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The water feature outside Aria makes a grand display during the opening ceremony for Aria at CityCenter in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009.
Published Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009 | 8:51 a.m.
Updated Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009 | 12:04 a.m.
CityCenter's Aria Makes Debut
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CityCenter's Aria makes it long awaited debut to the public.
Aria opens its doors to the public
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CityCenter's Aria has opened its doors to the public. Fireworks exploded over the centerpiece of the $8.5 billion CityCenter project, and people eagerly awaited to be the first inside Aria, which is a partnership between MGM Mirage and Dubai World.
CityCenter Dining Experience
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CityCenter offers excellent dining experiences.
Related stories
- Welcome to CityCenter: New Strip casino opens its doors (12-17-2009)
- At CityCenter, art for the masses right next to the slots (12-17-2009)
- What's being said about CityCenter (12-17-2009)
- CityCenter aims to make dining experience 'cooler and hipper' (12-16-2009)
- Water — swirling, spewing, frozen — to entertain visitors at CityCenter (12-16-2009)
- Inside Aria: A glimpse into the heart of CityCenter (12-14-2009)
- CityCenter’s Mandarin Oriental makes Vegas debut (12-4-2009)
- CityCenter unveils Crystals retail district (12-3-2009)
- Vdara hotel marks opening of CityCenter (12-2-2009)
Sun Coverage
The countdown is over.
For months, MGM Mirage, the managing partner of the $8.5 billion CityCenter, has tantalized the public with a reminder of how many days it would be before Aria, the centerpiece of the development, would be “revealed to the world.”
Today, the wait wound down to the final 24 hours, 3½ years after the implosion of the Boardwalk hotel that once occupied a portion of the Strip frontage and five years after planning began.
Aria was busy Tuesday with last-minute touch-up work throughout the building while journalists and VIPs took guided tours showcasing room technology, CityCenter’s public art and water features and its signature entertainment offering, Cirque du Soleil’s “Viva Elvis.”
On Wednesday, activity was even more brisk and the company was graced with a warm, sunny day for the final push before the opening.
In a midday opening ceremony, CityCenter executives CEO Jim Murren and President Bobby Baldwin applauded the efforts of the 12,000 CityCenter employees who will be working at the development and thanked representatives of the various development teams that had representatives in attendance.
Midway through the presentation, the ceremony was stopped for a photo opportunity as the principal architects of the buildings were gathered on stage – a rare moment that the creative brainpower of Gensler, the executive architect of the project, Pelli Clarke Pelli’s Cesar Pelli (Aria), RV Architecture (Vdara), Kohn Pederson Fox Associates (Mandarin Oriental), Helmut Jahn (Veer), Foster + Partners (Harmon), Rockwell Group and Daniel Libeskind (Crystals) were assembled at one place at the same time.
Executives also recognized Mark Fuller, chief excellence officer of WET Design, which created the five water entertainment features at CityCenter, and Priscilla Presley, former wife of Elvis Presley and a collaborator with Cirque du Soleil for Aria’s primary entertainment offering.
And they thanked Clark County and state government leaders for their support. Among those attending the event were state Sens. Randolph Townsend, Bob Coffin and Michael Schneider, Assemblywoman Debbie Smith and former Gov. Kenny Guinn.
S. Richard Fedrizzi, founding chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council, applauded MGM Mirage’s sustainability efforts, calling the CityCenter project “transforming” and adding that he hopes that it would inspire others to consider building “green.”
Murren said he hoped the architecture, art and design of the development would “inspire people to expand their minds.”
But at the core of CityCenter, it’s still a casino property.
In an interview after the ceremony, Baldwin said CityCenter would have to generate $4.5 million of revenue a day for CityCenter to maintain annual cash flow of $500 million. He doesn’t expect to reach maximum productivity for 1½ to two years.
He said his experience as a professional poker player served him well because his ability to read people enabled him to bring together the 2,500 companies and their executives who contributed to the development of CityCenter.
“Everybody thinks a poker game is about cards, but it’s not, it’s about people,” Baldwin said. “To get all those people on the same sheet of music, that’s what you learn in a poker game. Everybody’s different. You have to deal with everybody differently and at the same time, make them a team.”
Baldwin said about 1,500 guests would stay at Aria Wednesday night with about 2,500 in the building by the weekend. By Dec. 27, the 4,004 rooms will be at capacity. He said building up to full occupancy was by design to enable employees to ramp up gradually.
Crystals, he said, is currently at about 40 percent of capacity with the retail center to be at 85 percent by summer.
At about 11 p.m. after fireworks lit the sky over the 67-acre site between Bellagio and Monte Carlo, the public was invited to see what MGM Mirage and its joint-venture partner, Infinity World Development Corp., a subsidiary of Dubai World, have been talking about.
Six of CityCenter’s buildings are LEED Gold certified and the entire complex is providing 12,000 jobs.
Before the doors of Aria even opened, however, protesters began passing out anti-smoking materials on public walkways on the CityCenter grounds.
Stephanie Steinberg of Colorado-based Smoke-Free Gaming led a group of about 12 people passing out stickers reading “No smoke in casinos!” and encouraged people to sign a petition at the organization’s Web site.
Steinberg has been critical of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification of CityCenter.
“The U.S. Green Building Council continues to deceive the public by allowing smoking in these so-called ‘green’ projects,” Steinberg said. “There is no justification for exposing the employees and the public to air that is highly contaminated by the carcinogens in secondhand smoke. There is absolutely nothing ‘green’ about the gray in secondhand smoke.”
CityCenter officials counter that Aria’s high-tech air displacement system removes cigarette and cigar smoke and other pollutants from the air in the casino.
Steinberg said CityCenter security offers attempted to escort the protesters off the property Wednesday afternoon, but after contacting Metro she determined her group was within its legal bounds to gather on the public right-of-way.
Despite her protest, Steinberg said she hopes Aria and CityCenter succeed and that she plans to gamble there next weekend.
“The ironic thing is that the money I win gambling finances my advocacy efforts,” she said.
After teasing the public with the phased opening of the largest private development in the world – the non-gaming Vdara hotel on Dec. 1, the Crystals retail and entertainment district on Dec. 3 and the debut of Las Vegas’ first Mandarin Oriental hotel franchise on Dec. 4 – Wednesday night was the big one.
When the 61-story, 4,004-room crystalline hotel designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli opened its doors at 11:41 p.m., the public got a chance to see what 300 credentialed news media representatives came to Las Vegas to write, photograph and blog about.
Aria’s hotel includes 568 suites with floor-to-ceiling windows and the most technologically advanced rooms ever built. Guests are greeted with curtains opening and lights going on with a menu of room preferences displayed on television screens. One button turns everything off – the lights, the TV and the music – and a privacy notification goes on.
Nightly room rates range from $149 to $799 with suites running $425 to $7,500.
The company has assembled a who’s who list of chefs and restaurateurs including Masayoshi Takayama, Shawn McClain, Michael Mina, Julian Serrano, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Sirio Maccioni, Jean-Philippe Maury and The Light Group.
“Viva Elvis” is a collaboration between Cirque du Soleil and Elvis Presley Enterprises and pays tribute to Presley’s music and life with dance, live music and Cirque’s signature special effects and acrobatics. The show is staged in a 1,840-seat theater.
The public will also see art on display, including an 84-foot silver cast of the Colorado River created by famed artist Maya Lin. Her “Silver River” sculpture – her first work displayed in Las Vegas – is mounted above the Aria check-in desk. Other works by Jenny Holzer, Tony Cragg and Antony Gormley are displayed throughout the building.
Aria also has a two-level, 80,000-square-foot spa with 62 treatment rooms and the city’s first co-ed spa balcony. It overlooks a 215,000-square-foot pool deck shielded with oversized palm, acacia, pine and bottle trees.
A three-level 300,000-square-foot meeting and convention center includes all the technological bells and whistles and Aria has 10 bars and lounges, including The Light Group’s Haze nightclub.
The building’s 150,000-square-foot casino will offer the state’s first server-based gaming slot floor.
But Wednesday's opening is somewhat foreboding for Las Vegas because the arrival of Aria signals the beginning of the public finally getting answers to some of the questions critics have asked since the nation’s economy cratered midway through CityCenter’s construction.
Analysts have debated whether Aria and CityCenter would grow the Las Vegas tourism market as the openings of new properties have historically since the arrival of The Mirage in 1989 or if the sudden influx of thousands of new hotel rooms would just reshuffle market share among existing properties.
Fresh in the minds of local residents is the closure of Binion’s 365-room hotel Monday and Tuesday’s shuttering of two hotel towers at the Sahara. Both cited weak demand for their decisions.
MGM Mirage officials have stated publicly that they believe Aria and CityCenter will grow the local tourism market by 5 percent over the next two years, but some analysts are skeptical, citing the recession as the variable that will change the pattern of growth following a new opening.
Some are also wary that there is no new resort development in the pipeline with Fontainebleau and Boyd Gaming’s Echelon stopped in mid-construction and a handful of other proposals canceled or indefinitely delayed.
The largest major construction projects in the city with the completion of CityCenter are McCarran International Airport’s Terminal 3 and the new Veterans Administration hospital in North Las Vegas.
Godspeed City Center. The city needs you to be successful. I hope you are.
S711
I can hear the crash from San Diego....How many player will leave there tonight feeling robbed...
can i shorten the mgm stocks somewhat? I also believe that the lights will go out in less than 24 months from now....
I think anyone that listens to financial advice given by Donald Trump is a fool. He being the genius of the casino industry.
In an already saturated market how will City Center stand out? Why would I make a repeat trip to City Center over all the other existing casino's? I do not understand the long term draw of this property.
Lip Stick on Pigs can only cover so much. Will the last remaining people left in LV pleaase make shur and shut out the remaining lights when you leave this valley.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty dumpty took a GREAT fall....
melomuncho - I wouldn't classify City Center as "Lip Stick on Pigs". That's what I would call what they are proposing to do with the Trop.
S711
They better hope they have ALOT of whales to pay for that monstrosity. People in my area cannot afford to go to our local casinos much less pay to travel to Las Vegas and then pay out the nose to lose money. The future for Vegas is not good imo.
"Nightly room rates range from $149 to $799 with suites running $425 to $7,500."
Those rates will need to be lowered if they want to fill the mid level rooms and lower end suites.
Looks like an airport lobby
My wife and I were in Las Vegas last week and walked around the CityCenter complex (Aria was not yet open). The whole complex caters to rich people only, so we will not be staying there (we are downtown Las Vegas fanatics).
My wife remarked that CityCenter reminded her of the Neonopolis with all the concrete and coldness. My impression was that CityCenter would greatly appeal to a convention of architects, but that it added nothing to the Las Vegas that we love, and that most tourists are accustomed to.
Unfortunately, CityCenter with its massive amount of new rooms to fill, will likely start a destructive price war which will make it even more difficult for all hotels to survive and service their massive individual debtloads.
I am very relieved that I do not own a hotel in Las Vegas.
Having said all that, it is just our opinion, and good luck to CityCenter and all the other hotels. I hope I am totally wrong about the future prospects of a vacation destination that I love.
It's a new time everywhere, Las Vegas just has more visibility.
The Los Angeles Times recently did a story about how the residents of Beverly Hills were not supporting their own high end shops, so if businesses are struggling there, how can Crystals do well at this time and moving forward?
Just visitors from Asia and Europe? Will that do it?
There's no way this project would have gotten the green light if the bosses had known what was coming.
No way.
They can use these citycenter rooms for airline bookings. That way at least a certain number of rooms will be sold out temporarily.
denro - Very good points. This project was started many years ago, before the economic crisis was apparent. By the time it materialized, it was too late to stop construction. It had to open. If I remember correctly, this is a joint venture between MGM Mirage & Dubai World. If it fails, it won't take down MGM Mirage as it is a separate entity. I could be wrong on that, but that is what I think is the case.
S711
Why would tourists pay to spend their time in a "resort" that looks like a combo btw a coporate HQ, airport terminal, and dying mall?
Hahahahaha! I love the caption on the photo above. "Grand Display"! Bellagio's fountains are a grand display. That looks like the kiddie sprinklers at a playground.
They've really outdone themselves this time. It truly is the ugliest thing we've seen in Vegas since Liberace in hotpants!
Hahahahahaha! Good luck with that!
This project was dreamed, planned and built with the old pre-recession Las Vegas in mind. It would have been risky in a good market let alone in today's market. Kind of a tough quandary they are in. All I can say is wow.
Where's Ruben and Danny Ocean in that crowd?
S711
City Center is not a very eye home pleaseing place,,to out in the future like.. Only cold blooded rich people will want to hang aroung their.. the upkeep of CC will makes it a young PIG..and when management can't keep the upkeep going it will be a dirty hohum place.
Trop may be a pig but at least it's got a homey human old feelen to it. Airport people also mite feel at home at CC,,, not me.
The outside looks like a sterile office complex and the inside looks like it was designed by little kids for little kids. MGM may claim it is cutting edge, but it is so far out there that it is a short term fad. Hope MGM has plenty of cash for that remodel in a couple of years. In contrast the Mirage, Bellagio, Wynn's, Treasure Island, and most of the other strip big boys still look cool and elegant inside and out after all these years.
A picture of the strip taken from Mandalay Bay before they built City Center was a very nice picture, especially at night. Now the same picture looks like someone spilled coffee on it and the rest of the buildings are blotted out. For all it's supposed elegance, this joint would be more at home in Hong Kong business or condo district not Las Vegas.
FWIW:
Single night stay for 2 pricing/per website
Dec 17 FULL*
Dec 18 FULL*
Dec 19 FULL*
Dec 20 = Deluxe $149
Deluxe w/city view $199
Corner Suite $425
Tower $425
Corner City View $475
Corner Panoramic View $525
Suite $575
Suite w/city view $600
2-BR suite $700
Hospitality Suite $700
1-BR Penthouse w/city view $$750
2-BR Penthouse Suite $1000
2-BR Penthouse w/city view suite $1050
*We're sorry but we are fully committed for the dates you requested.
*Please click "Change Dates" to try a new search, or select from one of our sister properties below who show availability for the dates you requested. Thank you for choosing ARIA.
Ref: https://reservations.mgmmirage.com
: {
ROFL
3 days after the largest,and grandest hotel las vegas has to offer,it is not even completely booked
I dont care what spin you put on it,that is just sad!
peace out
also was there monday at about 2 pm,,just a colossal underutilized space
I walked over to the valet station to ask about parking for my harley,because even though it is valet for most of property,bike parking is generally close.The staff looked at me like i was really putting them out asking about where i can park my bike.I dont like taking my truck down to the strip,due to the fact that it is lifted,so i like to create a shortcut.
If because my jeans,and shirt were not TomFord,and that is why they were snobby,well mr baldwin,and murren,you better have another staff meeting,because that will not fly for long
What's plan B?
I'm not sure why people are upset about CityCenter. The most likely results are:
#1 Some increase in jobs.
Even if the construction workers are laid off now, having work for 3-5 years is not insignificant. Worst case it is a partial bridge to more properous times.
#2 Increased competition for customers AND workers.
Given the likelihood of CityCenter debt requiring additional sales of other properties by MGM-Mirage, new ownership with non-corporate cash should join the mix. Private equity and hedge fund investors won't have the debt loads burdening current ownership. Interest expense and debt covenant issues are major challenges which can be alleviated, all the while adding new players to the mix who will be required to "bid" on the best customers and talent. TI is an example of this occurring already, Phil Ruffin has lured numerous employees from other properties, some of whom were laid off. These are opportunities for these people which would not exist had CityCenter not been built.
#3 Elimination of non-competitive properties.
The downward pressure on room rates will result in closure of other properties at worst, a decrease in business at best. It is even within the realm of possibility that more people will come, although I'm not drinking that kool-aid. Regardless if we are all Americans, and believe in capitalism, then we can't complain about a privately funded business offering a competitive product that eliminates a substandard rival.
you build it they will come...
BeeeJay - Very good points. I don't know why there are so many haters here. I guess they take their frustrations out on companies that are trying to do something positive. I agree, good riddance to all of the lower tier properties that aren't competitive. I am not sorry to see them go.
S711
I enjoyed my stay at the Vdara last weekend and was a little disappointed that I could not make the grand opening of Aria but will surely return if the room rates remain at the current price range. It was only 2 years ago Bellagio offered a lesser room for double the price. The economy will turn around like it always do, just like the ebb and flow of the tides.
The design is drastically different and overly modern, which may be less enduring than the classic design of Bellagio and Wynn. However, it does make them seem dated.
Luxury isn't today what it used to be. Come back Las Vegas.
I'm disappointed.
Although it is really big and cool, for attention to detail Aria is not in the same league as Wynn, Encore, or Palazzo. The casino is a slightly worse version of M Resort. I like the bathroom stall test. Use a stall at Aria, then use one at Encore. You'll get my point.
I spoke with 10-12 employees, asking various questions regarding my upcoming, now impending stay. Pretty basic stuff. I came away with the thought that if these are the 1 in 10 applicants who got the job aka the top 10%, then our country is doomed.
I had intended initially on flying in this evening and staying directly at Aria, thank goodness I changed my plans as my room will not be available until tomorrow. I had been told by the phone reservation rep that I would be able to check in for my Dec 17th first night any time after the property opened as the room would be empty with it being the first night. I called to confirm this fact a second time. After speaking to some consultants on the project I decided to book a backup room in case of IT issues or long lines or who knows what. Good thing I did, guess where I am typing this from---across the street.
I decided to play a game---try to find an Aria employee smiling. I went 0 for 6, but 2 for 8. The older employees who had been thru Mirage, Bellagio, etc openings were calm and cool. The majority were newbies nervous and trying to hard. Same thing with the pit bosses. The only people having fun were the long since sloshed suits and corporate big wigs along with their hordes of YES men patting each other on the back.
"hey bob, what's better than a golden shower?"
"i don't know don"
"a golden PARACHUTE"
"hahaha...good one...see you back on wall street!"
I'm holding out hope that once the employees get settled in and aren't so nervous it will actually be a fun place.
With all due respect, couldn't this place have offered free food and cocktails opening night?
Here is how it will go ...I will come to vegas stay at the M go to city center let them take some money so i can see what they built after I get done having the rape kit adminsiterd I will go back to the M or other worthy properties NEVER TO RETURN.....if i go there and they give me a reason to come back i will... but no strip property has done that with the excpetion of the Wynn
Old Las Vegas, lovely town.
"They've really outdone themselves this time. It truly is the ugliest thing we've seen in Vegas since Liberace in hotpants!"
LOL!!!
Murren is a master spin artist. He has driven the stock of MGM from high $90's to just a tad over $9 in 24 months. CityCenter was a bad idea. If someone wanted to stay in an office tower, they would do it at home. The project went over budget at almost $9 billion and its current worth...less than $4 billion. In order to restore confidence Murren needs to resign or get fired. He has taken this company down with his fantasies and Wall Street greed. His general counsel unexpectedly resigned last Friday. He resigned because he was nudged into acting unethically. Murren and his cronies have misrepresented information, theft by deception, and total loss of morals in maintaining shareholder value. He is the reason for the CityCenter project after scamming principle shareholder Kerkorian into agreeing to build this. It is time for the board of directors to take control of the company and fire Murren and the rest of the senior staff involved in the destruction of the stock value. It's not all about the global recession, Murren is not the right person for this business with the new global model of business. It's time for the WALL STREET CROOKS, like Murren, to get out. Senator Reid, it's time to do something since you got MGM it's liitle bailout. Have you heard of a company keeping an executive after they imploded the company stock by 90% in less then 2 years? Get him out or lose the company...NOW!