City Center, a massive $8.5 billion “city-within-a-city” opened last month on the Las Vegas Strip. The 67 acre joint venture between MGM Mirage and Dubai World boasts a 47-story Mandarin Oriental Hotel; a 1,500-room, non-smoking Vdara Hotel and Spa; the Aria Resort and Casino complete with 4000 rooms, 10 bars and nightclubs, 16 restaurants and the new Cirque du Soleil show: “Viva Elvis;” the 335 residence Veer Towers condominium; the Crystals mega-shopping complex; and more.
For the past two years, Vegas has been operating at minimum capacity, with some hotels even shutting down up to half of their property and floors just to survive. So it’s no wonder why analysts are worried about City Center joining the Vegas skyline. With the addition of City Center, Las Vegas now has 148,000 rooms but not nearly enough visitors to fill them all. Developers believe City Center is just the ticket to attract new visitors to the gambling mecca and revitalize the local economy. But some casino owners believe that instead of attracting brand new visitors, City Center will pull existing visitors, thereby spreading an already dwindling base way too thin which could spell bad news for everyone.
Will City Center be the saving grace for the Vegas Strip? Or is it destined to be a white elephant that serves as the beginning of the end for the desert playground?
"Developers believe City Center is just the ticket to attract new visitors to the gambling mecca and revitalize the local economy."In THIS disasterous economic climate?! Yeah. Okay..smh.I'm thinking, it's going to end up being little more than an $8.5 billion dollar wasteland for, at least, the next few years.