Evolution of City Center Las Vegas

Ok yep, this is another Las Vegas post. But wait, trust me this one is a little different and it doesn't require J2 blog site visitors to read a lot of conjured up paragraphs by this blog's owner (ME)

I was organizing and archiving some of my older photo albums when I came across more Las Vegas photos from my ancient Canon Rebel XT and Nikon D40 cameras. It dawned on me that I could come up with some sort of short pseudo time lapse of the biggest ever private construction project in the US: MGM Resorts' City Center in Las Vegas.

Scale model City Center at TheHotel@Mandalay (another MGM Resort hotel)

Aug 2008: Ongoing construction at the Mandarin Oriental

Aug 2008: Ongoing construction at Crystals Mall

Dec 2009: City Center opens

Aria is  the centerpiece casino hotel at the City Center.  The other hotels, Mandarin Oriental and Vdara are non-gaming hotels that cater more to tourists seeking a peaceful and quiet form of Vegas vacation (i.e. NO wild pool parties and nightclubs). Hmm....I never thought the words "quiet","peaceful" and "Las Vegas" could exist in the same sentence.

City Center also has a tram that lets visitors navigate the different properties housed in this massive complex.  It also makes stops near two adjacent MGM Resorts properties: The Bellagio and the Monte Carlo.

A familiar global sign of hotel luxury 

the view from the Mandarin Oriental

The views from the Mandarin Oriental get even more spectacular at night

Mandarin Oriental's Tea Room

Jan 2011: Crystals Mall

Adjacent to Aria and opposite the Mandarin Oriental is Crystals, a high end shopping mall that houses luxury brands such as Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari, among others.

Jan 2011: Aria

Jan 2011: Aria fountain

April 2013: The airA (sorry about that, I shot from the inside) 

These sequence of photos just made me realize that I have spent way too much time in Las Vegas the past 5 years.

One more thing, I also just want to state here that this is not a sponsored  post or advertisement.  All my travels I have posted so far have been paid for using personal funds or by tagging along with  relatives.  It also helped that my previous employer in California provided a nice corporate benefit of hotel discounts in Las Vegas, San Diego, and other US cities.  And no....they never encouraged employees to join wild Vegas parties. :)

April 2013: The Aria Express