Las Vegas Evolves
Not only has MGM-Mirage proposed a merger with Mandalay (consolidating 50% of the entire Strip), they now want to make a village on the Strip.
MGM Mirage plans massive Strip projectMGM Mirage announced plans Tuesday for a multibillion-dollar "urban metropolis" consisting of hotels and condominium towers that will be built at the site of its aging Boardwalk casino on the Strip over the next several years.
"Project CityCenter," with an emphasis on living spaces and other nongambling features, is billed as a departure from the usual adult playground. It will be built in phases starting in 2006 on 66 acres that include the Boardwalk, which sits between the Monte Carlo and Bellagio resorts. The first phase, expected to take 42 months to build and opening in 2010, will consist of a 4,000-room hotel with a casino, three "boutique" hotels, 550,000 square feet of retail shops, dining and entertainment venues, 1,650 units of luxury condos as well as "hotel-condominium" units and "private residence clubs."
Fascinating, the idea of living in a fake city within a fake city that's actually on the edge of a real city that at heart only wants to be more like the fake city. I think they should do away with the name "CityCenter" and go with the name "The MGM Mirage." Much more fitting, a stage-set of an illusion, self-aware. CityCenter seems like such a tired, even cursed name, one that's used all over the country in failing cities looking for South Street Seaport-like rejuvenation.
Imagine,
theming a city. New Urbanism is one thing, but what would you do in Las Vegas, in the middle of the Strip with that much money floating around? It feels a lot like those
archipelago hotels in the Emirates: no reason to be anything but dripping with luxury, or at least a workable facsimile thereof. On the other hand, there have never been condos on the Strip. What happens when hotel management companies aren't in charge of how clean everything is? What happens when Sin City has nosy neighbors? "What happens in Vegas, stays in my backyard."
No word yet on whether Rockwell is part of this project...
* Ray, 11/11/2004 11:05:11 AM
