[SHEPNYC]

Just Released, see below:

UPDATE 1-MGM, Dubai scale back CityCenter, seek investors | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

[jfkIII]

As I stated in a post months ago...the City Center project has boondoggle written all over it.

This news should send shock and fear up and down The Strip and could be the defining point of corporate LV's road to ruin.

Let's face it, given the current economy, City Center is looking like a mistake of GIGANTIC proportions...comparable to Detroit building a new auto factory.

MGM's Lion is looking like a shaved kitty right about now.

[AA702]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

As I stated in a post months ago...the City Center project has boondoggle written all over it.

This news should send shock and fear up and down The Strip and could be the defining point of corporate LV's road to ruin.

Let's face it, given the current economy, City Center is looking like a mistake of GIGANTIC proportions...comparable to Detroit building a new auto factory.

MGM's Lion is looking like a shaved kitty right about now.

Unless Detroit builds a factory that makes cars that get 80 MPG and trucks that get 50mpg with better quality, longer warranty and cheaper than the imports. Then it would be a smart move.

[jfkIII]

Originally Posted by AA702

Unless Detroit builds a factory that makes cars that get 80 MPG and trucks that get 50mpg with better quality, longer warranty and cheaper than the imports. Then it would be a smart move.

Either way...people need money to spend. And that's not happening in this economy. If people had disposable income and banks were willing to loan, then City Center might also have been a smart move. It's just wrong timing. People buying investment housing in City Center is like someone buying a GM car right now.

[ComeBack_Kid]

Originally Posted by SHEPNYC

Just Released, see below:

UPDATE 1-MGM, Dubai scale back CityCenter, seek investors | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

Dang, I was supposed to transfer over to the Harmon... dangit I guess not

O well, theres still the Mandarin!

[ClarkGrisowld]

What a windfall for buyers. I'm sure many were planning to walk away and forfeit their deposits since undoubtedly the value had fallen far further than the deposit vs. the locked-in purchase price.

[olecapt]

Large article this AM that the Harmon construction was screwed up and that they might well have to partially demolish the building to fix.

It was suggested that one of the alternatives was to shorten it to a hotel only limiting the amount of rework required and getting rid of the admittedly hard to sell condo piece.

Then again maybe Reuters has it right and the RJ drank the MGM koolaid.

But it is a nit. That can't be 300 million out of the 10 billion package.

[jfkIII]

And it certainly doesn't help that Dubai World has changed its name to...Buhbai World!

[Kalbo]

With so many workers killed in accidents, and now major safety flaws this project seems to a sign of bad things to come for City Center.

[dmilll]

Below is a new article from Bloomberg...

Las Vegas Strip Gaming Revenue Drops 16% in November.

2009 Projection

“On the back of about 4 percent visitation decline here in 2008, and high single-digit decline in gaming revenues, we think 2009 is a mid-single-digit revenue decline year, maybe a bit more,” Deutsche Bank AG’s Las Vegas-based analyst Bill Lerner said today on a conference call.

IMHO, whether or not City Center becomes a boondoggle remains to be seen. In any event, it seems that the timing of this project could not have been much worse. As a side note, I think that the Boyd Group will be watching this one with more than a passing glance as their Echelon property still needs to be built...