US - The Las Vegas Strip has a new venue landmark in the form of the new MGM Mirage-owned Aria casino and hotel complex, part of the most expensive private construction project in US history.
The casino is the centrepiece of the US$8.5bn Citycentre complex, a 67-acre complex of convention and exhibition space, hotels and retail areas, on the Strip.
The five-year construction project hit a major hurdle in March, when struggling joint venture partner Dubai World sued MGM Mirage during a dispute over payments. The row was resolved by April and, according to MGM Mirage, if Dubai World does file for bankruptcy the Citycentre complex will be unaffected as all payments have been made.
Aria itself is a 4,004-room hotel at the heart of the complex, designed by Cesar Pelli, the 83-year-old architect best known for designing the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia.
A pair of leaning, yellow-checkered all-condo towers and one more hotel are due to open in 2010.
In other news, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation’s CEO Sheldon Adelson has told reporters he believes Las Vegas convention bookings won’t recover fully until 2011.
“It’s coming back in force, as each quarter goes by there’s more and more demand,” Adelson said in an interview in Las Vegas. “There’s no question about it rebounding in 2010, with even greater recovery in 2011.”
Vegas entered a record slump in January last year as companies cancelled their exhibitions, conferences and meetings. Convention attendance tumbled 26 per cent in the 10 months preceding this October, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
