A new $4-billion megaresort will test Las Vegas� recession-racked tourist-based economy, but, perhaps more significantly, it concludes years of work for 3,220 tradesmen and construction staff responsible for the 2,995-room, 6.96-million-sq-ft Cosmopolitan Casino Resort at 3708 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Perini Building Co., a unit of Tutor Perini Corp., Sylmar, Calif., is the general contractor. Just 48 months ago, Nevada construction employed 150,000 people � a figure that since plummeted by 70%, reports Las Vegas-based business advisory firm Applied Analysis.
The bank-owned Cosmopolitan, which opens a year late on Dec. 15, epitomizes Vegas� real estate boom gone bust. An Ian Bruce Eichner-led group broke ground on the development, originally valued at $1.8 billion, in late 2005 with little cash down. The price-tag later more than doubled from owner scope-of-work changes and rising raw material costs. The complex, on 8.5 acres, was mostly underwritten with real estate-secured loans due to the property�s prominent Strip-front placement. Cosmopolitan consequently has near zero-lot lines and a dense design that goes 100-ft underground for a five-level, 3,800-space parking garage. Arquitectonica, Miami, is the design architect, with Friedmutter Group, Las Vegas, as architect-of-record. Excavation created a giant bathtub-like opening supported by 30-in.-thick, 24-ft.-wide slurry concrete wall panels with 2,881 tiebacks, 85-ft.-deep. The valuable real estate between the Bellagio and CityCenter resorts led to a permanent dewatering system.