The ravages of the recession are visible in this gambling city, but one of the largest privately financed developments in the United States - an $8.5 billion city within a city called CityCenter - claims to be on schedule to open this year.
The 67-acre development on the Strip consists of six towers with 2,392 apartments, as many as 5,900 hotel rooms, a casino, and a shopping center and entertainment complex. Some of the world's renowned architects have designed buildings for the project. Envisioned as a self-contained community, it will have its own fire department and power plant.
CityCenter is seen as highly significant to Las Vegas's image as an entertainment mecca. But the city's swagger was shaken this year when the project's owners - MGM Mirage, the publicly held casino operator, and Dubai World, an investment arm of the Dubai government - ran into a legion of problems. As of this month, however, they said that those wrinkles have been ironed out.
Because of the credit crisis, CityCenter's owners found themselves in September 2008 unable to obtain several billion dollars that they had anticipated in loans from a consortium led by Bank of America. Though a $1.8 billion loan was eventually offered, the owners had to finance much of the project with their own cash. They had almost finished five towers when new problems erupted in February.
Building inspectors discovered technical problems in the half-built sixth tower - the Harmon Hotel, Spa and Residences - and the developers decided to cut off construction at 25 floors, instead of the planned 47 stories, almost halving the tower and killing plans for 200 condominiums. The Harmon, designed by the prominent architect Norman Foster, will now be only a hotel with 400 rooms.
Although seen as a major embarrassment, the decision may have been a blessing in disguise, since condo prices are in a free fall in Las Vegas. (They are currently down about 30 percent from their peak.)
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Source - New York Times
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