Las Vegas’ CityCenter Has ArrivedToday Marks the First of Several Grand Openings |
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In the capital of the poker world, a mammoth entity has been growing. It is, of course, CityCenter, the largest private construction project of all time. For more than five years, the $8.5 billion development has been adding to the Las Vegas skyline.
The project has been delayed again and again, but today the wait is finally over as the first of five CityCenter properties opens to the public.
Las Vegas’ newest hotel is now Vdara, a 1,500-room condominium hotel that climbs 57 stories above Las Vegas Blvd. The new property is considered the “value property” of CityCenter, located in between Bellagio and Monte Carlo.
“We really believe the Vdara brand is going to be the sleeper of CityCenter,” Bill McBeath told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. McBeath will oversee operations for the new hotel.
Vdara will house 1,495 suites, all complete with kitchens. There will be both one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, as well as penthouse suites and corner-end suites with panoramic views of the city. Guests can book a room at anywhere from $149-$2,000 a night.
Vdara will feature an 18,000-square-foot spa, as well as a 40,000-square-foot pool deck and 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The new hotel will not offer any gaming options.
“Vdara is marketed and branded as everything Las Vegas has to offer, and everything it doesn’t,” McBeath said. “All you have to do (if you want to play) is walk across to Aria or Bellagio. Then you can come back and escape from being in a casino."
Aria, scheduled to open Dec. 16, is CityCenter’s centerpiece hotel. The 61-story resort will offer more than 4,000 rooms.
CityCenter, which is a joint project of MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM) and Dubai World, will also be the home to Crystals, the Mandarin Oriental, and The Harmon. Crystals is a 500,000-square-foot retail, entertainment, and dining complex that will open Thursday. The Mandarin Oriental, with 392 rooms, will cater to the high rollers with rooms starting at $545 a night. The Mandarin opens Saturday.
The final piece of the CityCenter puzzle will not come until late 2010, when The Harmon is scheduled to open. CityCenter’s fifth hotel will feature 400 rooms and 17,500 square feet of advanced event space.
Of the five CityCenter locations, only Aria is considered a gaming property. The other hotels hope to attract guests with their gourmet restaurants, upscale shops, and inventive style. But all are walking distance to Aria. Among its casino attributes, Aria will feature a brand-new poker room on The Strip. The official number of tables in the room has not been confirmed, but there are believed to be somewhere between 12 and 20.
CityCenter has reportedly hired 12,000 workers for the new properties, which is considered to be the single-largest employment opportunity in the U.S. this year.
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