Gensler ... Architecture, Design, and Planning Worldwide has announced this week that it has been named executive architect managing Project CITYCENTER, MGM MIRAGE’s planned $4.7 billion Las Vegas urban metropolis and the most significant privately funded project in the United States at this time. Scheduled to open in 2009, the 66-acre site will be developed into a master-planned urban complex with a variety of avenues, places and experiences. Responsible for managing the entire master plan and program, Gensler will team with MGM MIRAGE’s Design Group coordinating and collaborating with residential developers, hotel operators, and retailers and a host of world-renowned architects.

“CITYCENTER represents a new paradigm of urban planning and design,” said
Andy Cohen, FAIA, managing principal of Gensler’s Los Angles office and
lead principal on the project. “It reflects MGM MIRAGE’s sophisticated
vision, and it has the critical mass to propel Las Vegas to another level.”

The planned development of 22 million square-feet of space includes a
4,000-room hotel and casino, as well as three 400-room boutique hotels,
approximately 550,000 square feet of retail shops, dining and
entertainment venues, and 1,650 units of luxury condominium and private
residence clubs.

Jim Murren, MGM MIRAGE’s president and chief financial officer, said,
“We’re creating our own urban environment. It’s a fairly dramatic
departure for Las Vegas and for our company.” In addition to an outdoor
retail area, residential units will create a city-like atmosphere.

Located at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, the site of Project
CITYCENTER will serve as a critical link between Bellagio on the north and
a series of the company’s properties to the south, Monte Carlo being the
closest.

Sven Van Assche, vice president of design for MGM MIRAGE Design Group,
said, “We conducted an extensive search to find the firm that could handle
the enormous task of managing a project of this size, complexity, and
aggressive schedule. Gensler was the only company we felt could bring this
project to the finish line.”
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