Awesome CityCenter Las Vegas

The $8.5 billion CityCenter to open December, 2009

CityCenter skyscrapers now tower above famous Monte Carlo (left) and Bellagio (right) hotel/casinos.

As a resident of Las Vegas who comes down to the city's world-famous Strip several days each week, countless times I have surveyed the construction of the incredibly large CityCenter, and I have said to myself: CityCenter is awesome.

Lately, though, I have been wondering what the word awesome really means. Today, I actually looked up the definition of the word awe.

Sure enough, awe is a complex and deep word. It can mean both admiration and fear. Its origin in Ancient Greek - achos - meant pain. In Old Norse - agi - the word meant fear.

Today, the definition has smoothed out quite a bit. In Dictionary.com, I found a definition of awe that I feel is comprehensive and cogent:

awe

noun

1. A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by

authority, genius, great beauty, sublimity or might.

2. Archaic

a. The power to inspire dread.

b. Dread.

There is more. Admiration and fear, "produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like." This is what Dictionary.com says about awe.

Interestingly, as I ponder my own feelings about CityCenter, this is close to what I sense.

Helmut Jahn's Veer Towers, photo by dannotti

The architect's two 37-story residential towers each bend at five-degree angles, "dancing" together.

By Robert L. Candiotti

August 23, 2009

GreenAirport.net focuses on a proposed new international airport that would be built south of Las Vegas, Nevada, near the border of Nevada and California.

So, why am I writing about CityCenter Las Vegas in this website?

Primarily, it is because CityCenter - from what I have read - is extraordinarily advanced with "green" and "sustainable" forethought and fastidiousness.Considering that the commencement of CityCenter development began in 2004, it is impressive that, from the very beginning, there obviously was a commitment to sustainable qualities throughout the 67-acre mammoth construction project.

Reading the history of CityCenter reveals the project's master plan was developed by New York's Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut and Kuhn (EEK) Architects. The importance of sustainable design had to begin, I would think, with EEK in 2004.

Certainly, the design of CityCenter had an understanding that, once built, it would need to endure, be "green" and be successful for many decades into the future. This is exactly what I think about the creation of Ivanpah Valley Airport. Ivanpah Valley Airport will need the same long-term vision. This is why I believe Ivanpah will need to be the greenest airport heretofore built in the U.S., and the world.

This is why I am so impressed with, and interested in, the sustainable design of CityCenter. It seems to be so forward looking. CityCenter has been designed to conserve water, create clean air, control energy use, coordinate green forms of transportation, oversee construction with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) wood, which is wood only harvested from forests with sustainable management policies.

CityCenter has carefully chosen desert-type landscaping that allows for control of irrigation. The development is even concerned that "green" cleaning products will be used inside the buildings. Even CityCenter's fleet of Lincoln Town Car limousines will run on CNG (compressed natural gas).

Additionally, the huge CityCenter development - advertised to encompass 18 million square feet - has been built to meet a combination of gold and silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) ratings by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Harmon Hotel and Spa photo by Las Vegas Lover

Says CityCenter.com, Harmon Hotel and Spa offers "hip, exclusive living on The Strip."

18 million square feet. 67 acres. Does that sound big? It should. It is big. I know. I look at CityCenter (so far, from the outside only - it is not open yet) all the time. For the past few years, from many different perspectives, I have watched it go up.

For sure, CityCenter inspires in me wonder and respect. The green aspects of CityCenter, as I have described, are so impressive. And so is the architecture. With architectural creations such as Veer Towers (pictured above) and Harmon Hotel (to the left), CityCenter is almost staggeringly modern.

But the buildings are also incredibly huge. The two Veer Towers rise up 37 stories. Vdara is a 57-story condo hotel. ARIA Resort and Casino is 61 stories tall. These are massive skyscrapers new to The Strip.

I live about 20 minutes to the west of The Strip. From a park in my neighborhood, I can look down on The Strip and see how CityCenter has overtaken a large portion of The Strip's profile.

CityCenter's alteration of the look of The Strip has been aggressive. The change has been no accident. Not only is there a new look, but CityCenter is giving Las Vegas Boulevard a new feeling. Some may say it has an aura of arrogance.

Is it too much of an exaggeration for me to call this the Chicago-ization of Las Vegas?

Bellagio Las Vegas photo courtesy Wikipedia.org

Bellagio_Las_Vegas_courtesy_Wikipedia.org.jpg

One of the things that I notice is Bellagio is now dwarfed by CityCenter (see the photo at the top of this page).

I moved to Las Vegas in 1998, just a few weeks before Bellagio opened. Bellagio always seemed so sweet and delicate to me. It provides a tasteful European mood on The Strip. I have always thought it is absolutely one of the most beautiful hotels on The Strip. Romantic, too.

Of course, the lake in front of the hotel is gorgeous, and the fountains probably turned out to be even more impressive than Steve Wynn - who, with his company, conceived Bellagio - imagined. To see the choreographed fountains shoot up 50 feet, and then quickly subside down to 5 inches, telling a story in water of the enjoyable music and lighting, is truly something special.

Bellagio will continue to be lovely Bellagio. But its space is now intruded upon by CityCenter.

Bellagio is at the north end of CityCenter.

Monte Carlo Las Vegas photo courtesy Wikipedia.org

Monte_Carlo_Las_Vegas_courtesy_Wikipedia.org.jpg

At the south side of CityCenter is Monte Carlo Resort and Casino. Opened in 1996, it, too, is a charming resort on The Strip.

Like Bellagio, Monte Carlo is currently owned by MGM Mirage.

According to Wikipedia.org, Monte Carlo Las Vegas was built to attract "middle-income tourists eager to sample European elegance at budget prices." Now, the muscular, high-end, steel and glass skyscrapers of CityCenter stand above Monte Carlo.

There used to be a tram that connected Monte Carlo and Bellagio. The tram was shut down in 2006 for construction of CityCenter. The rebuilt tram is supposed to begin operation again - with a stop between Monte Carlo and Bellagio at the new Crystals retail and entertainment district - with the opening of CityCenter.

New CityCenter tram photograph by Gary Thompson

The CityCenter tram will operate between Monte Carlo and Bellagio with a stop at Crystals district.

I have described why I have admiration and respect for CityCenter. As stated at the beginning of this article, these are aspects of the definition of awesome.

First, CityCenter's numerous qualities of sustainable energy use show an unquestionable commitment to low carbon energy consumption. This thorough attempt to make CityCenter as sustainable as possible can serve as an initiator and inspiration for the high level of sustainability that Ivanpah Valley Airport - which, though it will not open until 2018 at the earliest, I am already defining as a "green airport" - must attain to be successful for many decades into the 21st Century.

I also have admiration and respect for the breathtaking architecture of the several new buildings that make up CityCenter. The eight architects who have contributed to the design of CityCenter are extremely talented, and very imaginative.

However, there is the other component of the definition of the word awe. And that, as has been noted, is fear.

I will admit that I am fearful that CityCenter may be too massive. It may alter the nature of The Strip too much. It may create a feeling that is too contrary to the traditional carefree feeling of The Strip. It may feel so exclusive that it will put people off.

My view of the extraordinary Las Vegas Strip is that it works at its best as being just a heck of a lot of fun. Fun. Isn't that why millions of people come to Las Vegas every year? They're looking for fun. Will they be able to find it inside CityCenter? I surely hope so.

There is no question that I want CityCenter to succeed. I have lived in Las Vegas 11 years. It is my home. I intend to stay. If CityCenter is a flop, the city will be, I am sorry to say, devastated.

Of course, when CityCenter opens in December, everyone will check it out at least once. The question is, will they want to come back again and again? That is what has made Bellagio, MGM Grand, Venetian, Caesar's Palace, and others, so successful. People - including me - love coming back to them again and again and again.

I have read MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren, who is said to have created the concept of CityCenter, has stated that visitors to Las Vegas "want something that they haven't seen before, they want something different." I completely agree. Once they see it, though, what are they going to think?

I am a person who believes everything changes. Nothing remains the same. Change is constant. Las Vegas, and the Las Vegas Strip, included.

But change does not just go in one direction.

Both admiration and fear. These are the components of my current feelings for the awesome CityCenter Las Vegas.

Enter supporting content here