CityCenter

CityCenter is a 16,797,000-square-foot (1,560,500 m2) mixed-use, massive urban complex on 76 acres (31 ha) located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The project was started by MGM Resorts International; Dubai World became a joint partner during the project's construction phase. It is the largest privately funded construction project in the history of the United States. The conceptual master plan for Project City Center was designed by Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, laying out the project with approximately 2,400 condominium and condo-hotel units and approximately 4,800 hotel rooms, distributed within several high-rise towers around The Crystals, an ultra high-end retail and entertainment district. It is designed to have all commodities for daily life, featuring a 4,000-room hotel and casino (Aria), two 400-room boutique hotels (The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, with 227 residential condo units, and the Harmon Hotel and Spa), a purely residential offering (Veer Towers), a condo-hotel (Vdara Condo-hotel) and a 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2) retail and entertainment district which was intended to house the first grocery store directly on the Strip (though as of August 2010, there is no grocery on the property). The multi-use project makes extensive use of green technologies, such as using reclaimed water and an on-site power plant. The Mandarin Oriental, Aria, and Vdara all received LEED certification in November 2009. With a total cost of approximately $11 billion, CityCenter is the largest privately financed development in the United States. The original cost estimate was $4 billion, but it was pushed up by rising construction costs and design changes. CityCenter is expected to open with approximately 12,000 employees. Vdara, Aria, Mandarin Oriental, and The Crystals opened in December 2009. Construction on the Veer Towers and the Harmon Hotel is expected to be completed in 2010.