[wp_youtube]hDvSXA8yppQ[/wp_youtube]
MGM Mirage, the Las Vegas Strip’s largest casino owner, is counting on tomorrow’s unveiling of the $8.5 billion CityCenter resort to mark the end of the city’s losing streak and the debt crisis that almost sank the company.
Story via Philadephia Inquirer
“CityCenter, the 67-acre glass-and-steel metropolis that debuts here next week, is being billed as the next great mega-casino resort.
The $8.5 billion joint venture by MGM Mirage Inc. and Dubai World features the work of eight top architects and several luxury hotel and condo towers, a major retail complex, and, not least, a full casino.
It represents the next wave of uber-resort-casinos with everything under one roof. And it could be the last project of its scope to be built in Las Vegas for several years, analysts say, because of the credit squeeze, low demand, and an oversupply of hotel rooms.
“I don’t think you can describe CityCenter as a casino,” said Kevin DeSanctis, chief executive of Revel Entertainment Group L.L.C., which is developing the $2.5 billion Revel Casino in Atlantic City. “It’s much broader than that.”
Vegas is used to one-upmanship among developers, but CityCenter is its biggest bet yet – and its most expensive undertaking during a turbulent time for the gambling industry.
“We project visitation to increase 2 to 5 percent in 2010, driven largely by the opening of CityCenter,” said Vince Alberta of the city’s Convention and Visitors Authority.
Phased opening begins Tuesday with the first of four hotel towers, the Vdara Hotel & Spa, whose 1,495 suites double as residential condos.
On Dec. 3, the Crystals Retail & Entertainment District opens its glass doors; the next day, the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas hotel opens.
Then on Dec. 16, CityCenter’s crown jewel debuts: the Aria Resort & Casino, with its 150,000-square-foot gaming floor.
CityCenter is the only major project seeing completion in Vegas this year. Others were put on hold because of financial problems, including the $4.5 billion Echelon resort being developed by Boyd Gaming Corp., which co-owns the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.”
