CityCenter Opens (2009)

About

MGM Mirage announced CityCenter in November 2004 as a city within a city. The plan put hotels, condos, shops and a casino on 67 acres between Bellagio and Monte Carlo, partly on the site of the Boardwalk hotel, which was imploded in 2006. Executives first said it would cost at least $4 billion. The budget peaked at $9.3 billion in August 2008 and settled at $8.5 billion, and MGM Mirage called it the largest privately funded project in U.S. history. Dubai World became its joint-venture partner.

CityCenter opened in stages in December 2009. Vdara, a 57-story non-gaming hotel with 1,495 suites, opened on December 1. The Crystals shopping district, 500,000 square feet with interiors by Studio Daniel Libeskind and David Rockwell, followed on December 3. The 47-story Mandarin Oriental opened on December 4. The centerpiece came last: Aria, a 61-story, 4,004-room hotel designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, let in its first public guests at 11:41 p.m. on December 16 after a fireworks show.

Getting there was difficult. The Las Vegas Sun reported that funding nearly lapsed, MGM Mirage came close to bankruptcy, and building violations were found. Six construction workers died on the project, which led to a one-day walkout in June 2008. It also opened during the worst recession since the Depression. Even so, it employed 12,000 people, and six of its buildings earned LEED Gold certification for green design. Fifteen art installations, which the Sun called Murren's vision, were placed around the campus, including works by Henry Moore, Frank Stella and Nancy Rubins.

Not every part of the plan survived. In 2008, defects were found in the Harmon hotel tower. It was cut back from a planned 49 stories to 28, never opened, and was taken down piece by piece starting in 2014 at an expected cost of $11.5 million. The Review-Journal reports that a four-story retail project known as Project63 is planned for its footprint. In 2018 the Mandarin Oriental was sold for about $214 million and became the Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas.

What to expect

ARIA Resort & Casino, the 2009 centerpiece of CityCenter, still operates. Its official site lists hotel rooms and suites, dining, a pool, a casino and nightlife. It also sells packages for Cirque du Soleil's "O" at neighboring Bellagio.

More from the 2000s

• Wynn Las Vegas Opens (2005)
• Encore Opens (2008)

Before and after

• 1 October: The Route 91 Harvest Festival Shooting (2017)

Good to know

• Openings were staggered on purpose. CityCenter president Bobby Baldwin said Aria would fill gradually and reach its full 4,004 rooms by December 27, 2009, so staff could ramp up.
• Only Aria has a casino. Vdara and the former Mandarin Oriental (now Waldorf Astoria) were built as non-gaming hotels.
• The Harmon was the only CityCenter building that never welcomed a guest. In 2008 inspectors found defects in its concrete reinforcement, and the unfinished tower was dismantled floor by floor starting in 2014.
• The Las Vegas Sun's 2009 announcement article misprints the final budget as "$8.5 million". The project cost $8.5 billion, as the same paper reported elsewhere.
• The Mandarin Oriental's Sky Lobby on the 23rd floor separated hotel rooms below from residences above. The building opened with 392 rooms and suites plus 227 apartments and condos.

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