LAS VEGAS ENORMOUS GREEN GAMBLE PREPARES TO OPEN
Saturday, 29 Nov, 2009
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Las Vegas CityCenter, an $8.5 billion green hotel, entertainment and shopping destination is due to open in stages starting Dec. 1.
Some of the world’s top architects and designers have taken a fresh deck of cards and created a Green accredited Xanadu on the Las Vegas Strip.
CityCenter’s half-dozen glass-and-steel towers – including two condo high-rises that lean 5 degrees instead of standing upright – add a futuristic look to this desert destination.
Inside, it resembles a modern art gallery and mind-boggling design showcase more than themed Vegas resorts. Pieces include an 84-foot silver serpentine sculpture depicting the course of the Colorado River, designed by Maya Lin of Vietnam Veterans Memorial fame. That hangs above the front desk of the Aria Resort & Casino.
The $8.5 billion hotel/living/dining/entertainment/shopping destination is billed as the largest privately funded construction project in the USA and is considered Vegas’ big gamble. Its lack of emphasis on gaming (only Aria has a casino), edgy style and city-within-a-city layout are "the next step in the evolution of Vegas," says CityCenter CEO Bobby Baldwin– unlike anything yet seen in the USA’s adult Disneyland.
CityCenter is due to open in stages on 67 acres, starting Dec. 1 with the Vdara resort/condo, Dec. 3with the Crystals retail/dining/entertainment complex, and Dec. 4 with the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas hotel and residences
CITY CENTER IN NUMBERS:
- 67 acres on the Vegas Strip
- Four hotels with 6,300 hotel rooms, two with condos; one mega casino resort with 4,004 rooms
- Two condo towers, contributing to a total of 2,400 CityCenter condos
- A 750,000-square-foot retail/entertainment complex with the USA’s largest Louis Vuitton and Prada stores, plus Tiffany, Versace and Cartier, to name a few.
- More than a dozen restaurants from name chefs and stars including Wolfgang Puck, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Todd English, Michael Mina, Eva Longoria Parker and more.
- About $40 million in art, including an eye-catching piece composed of about 250 small boats, including rowboats, canoes and kayaks, by Nancy Rubins.
- Three spas, including an 80,000-square-foot spa with 62 treatment rooms at Aria.
- 300,000 square feet of meeting space at Aria; more at the other hotels.
- CityCenter’s own energy-generating plant and fire station.
- The first fleet of stretch limos powered by clean-burning compressed natural gas.
- Slot-machine bases that serve as floor air-conditioning units, cooling guests from the ground, rather than wasting energy by chilling from the ceiling .
Valere Tjolle
Source: Kitty Bean Yancey, USA TODAY
Valere
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