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CityCenter
Upping the design ante in Vegas
By Stacy Shoemaker Rauen
July 01, 2010
Courtesy of CityCenter Land LLC |
Bill Smith still remembers back in 2004 when MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren asked him to come to his office to talk about building something other than just another casino. “The concept was to create a place in Las Vegas that is really a center—something world class,” says Smith, president of design and construction for CityCenter.
From a bubble diagram concept for 67 acres to the finished product 60 months and $8.5 billion later, the project utilized 275 architect, engineer and consulting firms, some 50,000 design and construction drawings, numerous top chefs and F&B operators, and a team dedicated solely to planning roughly 75 weekly meetings. With six LEED Gold certifications in its pocket, CityCenter opened in December.
In terms of hospitality, there’s the non-gaming hotel Vdara with 1,495 suites, a restaurant, lobby lounge, pool and spa. Across the way is Aria Resort & Casino, with 4,004 rooms, 16 restaurants, 10 bars and lounges, a spa and three pools with 50 cabanas, and Liquid, an adult-only pool lounge. Hugging the Strip is the 47-story non-gaming Mandarin Oriental, with 392 guestrooms, 225 residences, a spa, pool and sundeck, six restaurants and bars. And then of course is Crystals, a 500,000-sq.-ft. destination for dining, entertainment and retail.
“It’s more than just another development. It’s beyond what everyone believed we could accomplish at the level we did,” says Smith, pointing to its extensive fine arts program and the fact that they were the largest employer in the country in 2009. “To me, it’s a symbol of what people can do when they collaborate together in the United States. I equated it to the Empire State building, which opened during the Great Depression, and here we are in the Great Recession.”
CityCenter’s architects have all been well publicized—Daniel Libeskind, Rafael Viñoly, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Pelli Clarke, Gensler, Foster + Partners. Additionally, 46 design firms collaborated on CityCenter. Each firm’s creation within the space has its own distinct feel, but together, they form one cohesive look that is CityCenter.
Click here to download a free PDF of the article as it appeared in print, complete with photos.
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DDI visited the new JCPenney department store at Manhattan Mall in New York and spoke with store manager Joe Cardamone.Click here for a video of that conversation paired with a walk-through tour of the new store. For more on the JCPenney store, look out for DDI's November/December issue mailing out at the end of November. .
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