With land costs going through the roof, a daunting new skyline is transforming the Las Vegas strip.
By David Weldon
The high-rollers and deal-makers in Las Vegas always do everything with the ultimate in excess. So it comes as no surprise that the latest casino, resort and hotel development effort — the Project CityCenter — would be the largest privately funded construction project in the United States, or that it would spawn lots of competition.
The MGM Mirage, the world’s second largest casino company, is quite literally building a city within the city of Las Vegas with Project CityCenter. Located between the current Bellagio and Monte Carlo hotels and casinos on the “main strip” of Las Vegas, 66 acres of land have been dedicated to the CityCenter.
Not to be outdone, a slew of other casino and hotel owners have their own new projects underway, or on the drawing board, with a dozen new high rise resorts to open within the next two years.
The largest is the CityCenter project, which is now wrapping up work on the foundation phase. When finished, the centerpiece will be the 4,440-room 60-story CityCenter Resort and Casino, with units split between hotel rooms and condos, each with five-star amenities promised.
Also included in the complex will be the 1,500-unit Vdara Condo/Hotel tower, the 400-room Mandarin Oriental Hotel/Residences, the 400-room Harmon Hotel/Residences, the twin 350-unit Veer luxury towers, the 165,000 square foot Pelli Casino, a 2,000 seat theater, and 225,000 square feet of convention and meeting space. The center will even have its own fire station.
Ground-breaking on the $7 billion mixed-use urban village took place in June 2006, with total completion scheduled for 2009. The MGM Mirage reports that the 8,000 construction workers will ultimately be employed to build the new facility, with 39 cranes on site at the peak of construction. When completed, the center is expected to create 12,000 permanent new jobs.
CityCenter represents “the Manhattanization of Las Vegas,” according to Las Vegas realtor Bill Cody, of Dolce & Duluca Investments LLC. “Land has become increasingly scarce, and expensive, so Las Vegas has to build up,” Cody said.
To underscore his point, the Stardust Casino was recently razed to make way for the new 60-acre, 3,300-room Echelon Place Las Vegas casino and resort, a $4 billion project similar to CityCenter. Cody said that 10 years from now, visitors to Las Vegas can expect to see a totally different skyline.
That’s a safe bet, considering the new resorts scheduled to open by 2010. They include:
2007 openings: The Aladdin (Planet Hollywood) (2,567 rooms); and The Palazzo (3,000 rooms).
2008 openings: The Conrad (442 rooms, 144 luxury condos); Trump International (1,200 units each, in two towers); The Cosmopolitan/Hyatt (1,000 hotel rooms and 2,000 condos); The Encore at Wynn Las Vegas (2,000 suite rooms); The Fountainbleau (4,000 rooms, including condos); The W Hotel and Residences (3,000 units of hotel rooms and condos, in two towers); The M Resort (1,000 hotel rooms).
2009 openings: The Southern Highlands (3,200 hotel rooms); and Project CityCenter.
2010 openings: Echelon Place (3,300 hotel rooms).
(For images of these hotel, resort and casino projects, visit www.vegas4visitors.com)