MGM Mirage to Expand Vegas Project

MGM Mirage Inc. said Thursday that it had decided to increase the size of its planned CityCenter project on the Las Vegas Strip, boosting its cost to $7 billion.

The 66-acre development would include more residential space than planned, MGM President James Murren said.

“They’re higher and we keep tweaking the unit sizes to hit the sweet spot in the market,” he said of the planned residential towers.

MGM also has decided to upgrade the hotel and casino to be designed by noted architect Cesar Pelli to aim for a “higher price point” and build a monorail connecting CityCenter to the nearby Bellagio and Monte Carlo casinos, he said.

The project, which would include a retail complex designed by Daniel Libeskind and a hotel by Norman Foster, is expected to start construction in mid-2006. It is due to open in the fourth quarter of 2009.

After an estimated $2.5 billion in proceeds from the sale of residential units, the project would have a net cost of $4.5 billion, MGM said.

MGM previously said the project would cost about $5 billion. It would be funded through borrowing, cash flow and potentially through partnerships and other financing vehicles, as well as residential proceeds, the company said.