Vegas’ $8.5B estate!

In the same week that dirty things hit the fan in Dubai, Las Vegas had reason to celebrate. CityCenter, the largest private construction project in U.S. history, opened the first of five buildings, the Vdara condo-hotel.

You might wonder why Dubai and Las Vegas are connected here and that’s because MGM Mirage the developer of CityCenter is partnered with Dubai World, the investment arm of the Dubai emirate city-state. Late last week DW declared that it will need six months moratorium on interest and payments against its $60 billion in debt, causing ripples throughout the international financial community. Casino stocks were also hit hard as Dubai’s close ties to MGM worried investors.

While debt-ridden Dubai fights for its life, MGM says CityCenter is essentially complete. As we all know in the construction community, nothing is complete until the Certificate of Occupancy is in hand (and even then it’s open for debate). However, the group has stated they structured the deal so that they would be protected from such events as default. I would hope they would have done this regardless of the partner.

This being the case, the first building has opened to much fan-fare as Las Vegas hopes to be able to compete with other cities for travelers looking for great architecture, amazingly designed open spaces, art, and great food.

DW became a joint partner on the project after construction had already commenced.

The project team includes:
General Contractor: Perini Building Company
Executive Construction Manager: Tishman Construction Corporation
Executive Architect: Gensler