Las Vegas always has been a “concrete town.” Nearly all the hotel towers on the Strip are constructed with structurally reinforced concrete and the MGM Mirage's City-Center project, located on the Strip between the Bellagio Casino to the north and the Monte Carlo Casino to the south, follows that tradition. But it's the size and scope of this $7.8 billion construction that is most challenging. Over 1 million cubic yards of concrete will be placed by the time it's completed in 2009. Shelton Grantham, vice president of field operations, Perini Building Co., Phoenix, says they are placing 2000 cubic yards of concrete every day to keep up with this schedule.

When the MGM Grand Inc. acquired Mirage Casinos in 2000 to become MGM Mirage, the company not only took ownership of several world-famous hotels, it also acquired considerable real estate in the transaction. This was repeated when MGM Mirage acquired Mandalay Resort Group in 2005. All told, MGM Mirage now owns close to 800 acres of land on the Las Vegas Strip, 150 of which are either totally undeveloped or under-developed, meaning the structures on the land are no longer justified by the astronomical prices now being demanded for strip acreage.

Gordon Absher, vice president of public affairs for MGM Mirage, says the 76-acre site where CityCenter is being built was the last significantly sized property left for development in the center portion of the Strip. It originally was part of the Dunes Casino golf course, with a helicopter ride business occupying the front portion next to Las Vegas Boulevard. The Boardwalk Hotel and Casino was the only significant building on the site that required demolition and removal before construction began.

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At first, MGM Mirage wondered how the property could best benefit its shareholders and considered selling it. “With land this valuable you, don't put up a parking ramp,” says Absher. “Even building another casino similar to other Strip properties wouldn't justify the land value.” They decided to build a mixed-use high-density development, putting more into less space—building up instead of out. So the concept for City-Center was born. The 18 million square feet of livable space would include retail and dining districts, provide the feeling of energy and excitement that other large city downtown areas have and avoid the concept of a mall development. In contrast, the Bellagio Casino, which the MGM Mirage owns, has 6 million square feet of space on roughly the same acreage.

Until now, casino developments on the Strip have tended to be themed structures—buildings in costumes. But the MGM Mirage team decided it was time for a change so they invited several world-class architects to design buildings in their own signature styles.

Absher says that each design architect works within the space their building occupies. In addition they also were asked to work in the context of the whole development. So the architects met together with the MGM Mirage development team to consider the impact of their designs on each others' work. Absher says the discussions also revealed how different architectural approaches addressed common problems such as managing desert heat in the buildings.

CityCenter is also a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) project, currently the largest LEED development in the U.S. The idea to apply for LEED certification was encouraged by the design architects. They suggested that building high-performance buildings represents cutting-edge technology so the MGM Mirage team agreed. This meant, among other things, that the buildings demolished to prepare the site for construction would be recycled and all interior spaces would be healthier to live in by excluding materials and furnishings that generated toxic fumes. Absher says the decision is winning favor with their customers who are buying condos and leasing retail space. An added bonus is that the state of Nevada recently passed legislation offering tax credits to companies who use green building practices. When the development is complete, the project application will be for a Silver LEED Certification.