Boyd Gaming is going to stop building Echelon Place due to the poor economic climate.

I don’t know about you, but I blame bloggers for all of this.

Casino operator Boyd Gaming Corp said on Friday it decided to delay construction of its partially built Las Vegas Strip casino, Echelon, and suspended its quarterly dividend.

Investors have been concerned about a glut of Las Vegas resort construction, and the news sent Boyd’s heavily battered shares up as much as 30 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company also posted lower second-quarter profit as the U.S. economic slowdown reduced gambling revenue.

Las Vegas-based Boyd said it decided to delay the construction of Echelon, already built to around eight stories, due to the challenging economic environment. It plans to resume construction in three or four quarters, assuming credit market conditions and the economic outlook improves.

“We have been concerned about capital raising and returns on capital and this change may lead to a reduction in scope or cancellation, in our opinion,” Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Lerner said in a research note.

Boyd said in April the Echelon project was on budget and on track for a third-quarter 2010 opening, although it had yet to arrange financing for a $950 million portion of the project, a joint venture with Morgans Hotel Group Co.

You know, this is going to ensure that The Strip looks like utter shit for a good, long time to come.

Echelon will just be another ugly, half-built lot that is going to stay that way for the foreseeable future, not unlike the waste site right next to it (Plaza/New Frontier).

To be honest, I was surprised that they were going ahead with the project for the past year. It surprises me that anyone is building anything here right now.

The Planet Hollywood Tower continues to baffle me in light of the current conditions, but hey, if they can pull it off … good for them.

I’m rather impressed that City Center keeps plugging along, even though they are also having some problems with financing.

Between Encore, City Center and Fontainebleau, it will be interesting to see if the “If they build it, they will come” cliche’ holds up.

Hey, despite my pessimism, I’m pulling for the bastards.

The real shame in this, though, is that the Stardust was imploded for absolutely no reason.

I think that is the biggest tragedy in this whole situation.

A good property, a Vegas institution, a profitable property, and a loyal following … replaced by … nothing.

I don’t get it.