Citycenter Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

The CityCenter resort project is a 76 acre mixed use development project currently under construction by MGM Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip. The development is on the site of the demolished Boardwalk Hotel and Casino (demolished in May 2006), which is the land between the Bellagio and the Monte Carlo. The new resort will be connected to both the Bellagio and the Monte Carlo using a state-of-the-art people mover system.

The total cost of the project is expected to exceed $7bn – the original cost estimate was $4bn but rising prices and design changes have pushed the estimate up. The project is one of the largest privately financed developments in the United States ever undertaken. The development is not a themed resort but instead the plans include multiple high-rise buildings with contemporary urban design.

The complex is intended to feel like an authentic city centre, with supermarkets and sidewalks. It will be a real urban district of variety and complexity that borrows its style from traditional cities. Over 500 of the condominiums will be incorporated into the retail district as lofts, brownstones or other attached-housing styles.

The resort will really be forming a city within a city and MGM Mirage will be incorporating the two resorts it owns either side of the new project to form an integrated super resort in the heart of Las Vegas. The resort will contain three of the largest casinos and a total of nearly 14,000 hotel rooms between all the hotels, old and new. CityCenter will have a 1/4 mile Strip frontage. The resort itself when fully operational will employ 12,000 personnel.

In a city known for its extravagant shows, a new show is big news. MGM Mirage has indicated that a new Cirque du Soleil show, called Elvis, will have its opening night at the CityCenter Resort on the opening day. Opening of the first phase of the project is scheduled for 2009, and the resort complex will be completely finished by 2010.

DEVELOPMENT PLANS

The development plans for the resort include a 4,000-room 60 storey CityCenter Resort tower designed by Cesar Pelli. The casino will have a floor space of 165,000ft² and will also be designed by Cesar Pelli. The resort will also have several smaller hotels and condominium residences, such as the 400-hotel room (along with 200 condominiums) Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Residences designed by Kohn, Pedersen, Fox and Tihany Design; the 400-room The Harmon Hotel/Residences designed by Foster and Partners; the 1500-unit Vdara Condo-Hotel tower designed by Rafael Viñoly; and the twin leaning towers in the middle of the resort (350-unit Veer luxury condo towers) designed by Helmut Jahn.

In addition there will be 500,000ft² of retail and entertainment space designed by Daniel Libeskind, 225,000ft² of convention and meeting space, 900,000ft² for back-of-house operations, a 2,000 seat theatre, a 70,000ft² spa, a 7,500 car parking garage, the resort's very own fire station, a people mover transportation system and an on-site central power plant. The latter is designed and constructed by Siemens to heat, light and cool the resort, and is worth $100m. The CityCenter retail district is being planned by Taubman Centers Inc of Michigan. The Light Design, a designer of night clubs and restaurants, will also be involved in the project.

MANDARIN ORIENTAL

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group announced in June 2005 that it will be the first to commit to a boutique hotel project within MGM’s Project CityCenter. MGM plans to have two other boutique hotels on the property. Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas will be built in a multi-towered 37 storey building with an entrance on Las Vegas Boulevard. The building will feature an innovative glass façade, allowing dynamic views from public spaces as well as the hotel’s 310 spacious guestrooms and 90 luxuriously appointed suites.

The Sky Lobby, to be located on the hotel’s 10th floor, will feature a wall of windows, revealing the dramatic panorama of Las Vegas and beyond to visitors and guests. There will be seven dining and cocktail venues, including two signature restaurants, a lobby lounge, bar, Mandarin Cake Shop and spa café. The 32,000ft² spa will provide the most comprehensive range of wellness, beauty and massage treatments available in Las Vegas. The meeting and function space at Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas will be spread over 40,000ft². For the business traveller, the hotel will offer executive suites and a full-service business centre.

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY

The project is being designed to incorporate green technologies to make it one of the largest environmentally sustainable urban communities in the world. Plans include garden roofs, the use of reclaimed water, and an on-site power generation plant. MGM Mirage will pursue LEED certification for the project as outlined by the US Green Building Council.

CONTRACTORS

HKS Architects Inc is the architect-of-record and Gensler is another important project architect. Gensler is teamed with MGM MIRAGE’s Design Group coordinating and collaborating with residential developers, hotel operators, and retailers and all of the contracted world-renowned architects involved in aspects of the project. The 20-month long design process was completed in June 2006, with final renderings of the project released in September 2006. Butchie, Bailey and Rocky Melchiorri is the project management company. The Perini Building Company is lead contractor on the project, with Tishman Construction Corporation serving as the executive construction manager.

EMPLOYEE PARKING GARAGE AND SALES CENTRE

The majority of the property on which Project CityCenter (PCC) will be situated was at one time the Dunes golf course. MGM has been using this as an employee parking lot for its Bellagio employees. In order to clear away the cars, a new parking garage has been constructed in the back of the PCC land (near I-15 and close to the Bellagio). The ten storey, 5,300 space parking garage was completed for MGM Mirage employees in early 2006, freeing up the area for construction.

A two storey temporary management office has also been constructed on an unused plot of land behind the New York–New York Hotel to house the executive project management, including staff of the executive architect, Gensler, and the executive construction manager, Tishman Construction Corporation.

PHASES OF CONSTRUCTION

CityCenter is under construction (ground breaking occurred in April 2006) and the foundation for the main hotel was poured in June 2006. As of November 2006, the main hotel has been constructed up to level 5. The foundation for the Mandarin Oriental was poured in November 2006 and therefore is also underway.

The Panorama Towers have topped out as of January 2007 and work has begun of the foundations and underground parking garage of the Cosmopolitan (retail area). The combined project will total approximately 16,797,000ft² of floor space and 7,190 hotel rooms and resort and hotel condominium units. It is due to be constructed in three phases, A, B, and C.

Phase A

Phase A of the project will consist of 10,345,000ft² of floor space. This will include the main resort hotel with 155,000ft² of casino area, a three storey, 565,000ft² convention centre, a 2,000 seat theatre, back-of-house areas, offices, two parking garages, one of which is a 13-level parking structure and an underground garage located beneath the casino.

Phase B

Phase B of the project will consist of 1,460,000ft² of floor space and include a total of 2,860 hotel and resort condominium units within two high-rise towers and various open space and recreational areas. The resort condominium tower is 585ft high with 120 units, and the hotel condominium tower is 585ft high with 1,050 units. A shopping centre area consisting of 17,000ft² will be incorporated into the tower buildings. Parking for this area will be provided within the Bellagio employee garage, which has already been finished.

Phase C

Phase C of the project will consist of 4,992,000ft² of floor space including two high-rise hotel towers, 596,000ft² of shopping areas, and associated offices and support areas. This area will be dominated by two 548ft hotel towers consisting of 400 rooms each. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is at the south end and Lifestyle Hotel is on the north end at the junction of Las Vegas Boulevard South and Harmon Avenue.

A total of 1,620 resort condo units are to be built within the block, distributed within each hotel tower and mid-rise buildings above the Sobella shopping centre. Parking for this area will be provided by an eight-level parking structure located just south of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and a one-level subterranean parking structure underneath the new shopping centre.

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