City Center certainly invokes a lot of strong feelings. Some see it destined to doom, some see it as the greatest project in the world, some have lots of curiosity. You really should see it for yourself and not rely on reports from me or others. Even then, you still won't know if it will be a success. There are a lot of challenges to be met, there are a lot of incomplete items that need to be completed, and there are a lot of bills to be paid.

City Center currently consists of 5 major pieces. There is the Vdara hotel, Aria hotel, Mandarin Oriental hotel, Crystals retail center, and the tram. Yes, the tram is a major piece because it connects Monte Carlo and Bellagio to Crystals. That is important because there is almost no self parking.

City Center is an amazing place. It is a place for the art snob. There are many places to stop and critique style, interpretation, and design. Crystals gives me a feeling of being in a huge cave. The elevations changes, the echo from high ceilings, the dead ends and misdirection of where you are going all lead to confusion. Then you just laugh and say, "I get it, it's artistic design." Vdara and Mandaring have small public areas. Aria, is more like a traditional resort with a buffet, a show, gaming, and most features that you might expect from a new high end resort. One thing to like about the rooms in these hotels is that many of them were designed to be condos where people would live. For instance, there are over 100 different floorplans for Aria.

If City Center is a success, it will be because Mandarin has very polite front line employees. If it is a success it will signal the start of Las Vegas reinventing itself and that people don't really want a fantasy theme and gaming everywhere. It will be because people want the gaming and craziness on small levels and want to return to a base where they can be pampered and enjoy peace and quiet. It will be because there are plenty of rich and famous people that want to be separated from the average tourist. Success will come from approval by the likes of Harry Reid, Obama, Pelosi, and other leaders pushing certain agendas.

If City Center is a flop, it will be a combination of the following. Upper level finances have still not been sorted out. Construction has not been paid for. Buildings were made before the plans were approved. Incomplete construction is an eyesore. There is no self parking. There is very limited gambling. There is very little demand for art snobs. There are no reasons for return visits. There is a poor variety of dining options. The shopping options are poor for the average person. There are some very long walks to get from place to place. There are a large number of elevation changes that will certainly challenge the handicapped. We don't really need a bazillion new hotel rooms or residences.

Success or flop, City Center is amazing.

For the record, my prediction is that City Center will fail in it's current state. However it will survive after many modifications. I think there will be a ton of bad press as poor hotel occupancy leads to layoffs. Then poor sales at Crystals will bring in more affordable shops and dining. I think some of the valet parking will be converted to self parking. Since most of the hotel rooms were originally planned as condos, then converted to upscale hotel rooms, I don't think the demand is there for that many upscale hotel rooms. I think we will see some towers close or not open at all. I think the whole City Center project will be divided up and sold outside of MGM. Will they clear out the bottom floors and add a casino and showroom and restaurants and bars? Will they adjust the condo/hotel room ratio? Will Crystals become an affordable mall? I don't know, but that's my long term guess. I do think that it will be a completely different City Center than what is presented to us today.

JMT - thanks for your review! I really enjoyed reading your opinions. I'm looking forward to exploring the place whenever I make it back to Vegas.

JMT, I tend to agree with you completely and I thought that I was the only 'present day pessimist' on here.

When I first toured through Crystals, I found myself thinking, "This 'part' won't be here too long. They'll convert this space to something that will be more income productive."

That thought was very strong while viewing those water container things most of all, but it did continue throughout my excursion.

And when people shop (even those who can afford this place), they like to stop for a few moments to rest and have a decent lunch or noon-time snack, but the only place that offers food was Baso (a high caliber steak house) and another yet to open spot offering fish meals in that fancy 'tree house' overlooking the mall.

And now that I have seen it twice, I can't think of much that would encourage a return visit.

While I lived in Hawaii I've seen Waikiki transform itself with all those shops that are found in Crystals. And more! But it is a rare sight indeed to see US citizens shopping there or even looking through the windows. Those shops only cater to the Asian tourists who apparently pay much higher prices in the Orient.

And as I mentioned earlier, I was a bit surprised that I was not super-impressed by the Aria casino. It's very evident that they are catering to mostly high stakes gamblers with $15 - $25 minimum table games and fine diners with heavy wallets.
Even those fancy $3 - $4 'cupcakes are $6.50 here.

And also surprising is the fact that the 'tram' services The Bellagio, Crystals, and the Monte Carlo, but you still have to walk a ways to reach the Vdara, the Aria and a good long distance before you find the Mandiran. In fact you have to walk a decent distance within the Monte Carlo and the Belligio themselves before you reach the terminals. (Nit-picken here!)

I thought that they learned that 'walking distance to the tram' lesson earlier, but I guess not.

And as JMT has stated, "You have to see it for yourself and not rely on what others have to say."

There is much to love and find attractive within CityCenter, so don't even think of passing it by. It is a work of art ..... but art must be criticized even by those who don't understand.

I've been encouraging my out of town guests to consider the Aria or the Vdara or the Wynn/Encore for their next visit. But now that I've visited CC, I've been recommending the Wynn with a bit more emphasis.

BUT .... after meeting some of the Mandiran employees ( the greeter guy in the fancy early English attire, the two female attendants at the front door entrance, and the lobby gentleman in the perfectly tailored suit and tie who answered all my stupid questions with genuine concern) I've decided to suggest this wonderful place to my friends who consider courtesy and attention to the mutest detail to be a prime consideration.

And three nights for the price of two is nothing to sneeze about!

Does any one have any inside knowledge of how CityCenter is doing or has dome over the holidays?

The casino had a lot of foot traffic both times we stopped in over New Years. But, the tables and machines appeared empty. I I played a few machines and did OK on a couple but overall found them to be very low paying.

The location of the casino will be a major downfall in the long term as I believe people will not want to walk to the back of the property to gamble.

I agree that Crystals will need to add more "lower" level shops for us common folks or traffic in that mall will die a slow death.

The property appears to me that they designed it for the residents only an do not want the off the street traffic.

I do believe major changes are coming.

Will, I can't get a straight answer for City Center. Officially, Aria says they were on track with their numbers. Should I conclude that City Center is also?

Remember that they liked their Grand Opening and first week numbers too. On their first Friday I went to the Elvis show which was not sold out, I could have gotten in at ANY of the restaurants with immediate seating, and I've never seen the buffet line more than 10 people deep. The main corridors were kinda full but moving along well. Table games and machines weren't crowded. BTW, their 24/7 restaurant is pretty sucky.

I'd be hesitant to say what good numbers are in their minds. I also think it would be irresponsible to judge success or failure based on Dec09 or Jan10 numbers. Come to think of it, I don't know when would be a good time to judge Aria or City Center a success or failure. I'm not sure when it would be right to look at the books and declare good or bad. It would take 2 full years to compare one year to another and 15 more months to compare like quarters. I foresee many major changes before that. Some good changes, and some might not be so good for some people as others.

For the future, I see a lot of changes. Do those changes mean it is a failure right now or should we call the changes fine tuning? Would the addition of lower end shops in Crystals indicate a failure of the grand opening plan? Would a Wolfgang Puck restaurant, a food court, or an ABC store in Aria indicate a failure of the master plan?

So I guess City Center is on track. I just don't know which track it is on.

JMT< not much info here but I paid a visit to CityCenter last Monday evening between the hours of 6 - 8 pm and it was very quiet.

The most activity in any of the Aria restaurants was about three occupied tables and there appeared to be no one in the buffet.

The only CC restaurant that appeared to be doing well was Besa (Beso?) but elsewhere was as quiet as could be.

SIlk Road in the Vdara had fewer than ten diners (maybe three tables) and about four customers in the lobby bar.

In the meantime, Bellagio had a small but decent crowd throughout the casino (for a Monday night) and I was a bit surprised that the Golden Nugget was pretty busy (I stopped by there on my way home.)

I'm planning to see how much business improves this forthcoming Friday and Saturday nites.

I'm sort of 'judging' the LV economic improvement based on the amount of business that CityCenter generates.

It's kinda hard to say much about City Center that hasn't been said. Bottom line, it's something to see...ONCE.

I was wrong in describing the parking. There is adequate self parking if you enter from the Blvd. Just follow the signs as if you were entering an airport. BTW, much of the north entrance area of Aria and it's convention center look like an airport.

City Center is pretty nice. It is failing on so many different levels, some of which are shared by the rest of the strip, the town, the state, the country, and the world. I'm kinda excited to see what it will become as the economic tides change.

It certainly is a photo op.

JMT, I agree with your most recent post 100%.

ONCE is enough .... if you can see it all at once.

But it will take a second and even possibly a third "once" for most of us to see it all.

For instance, I've got to go back and check out that 20th floor at the Mandarin and maybe once again to see Elvis when Elvis fans arrive in town, and once again when the rest of CityCenter opens .... all of which I'm sure you'll do too!

But I do agree .... once you see each of what it has to offer once, I can't foresee going back once more.

But maybe a twofer or a free shrimp cocktail might persuade me otherwise.

Do you think it will possibly come to that?

And do you think that those world renown chefs will still be there a year from hence?

Unless the economy improves, I see a silent and undisclosed departure on the part of more than just a few of those guys in them tall white hats.

They don't enjoy cooking when there's no one there to eat if.