Las Vegas CityCenter - Mega Development or Mega Disappointment?

[M II A II R II K]

Glass Menagerie


June 10, 2010

By Alastair Gordon

Full Story: http://magazine.wsj.com/nomad/report/glass-menagerie/

SUMMARY

CityCenter in Las Vegas is the most expensive development in U.S. history. As it settles into it surrounds, will the project attain visionary status, or will it be just another casino? This article from The Wall Street Journal looks at the megadevelopment and the man who created it, and wonders what both of their legacies will be.

"Jim Murren, the creator of this spectacle, works deep within a labyrinth of ornate passageways and conference halls. There’s no sign on his office door, and a security guard in a red uniform stands rather aimlessly in a corner. You wouldn’t think it was the nerve center of a multibillion-dollar empire, where Murren, CEO of MGM Mirage, runs 11 major resorts, including Bellagio, MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay, not to mention this, the just-opened CityCenter, the largest privately funded construction project in U.S. history. The $8.5 billion mixed-use complex, with its staggering 18 million square feet of usable space, is laid out like a city within a city, rising vertiginously from its 67-acre site along the Strip.

Murren presents himself as an idealist in a land of fabulists. He wears a white rubber bracelet that reads “Improve the World,” and he’s attempting to do just that by steering his company toward a more sustainable kind of development. He aspires to create a model for green city planning and his company is already at work duplicating it in China—but is it truly urban or just a new kind of Vegas theme resort, one that uses good taste as its come-on to well-heeled tourists from around the world?"

Daniel Libeskind’s Crystals at CityCenter is filled with light, curves and luxury shops.

[plinko]

It's been open what...6 months? Not exactly a decent sample to ascertain what it's 'legacy' will be.

[MolsonExport]

Oh no, a larger version of the Crystal in DT Toronto.

I loathe libeskind's garbage.

[Zerton]

Not really my style, but I find it to be a pretty attractive project. Needs some better pictures, imo.

[DruidCity]

I'll be staying next door to it at the Monte Carlo next month to get a first-hand look. My early guess is that the City Center is going to be hard-pressed to justify its incredibly huge expense, given that cheapskates like me can stay next door for under $50/night and gawk at it like everyone else, without actually spending any money there.