MGM-Mirage's CityCenter is possibly the biggest bet in Las Vegas' history. With four towering hotels, a casino, a high-end shopping complex and 42 restaurants and bars, it's an $8.5 billion, 18-million-square-foot behemoth and the crown jewel of the Strip.
Aria Hotel and Casino is the flagship of the CityCenter complex. "Nightline" was given special access behind the scenes as the centerpiece hotel was put through the paces for its grand opening.
Readying a 61-story resort is a formidable task: vacuuming escalators, making 4,210 beds, stuffing 21,000 pillow cases, watering 182,000 plants, counting $117 million in poker chips. Fifty thousand bottles of wine and 500 live lobsters have been stocked for the opening.
CityCenter hired 12,000 people to staff the complex. The project amounted to a
privately-funded stimulus package for Nevada. But in a sign of just how bad things are in the recession-battered city -- 177,000 job applications flooded in for the coveted spots.
MoreOf course Harry Reid is trying to take all the credit for this privately funded project, the largest one ever in the United States.