Is CityCenter The Last Mega Resort?

Cool post, but there's a typo in the first sentence. It should be, "Every week or two," not "Every week or to."

Just sayin.

 Chuckmonster posted on Tuesday, 20th July 2010 - 2:24 pm

yes. a typo. i type better when I'm drunk, which I'm not yet. actually, it should say "every week or so"

 blackjacker1979 posted on Tuesday, 20th July 2010 - 3:45 pm

I'd like to discuss this as a roundtable sometime. There are inevitable views, but ultimately, from the educational background of architecture and urban planning, I don't consider CityCenter a MR. It's something different, an experiment to say the least. Aria, a MR on its own, is just a part of something that grew into a model city. EPCOT comes to mind when I think of things like this, but on a much different scale and idea.

 Dave702 posted on Tuesday, 20th July 2010 - 4:41 pm

Thanks for the kind words, but I'm far from fearless.

As far as the big question, I still don't know if this is the end for the mega-resorts. A lot of smart people made casinos a lot of money by moving away from luxury and towards the middle market in the mid-1980s, and if you'd have pitched Bellagio in 1983 you'd have been laughed out of the room. Fifteen years later, though, it was another story.

 levans posted on Tuesday, 20th July 2010 - 11:40 pm

I dont think so. At the present there doesnt seem to be a player out there who has the nads to try to develop something as vast as City Center but that could change. If you consider the land where the New Frontier was and the barren shell of Echelon just screams out for someone to take it all over and fill the space then it could happen. You also have the land between the Stratosphere and Freemont that could be turned into something. It may not happen for a while but it oculd happen.

 erzeszut posted on Wednesday, 21st July 2010 - 10:28 am

This is a great article, but I'm confused by the opening paragraph, Dr. Dave.

You say that CC had its roots in the 2004 acquisition of Mandalay Resorts by MGM. But didn't the property that is now CityCenter belong to Mirage Resorts, NOT Mandalay? Didn't MGM acquire the Boardwalk and the accompanying acreage, along with the Bellagio, in 2000?

Now, I realize MGM didn't own the entirety of the Monte Carlo until buying out Mandalay in 2004 -- but that seems like a small portion of the overall picture.

 Dave702 posted on Wednesday, 21st July 2010 - 12:38 pm

Mirage had much of the land, but didn't have all of it. The merger was when the company started considering a major development on the site, though Wynn had bought the Boardwalk much earlier with the intention of eventually re-developing it.

 Misnomer posted on Wednesday, 21st July 2010 - 1:20 pm

Very interesting article, and confirmed the corporate group-think that I suspected must have lead to City Center:

"People hate themed resorts in Las Vegas!"
"Yes!"
"What people want is to vacation in buildings that look like the office buildings they work in!"
"So true!"
"And people who come to Las Vegas want to stay in a Strip hotel that has no casino!"
"Spot on!"
"And we should build this vision at any cost, even if it means nearly bankrupting the company and letting all of our other properties fall into decay!"
"Brilliant!"
"And we should change our formula to taste more like Pepsi, and call it, 'New Coke'!"
"Genius!!!"

 Drake posted on Wednesday, 21st July 2010 - 3:29 pm

Haw haw haw ... well played, Misnomer, well played indeed. Geniuses at work. I think you nailed it!

 VegasSolo posted on Thursday, 22nd July 2010 - 10:06 am

I'd have to agree with blackjacker1979, I don't really consider City Center a megaresort. It's kind of in a category of its own right now. It may be the last mega-project in Vegas for awhile, but not forever. Eventually, the economy will recover, the lean years will be forgotten, egos will expand once more, and developers will take ungodly chances on ridiculously expensive projects, assuming that the rewards for taking the risk will be commensurate. This is a gambling town, after all, and what could be a bigger gamble than a billion-dollar resort project?