip, across from Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. Built at a cost of $1,000,000 the launched coaster, built by Premier Rides, featured a 35 mph launch out of the building into an overbanked turn, down into a trench, through a 92-foot loop, through launch up to 70 mph, over some hills outside the hotel, and up a 200-foot spike, then back through the course in reverse.

Breslin Builders will be working with Premier to install the coaster at its new location, utilizing and reusing as much of the coaster as possible. They will be redesigning much of the coaster's middle section to fit it over and within the existing structure and parking lot, and will relocating the 224-foot vertical tower to give the coaster a more “out-and-back” style, as reported by the Breslin Blog.

As part of the same project, Breslin is building a new 26,000+ square foot multi-story night club/concert venue , and a two-story 6,000 square foot restaurant space. The Akita Plaza, of which the coaster and new developments will be a part of, will also become the home of a 500-foot SkyVue Ferris Wheel currently under construction. The coaster, Ferris wheel, and new developments are all expected to open by 2013.