Mega Project in Las Vegas

Just about everyone knows the terrible doldrums the construction industry is in throughout the country. There is a real housing bust that everyone hopes will be bottoming out soon and that a rebound is not far away.

We've also read a great deal about how the gambling industry, originally thought to be recession-proof, is hurting these days. Las Vegas is down considerably and bargains on food, beverages, rooms and other attractions are once again available in Glitter City.

So, we have new construction down severely, and we have every business along the Las Vegas strip fighting for every single customer. It's surprising that a simply huge construction project continues on schedule in that city. How big? Well, it's the largest privately financed project in United States history.

Today we'll take a little time to write about the size and scope of this ambitious project. Clearly the mega-investors like the long-term outlook for Las Vegas and they want to be positioned to take advantage of the revenues that will come streaming in when the economy improves.

The project we're talking about is called CityCenter and it's a $9.1 billion extravaganza by MGM Mirage which is located on a 76-acre parcel of property between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo hotel/casino complexes.

This project is so huge construction workers are doing shifts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and they are targeting being open by the end of this year. The payroll is $3,125,000 a day and so far the project has recorded over 24 million man-hours of work.

This incredible project is broken down into three segments. Here's what's in each of them:

Block A - Aria tower, a 600-foot-tall, 4,000-room hotel; Aria podium, a 2.8 million-square-foot low-rise building containing casino space, restaurants, spa and fitness center, pool and a 1,750 stall parking garage; a convention center with 655,000 square feet of space on multi levels and large meeting areas; an 1,800-seat, 170,000-square foot showroom featuring Cirque du Soleil show; and an 11-story, 7,200-stall parking garage.

Block B - A 55,000-square-foot central plant housing all mechanical and electrical services for this vast property; a new elevated road structure, pedestrian walkway and elevator providing access from Harmon Avenue throughout CityCenter.

Block C - Mandarin Oriental, a 47-story tower with a 400-room hotel and 227 condominiums; Harmon Hotel, Spa 7 Residences, a 47-story tower with 400-room hotel and 240 condominiums (Managers just announced this week that this project will be scaled down to eliminate the condominium units. It will be about half as tall as originally planned. But, this is the only cutback in the size of the project.); a 10-story, 2,500-space self-parking garage and elevated pedestrian bridge over Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue; The Crystals, a 645,000-square-foot retail district with shops, entertainment, restaurants and people mover station; Veer Towers, two 37-story condominium towers with 670 residences; a 630,000-square-foot, 1,200-space below-grade parking garage under retail residences with a loading dock, utility tunnel and taxi staging area.

Now, that is an incredible project, and remember all of this is going on at the same time.

An article by Tony Zilla in the Las Vegas Business Press detailed all of this information and more.

Here's a few statistics:

The construction cost - $9.1 billion.

Condominium and hotel units - 2,650.

Project size - 18.67 million square feet.

Buildings - seven.

Job site - 76 acres.

Peak work force (in February of 2009) - 12,000.

New employees hired per month - 100

Average salary per construction worker - $80,000.

Golf carts and buggies on site - 800.

Tower cranes - 14.

Ground cranes - 30.

Forklifts - 150.

Man lifts - 50.

Total concrete used so far - 1.8 million cubic yards.

It's hard to imagine a construction project that large and it's even more incredible that it's going forward in these extremely difficult financial times.

Just getting to work is a nightmare for the building trades people. They have to arrive an hour or more before their shift begins just to combat the gridlock along the narrow single-lane access road to the site. The first project to be completed was a 7,200-stall parking garage used for employees and also for employees of the nearby Bellagio Hotel and Casino.

Although MGM Mirage, Inc., is the lead partner in this mega project, it probably won't come as a surprise to our readers to know that Dubai World, subsidiary of Infinity World Development Corp., is the other major financier.

That company just happens to be the investment holding company owned by the government of the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai. The chairman of the board is Sultan Bin Sulayem.

So, while we purchase more Middle East oil we also give them the resources to make huge financial commitments in the United States like this one in Las Vegas and many, many others.

Long term this is going to be a money machine, but we wouldn't doubt a bit that at least initially it will be a money pit.

http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2009/01/10/in_times_square/times01.txt