MGM Mirage Inc., the world's second largest casino company, on Monday showed off a model of its $7 billion Project CityCenter, a megaresort it says represents the single biggest employment opportunity in Las Vegas' history.
The seven-tower goliath will feature two glass residential towers by architects Murphy/Jahn that lean slightly in opposite directions and are surrounded by 500,000 square feet of retail space.
On both ends of the 66-acre plot's north and south corners on the Las Vegas Strip will be two boutique hotels: one a "Lifestyle Hotel" dressed in a "shimmering facade" and the other a five-star, Mandarin Oriental luxury hotel that will "respond to the desert environment and climate," materials said.
The company, which owns the Bellagio and Monte Carlo casino-hotels on either side of the development, also announced Monday that it had poured concrete for CityCenter's foundation on Saturday.
Toward the west end of the property will stand two massive curved hotel towers linked to the casino and a 50-story ebony condominium-hotel designed by Rafael Vinoly with 1,543 units that management can rent as hotel rooms when the buyer is not around.
In February, MGM Mirage bumped up the projected cost of CityCenter by $2 billion, but also revealed that $2.5 billion would be financed by the sale of residential units, for which it said there was high demand.
MGM Chief Executive Terry Lanni said the massive development, which will create 7,000 construction jobs and 12,000 permanent positions, represents a "significant new direction for our city and our company."
"With this world-class development, Las Vegas is on the fast track to becoming a major urban center in the western United States," he said in a release.
The company, which owns the Bellagio and Monte Carlo casino-hotels on either side of the development, also announced Monday that it had poured concrete for CityCenter's foundation on Saturday. The entire property is to open in late 2009.
MGM is second to Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's largest casino operator.