Hetty Chang reporting
It is a city unto itself. CityCenter is by far the largest project on the Strip. Once it opens, the impact will be unlike anything in Las Vegas history.
On Friday, Nevada gaming regulators gave initial approval for gambling at the Aria resort, the project's centerpiece. What was once a distant dream is now about one month from reality.
It has altered the Las Vegas skyline as we know it. And once it opens, CityCenter has an entire city, if not an entire state, on its shoulders.
"We know that our success is the state's success and our failure would be the state's failure," MGM-Mirage CEO Jim Murren said.
Murren admits there's a tremendous responsibility as we all wait with baited breath on the grand opening to be heard around the world.
In front of Nevada's Gaming Control Board, MGM executives testified after all the bumps along the way. It's home stretch for a project that seemed, at times, impossible.
It was last April when money virtually dried up for construction, potentially idling Las Vegas' biggest resort ever and putting thousands of construction workers out of work. At the last minute, banks came through.
"I can't tell you how dramatic it was," MGM-Mirage's chief spokesperson Alan Feldman said. "...Hollywood moment of whether to go forward or whether to shut down."
To say that MGM has a lot riding on its $8.5 billion project is an understatement.
"As a community, we are all in this together - this is about everybody," Feldman continued. "The success of not just MGM-Mirage but all of our neighbors on the Strip (is at stake). You also have a profound part of this opening which is the ability to get us out of this economic slump that we're in both for employment and investment and bringing people to Las Vegas."
With CityCenter's opening fast approaching there are rising concerns the enormous project will swallow up business faster than other resort properties can recover.
"You're going to see some cannibalization for a while," gaming analyst Grant Govertsen tells News 3.
"It's going to pull some numbers from high-end properties like the Wynn, like Caesars Palace. So those companies will experience some loss in revenue that they wouldn't otherwise but for the opening of CityCenter."
But Govertsen discounts concerns about CityCenter's 6,000 rooms joining an already heavily discounted market.
"We actually think room rates are going to be up next year and again that's just a function of lower supply than people think."
As for other properties on the Strip, they call their giant new neighbor a healthy competitor.
"We learned a long time ago that when there is a new resort the market grows," said Marybel Batjer with Harrah's. "Steve Wynn proved that more than once. So I think we are all looking forward to growing this market."
The Nevada Gaming Control Board will consider final approval of Aria resort's gambling license at a special meeting on Thursday.
