Catching up on the internets since getting back from a West coast trip. I was in Las Vegas for a long weekend and one of the most interesting new developments there is the “City Center” which is an $8 billion project going up in the center of the strip. Its a joint project between MGM Grand and Dubai World.
I guess you could say it could have happened at a better time, and both organizations have been suing each other over who will finish the funding for the project, but it seems like the project will be completed and when I was out there construction seemed to be continuing.
When you look at the photos of the project, does it remind you of anything? I knew there was something, but it was my friend Paul Pope, who I was there with, who totally nailed the comparison. You can see it in the video above. Epcot Center was developed as a “City of the Future” back in the early 80s. The City Center is such an eerie throwback to it.
It has the same circular design and was created by a team of diverse top notch architects. Same monorail tram running around the facility. Of course, in typical Vegas fashion there is no way to actually “walk” to this development…at least not outside.
Where Epcot Center has become a discarded joke, and never lived up to a place where people would actually live…The question is, will this development share the same future? I think it has a better chance for staying power and growing a bit of a community…if only that its being built in the place where, surrounded by theme park hotels, it doesn’t have to go far to look timeless, and there are such a lack of “community” options in Las Vegas, it might actually be attractive to a new set of modern residents.
