Completing CityCenter

[Eyeofngt]

LAS VEGAS—Jim Murren, chief executive of MGM Mirage, will this week unveil the last major element of his $8.5 billion CityCenter project, the culmination of his quest to remake this city by wagering the future of his company.

MGM Mirage touts CityCenter, a cluster of skyscrapers, casinos and shops nearly six years in the making, as "the evolution of Las Vegas into a sophisticated, multidimensional city." Its 67 acres feature a central boulevard that's the width of New York's Park Avenue and sculptures by the likes of Henry Moore and Maya Lin. "We view ourselves as patrons, like the Medicis," Mr. Murren says.

Associated Press

The 67-acre CityCenter complex will include hotels and residences.
.But the project—and its potential impact on the Las Vegas economy—has provoked anxiety among investors and other casino operators. Planned as Las Vegas real estate was taking off, CityCenter is bigger and costlier than anything ever attempted here, and its launch coincides with one of the steepest declines in tourism in decades.

Its luxury retail space is only half occupied, though the company says most storefronts will be filled by the end of next year. Its Vdara Hotel & Spa, originally envisioned as a hotel-condo complex, has opened with only a third of its 1,495 hotel rooms. And The Harmon, a hotel and condo tower, was cut in half and will remain an empty shell indefinitely following the discovery of major construction defects.


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