$8.5 billion Las Vegas complex to showcase earth-friendly features

Developers of the CityCenter complex have pledged that the $8.5 billion, 18-million-square-foot complex will be the most earth-friendly thing to happen on the Strip, Reuters reported.

With this huge investment, this project has been closely watched, Reuters said. Amidst this huge investment, Las Vegas ranked No.5 in the US metro foreclosure rate rankings.

Las Vegas has been buffered from the lingering recession with income from convention travel, gaming and tourism, Reuters said.

A representative for the project told Reuters that sustainability has been the focus of the project from the beginning.

Las Vegas CityCenter aims to include 61-story, 4,004-room gaming resort; two non-gaming luxury hotels: the Vdara and the Mandarin Oriental; the Veer Towers residential building and a 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment area. All these are expected to open late this year. Scheduled to open late next year is the 400-room luxury boutique hotel called Harmon.

Reuters reported that the project, which extends from Monte Carlo to the Bellagio properties, features the following earth-friendly features:
Specially designed water fixtures that cut as much as 39 percent of water used indoors and 60 percent used in landscaping, this in contrast to the water consumption at a conventionally built project of comparable size.

Energy savings is expected to be equivalent to the amount needed to power 7,700 homes. The exterior of the buildings include air-brows, reflective rooftops, specially coated windows and high-performance glass.

It features an 8.5 megawatt natural gas cogeneration plant that is expected to supply 10 percent of the heat requirement for the project.

The CityCenter project is a joint venture between the Infinity World Development Corp. and MGM Mirage. The Infinity World Development Corp. is a subsidiary of Dubai World, the corporation that manages the international investments of the emirate.

Reuters reported that financial disputes resulted to a lawsuit between Infinity World Development Corp. and MGM Mirage in the early part of this year. The lawsuit was however settled in spring with the joint venture partners agreeing to a new agreement and committing to the completion of the project to its target date.