Stakes are high for gaming giant MGM Mirage Inc.’s $8.5-billion CityCenter development on the Las Vegas Strip. The project’s turbulent history includes the death of six construction workers, a lawsuit between development partners over rising costs and funding woes brought on by the global credit crisis. Yet the 18-million-sq-ft complex of hotels, condos, casinos and entertainment space still is scheduled to open in phases, starting on Dec. 1.
The debut of the mega-resort comes amid a deepening recession in hard-hit Las Vegas, where there has been fewer visitors and less spending. Billed as the largest private development in the U.S., CityCenter’s success or failure may ultimately determine MGM Mirage’s financial future as well as that of Las Vegas, observers say. “They are opening the project during the worse economic downturn since the Great Depression,” says John Restrepo, principal of Restrepo Consulting Group, a Las Vegas-based economic research firm. “Its importance cannot be underestimated.”