Las Vegas Weekly

July 6, 2009 · 9 AM

Restaurants and luxury retailers are scheduled to open Dec. 3 at CityCenter

By Robin Leach

The $13 billion CityCenter project on the Strip.

Photo: Sam Morris

An unprecedented lineup of super luxury brands, with some of the world’s largest flagship stores, is set to be announced by MGM this morning for its massive CityCenter project. Many will be both the largest brand stores in Las Vegas and the U.S.! “It’s an unparalleled collection for an international shopping destination,” said an MGM executive today who also revealed that they’d open for business Dec. 3.

The gigantic, 500,000-square-foot retail and dining complex known as The Crystals will rank as one of the globe's best luxury shopping experiences, if not No. 1 in the world! Click HERE for our CityCenter photo gallery from last week.

It’s a veritable who’s who of Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous platinum power in the fashion and high-end jewelry business. The luxury lineup includes the biggest of the blue chips: Prada, Christian Dior, Bulgari, Carolina Herrera, Hermes, Roberto Cavalli, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Versace, who join previously announced retailers Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and Ermenegildo Zegna. Unique-to-the-Las-Vegas-market retailers opening their first Strip locations include Tom Ford, Assouline, Kiton, Miu Miu, Paul Smith and Porsche Design, along with the previously announced de Grisogono, H. Stern, Marni, Tourbillion and Mikimoto. Other prestigious retailers joining The Crystals charmed circle include Bally, Emilio Pucci and Ilori, and glass artist-sculptor Dale Chihuly, who designed the centerpiece of the Bellagio, will introduce a stunning new gallery.

Restaurants opening their first Las Vegas locations at Crystals include Beso by Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria Parker, confirming my gossip guru colleague Norm Clarke’s exclusive weeks ago. Eva is partnered with celebrity chef Todd English, who also will open a new English pub concept, which we broke exclusively at VDLX a month ago along with the revelation that acclaimed French super chef Pierre Gagnaire will be taking up residence at the Mandarin Oriental with his Parisian restaurant. Additionally, there will be Mastro’s Ocean Club Seafood House and two new concepts from celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.

“We’ve assembled an extraordinary collection of retailers and restaurateurs to make Crystals one of the world’s most unique shopping and entertainment districts when it opens this December,” said Frank Visconti, CityCenter’s president of retail. “Crystals will delight guests with its unique architecture, awe-inspiring interior design, brilliant art and intriguing water features. These experiential offerings, coupled with exclusive items from the industry’s most celebrated brands, will make Crystals a premier social and cultural environment in the heart of CityCenter.”

MGM promises City Center will be an architectural achievement integrating the talents of world-renowned artists, architects and designers and thus attract visitors from around the world as a landmark of global taste and style. In addition to Crystals, CityCenter will feature a fine art collection rivaling many of the world’s finest museums, plus the Aria, a spectacular 4,004-room gaming resort, and three luxurious, nongaming hotels, including the first Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas, the Vdara Hotel and the Harmon, which will open late next year. In addition, there will be the Veer Towers, the development’s only strictly residential building. The Mandarin Oriental, Vdara and Veer Towers will total some 2,400 residences.

Vegas DeLuxe has learned that the high-roller presidential suite at the Aria is a 22,000-square-foot masterpiece, and plans of the lavish layout and fabulous furnishings already have been shown to MGM’s best customers!

CityCenter, at the heart of the Strip on a large 60-plus-acre site between the Bellagio and the Monte Carlo, is a joint venture between MGM Mirage and Infinity World Development Corp., a subsidiary of Dubai World. Keep following VDLX for all the breaking developments and news in the months to come!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter HERE.

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