CITYCENTER
The most
expensive privately funded construction project in U.S.
History.The first phase of
MGM MIRAGE's CityCenter Las Vegas, a gargantuan $7.4
billion, 68 acre project, is under construction on the
Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and Monte Carlo.
Construction of the project started taking shape on June
26, 2006, when the first concrete was poured. It will
eventually occupy the space behind and between Monte
Carlo and New York New York as well. The Boardwalk Hotel
was demolished along with a few local businesses to make
room for this immense project. Harmon Road will meander
through CityCenter.
CityCenter will be an urban environment with nicely
hidden parking structures, parks and a complex of
rooftop gardens. The project will be a mini-city
with its own Fire Station, an on-site power plant and
lots of pedestrian space. CityCenter has achieved LEED
certification for the project as outlined by the U.S.
Green Building Council.
CityCenter will have a 1/4 mile Strip frontage. The
project's center will be 60-story casino/resort with
4,000-rooms, designed by world renowned architect
Cesar Pelli. There will be plenty of glitz in
the form of light shows projected against building
facades and plenty of Times Square style neon.
Preliminary reports from MGM MIRAGE state that a new
Cirque du Soleil show, called Elvis, will premiere at
the CityCenter Resort on opening day.
CityCenter will have 8,000 construction workers and
39 cranes on site at the peak of construction and create
12,000 new permanent positions once open.
CityCenter is expected to open phase one in November
of 2009.
BETTE MIDLER
Bette Midler to replace Celine Dion in
February 2008 as the resident performer at the Las
Vegas' Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Scheduled to
premiere 20 February 2008, her show will be performed
five nights a week.
Tickets are already on sale for $95 to
$250. Look for a minimum of 100 concerts a year for at
least two years.
Elton John will continue to perform 50
shows a year at the 4,100 seat Colosseum. That leaves
room for shows by one additional artist. So look for an
additional artist to be announced. There is some
speculation that it might be Cher.
The Colosseum will go dark between
Dion's grand finale 15 December 2007 and Better Midler's
first show. The Colosseum at Caesars Palace was built in
2003 for Dion's "A New Day"
spectacular. Reported 3 May 2007.
STARDUST IS DUST
The implosion of the Stardust Casino and Hotel Towers
took place at 2:30 am Tuesday morning, 13 March 2007.
Demolition courtesy of LVI Services Inc. Tentative
completion date of it's replacement is 2010 when the
proposed Echelon Place complex of 5,300 rooms will be
built by Boyd Gaming Inc. The Stardust opened 2 July
1958 as the world's largest hotel. As reported 13 March
2007.
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is set for an
expansion that will add 500 hotel rooms and 400 suites
in two separate towers. There will also be a new spa and
health club, pool area, several restaurants and bars
along with a new nightclub. The Joint (a concert venue)
will be increased in size. The $750 million expansion is
to begin late in 2007 and is scheduled to be compete in
mid 2009. As announced by hotel developer Morgans Hotel
Group Co. and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners on Monday 12
March 2007.
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"Mamma
Mia!" to close late summer 2008. The
musical features hits form the 1970s
group ABBA. "Mamma Mia!" opened in
February 2003 at the Mandalay Bay. No
replacement show has been announced.
This announcement made a year and a half
in advance by the producers on Thursday
4 January 2007.
Note new Broadway shows scheduled to
open in Las Vegas include: "Monty
Python's Spamalot" at the Wynn in 2007,
"The Producers" starring David
Hasselhoff to open 31 January 2007 at
the Paris Las Vegas hotel.
| CELINE DION PERFORMANCES TO END
RUN |
Celine Dion and the the cast of "A
New Day ..." to complete their fifth and
final year of performances at the
Colosseum at the Caesars Palace. Celine
Dion's production opened in March 2003.
Celine continues to sell out the 4,000
seats a night. "A New Day ..." is
scheduled to close 15 Dec 2007. Tickets
for the final block of performances from
August through December will go on sale
1 March 2007.
Note that Elton John will perform
when Dion takes a break during 2007.
Elton John performs at the Colosseum at
Caesars Palace - March 27 - Apr.
10 2007, and May 8 - May 13 2007.
Prince started a new gig on Friday
November 10th, 2006 at the 3121 club at
The Rio casino-hotel. Prince will
perform shows for the coming several
Friday and Saturday nights at the 3121
club which was previously Club Rio. The
club holds approximately 700 people.
Tickets are $124.
MGM Mirage has announced that it
would sell three casinos in Primm,
Nevada (near the Nevada/California
border on Interstate 15 about 40 miles
from Las Vegas). Herbst Gaming Inc.
would purchase the properties for $400
million. Included in the sale is Buffalo
Bill's, Primm Valley and Whiskey Pete's
hotel-casinos. Not included in the sale
is the 537 acre Primm Valley Golf Club.
Herbst Gaming is a Las Vegas based
company known for its roadside slot
machines and its Terrible's brand gas
stations and casinos. MGM Mirage had
purchased the properties in 1999. As
reported November 1st, 2006.
Playboy Enterprises announced that
the Playboy Club opens October 5th, 2006
in the Fantasy Tower of the Palms Casino
Resort in Las Vegas. There will be the
Playboy Club and Casino, store, the Moon
(nightclub with a retractable roof), and
the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa. The two-story
9,000 square foot villa has a media
room, a fully equipped gym, a sauna, a
poker table and an outdoor terrace. It
also includes an outdoor cantilevered
Jacuzzi with glass end walls as well as
8 foot round rotating beds. Only $40,000
a night.
| CIRQUE'S ELVIS SHOW IN VEGAS |
A permanent Elvis show is scheduled at
the CityCenter Hotel Casino. CKX (they
own Elvis Presley Enterprises) and
Cirque du Soloeil have made a deal with
MGM Mirage to stage a permanent Elvis
show. The Elvis show is scheduled to
open November 2009 at the same time that
the CityCenter Hotel Casino opens. As
reported August 17th, 2006.
MGM Mirage Inc., revealed a model of its
$7 billion Project CityCenter on June
26th, 2006. Project CityCenter is a
seven-tower megaresort featuring two
glass residential towers and 500,000
square feet of retail space. There will
be a 50-story condominium-hotel with
1,543 units that can rent as hotel rooms
when the buyer is not around.
Project CityCenter will have two
boutique hotels. One hotel will be a
Lifestyle Hotel and the other hotel will
be a five-star Mandarin Oriental luxury
hotel.
The 66 acre site is between the
Bellagio and Monte Carlo - both owned by
MGM Mirage. Concrete for CityCenter's
foundation was poured on Saturday June
24th 2006. The entire property is
scheduled to open in late 2009. As
reported June 26, 2006.
Toni Braxton is set to take up residency
in Las Vegas starting August 3rd 2006.
Toni Braxton will do an open ended run
at the Flamingo Las Vegas. Toni will
perform "Toni Braxton: Revealed" six
nights a week, Mondays through Saturday,
with a selection of background singers
and dancers. Ticket prices are
$65/$75/$100. As reported on May 19th,
2006.
The Las Vegas Hard Rock Casino has been
sold for $770 million. Hotel operator
Morgans Hotel Group Co. has agreed to
buy the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino. The hotel has 647 rooms and the
casino is over 30,000 square feet. It
sits on 41 acres. Peter Morton, chairman
and property's founder, opened the Las
Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in
1995. In a separate announcement in
January 2006, Morgans Hotel Group had
announced that it would partner with
Boyd Gaming Corp. to build two hotels
with 1,600 rooms on the Boyd's casino
complex on the Strip. The Echelon Place
is scheduled to open in 2010. As
reported on May 11th, 2006.
Base Entertainment plans to construct
and program two venues in the new Las
Vegas Planet Hollywood resort. The two
venues are to have flexible space with a
maximum of 7,000 seats and 1,450 seats.
Producers Brian Becker and Scott Zeiger
formed Base Entertainment to produce,
present, program and operator live
entertainment.
The Major Hotel
Owners in Las Vegas
..
MGM Mirage, Inc. -
MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGG)
formerly known as MGM Grand Inc.
operates hotels and gaming facilities
throughout the world including the MGM
Grand Las Vegas. MGM Mirage acquired the
Mandalay Resort Group (NYSE: MBG) on
April 26th, 2005. MGM Grand Nevada
properties include:
Bellagio, Las Vegas
Circus Circus, on the Las
Vegas Strip
Excalibur, on the Las Vegas
Strip
Luxor, on the Las Vegas Strip
Mandalay Bay, on the Las
Vegas Strip
MGM Grand, Las Vegas Strip
The Mirage, Las Vegas
Monte Carlo, Las Vegas
New York-New York, Las Vegas
Strip
Treasure Island, Las Vegas
Circus Circus, Reno NV
Silver Legacy, Reno NV
Colorado Belle Hotel and Casino,
Laughlin NV
Edgewater Hotel and Casino,
Laughlin NV
Nevada Landing Hotel and Casino,
Jean NV
Gold Strike Hotel and Gambling
Hall, Jean NV
Primadonna (Whiskey Pete's,
Buffalo Bill's, Primm Valley Resort), in
Primm NV to be sold to Herbst Gaming
Inc. as announced Nov. 1st, 2006.
.
| Other Major Las Vegas Players |
Harrah's Entertainment Inc. -
Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE: HET)
operates hotel casinos in Reno, Lake
Tahoe, Las Vegas, and Laughlin, Nevada
and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Caesars
Entertainment, Inc. is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Harrah's Entertainment.
Caesars Entertainment was acquired by
Harrah's Entertainment in 2005.
Bally's, Las Vegas
Harrah's Las Vegas, Las Vegas
Rio, Las Vegas
Harrah's Reno, Reno NV
Harrah's Laughlin, Laughlin
NV
Paris Las Vegas, Las Vegas
Strip
Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas,
off the strip
Flamingo Las Vegas, Las Vegas
Strip
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
Strip
Imperial Palace, Las Vegas
Boyd Gaming Corporation -
Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) has operated
in the Las Vegas market for more than
two decades. Boyd Gaming also owns
property outside of Nevada. Las Vegas
property include:
Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino
Stardust Resort and Casino,
Las Vegas
Echelon Place, expected to open
in 2010.
Eldorado, Henderson NV
Jokers Wild, Henderson NV
Coast Resorts Inc. -
Coast Resorts operates "locals
casinos."
South Coast Hotel and Casino
- December 2005, southwest Las Vegas
valley
Barbary Coast, Las Vegas
Strip
Gold Coast, Las Vegas
The Orleans Hotel and Casino,
Las Vegas
Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling
Hall, Las Vegas
Suncoast Hotel and Casino,
Las Vegas
Joker's Wild Casino
Station Casinos Inc. -
Station Casinos (STN) owns and
operates distinctly themed hotel/casino
and some smaller casino properties in
the Las Vegas metropolitan area.
Green Valley Ranch Resort, Spa,
Casino
Red Rock Casino, Resort, Spa
Boulder Station Hotel & Casino,
Las Vegas
Palace Station Hotel & Casino,
Las Vegas
Sunset Station Hotel & Casino,
Las Vegas
Texas Station Gambling Hall &
Hotel, Las Vegas
Santa Fe Station, Las Vegas
Tropicana Station, Inc., Las
Vegas
Fiesta Rancho, Las Vegas
Fiesta Henderson, Henderson
Reserve Hotel & Casino, Las
Vegas
Wild Wild West Gambling Hall &
Hotel, Las Vegas, operator of
Las Vegas Sands, Inc. - (NYSE:
LVS) Las Vegas Sands, Inc., a hotel,
gaming, and retail mall company
headquartered in Las Vegas, owns the
Venetian on the Strip. Sheldon Adelson
maintains controlling interest. Adelson
is the entrepreneur who created the
giant Comdex computer convention and
then sold it.
Venetian, Las Vegas Strip
Planet Hollywood Las Vegas and
Starwood Hotel Resorts purchased the
Aladdin on June 20th, 2003.
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