Check into the Mandarin Oriental on the middle of the Las Vegas Strip, look out the window of your room and you might see something you didn’t quite expect. Yes, there are people living in the building across from you. The lights and TVs and stoves are on at the Veer Towers, where condos have been unloaded briskly after Pordes Residential Sales & Marketing, a Miami-based firm known for rescuing troubled projects, relaunched sales this year.
Both the Mandarin Oriental and Veer Towers are, of course, part of the $9.2 billion CityCenter colossus that opened in December 2009. The economic downturn had not been kind to Vegas during CityCenter’s creation. And the mega-complex has struggled mightily with everything from debt to the structural flaws in the Harmon Hotel, which has never been used and which owner MGM Resorts International wants torn down.
But CityCenter, with all its starchitecture and eco-friendly flourishes, is showing the signs of a survivor. A survivor that’s evolving and working feverishly to attract new business. CityCenter is full of surprises these days, including a slew of new high-end stores at the Daniel Libeskind-designed Shops at Crystals. CityCenter’s Aria resort has a new Shawn McClain restaurant and one of the busiest poker rooms in Vegas. And, oh, that pool deck at the Mandarin.
SHOP
The domain of AMEX black card holders and the families of the “whales” that are betting hundreds of thousands of dollars on baccarat during one session, the Shops at Crystals (crystalcitycenter.com is a collection of high-end shops like no other. New stores from Valentino and German luggage brand Rimowa just opened, and Loro Piana and Tourbillon will debut next month for those with five-figure cashmere and watch budgets. And, of course, Gucci, Fendi and Prada are all here, and so is your chance to rock Tom Ford.
EAT
James Beard Award-winning chef Shawn McClain has been dazzling Aria visitors with his seasonal American specialties at Sage since CityCenter opened, and his new Five50 Pizza Bar (arialasvegas.com/dining) is casual-dining bliss with its charcuterie/cheese bar (featuring meat selections from fantastic sources like Portland, Ore.’s Olympic Provisions), its bucatini all’amatriciana , its extensive craft-beer selection and, of course, its signature pies — including a clam pizza that would be worthy of respect even in Connecticut. For more formal but still relaxed-enough dining experiences, Aria is also home to Michael Mina’s American Fish, the Maccioni family’s Sirio Ristorante and Jean Georges Steakhouse.
PLAY
With stakes ranging from twice-daily $125 tournaments to some of the biggest games in town, Aria’s 24-table poker room (arialasvegas.com/casino/poker) is an action-packed destination with automatic shufflers and a friendly staff that knows that poker doesn’t just mean no-limit hold ’em. If you prefer bottle service to bluffing, the Light Group’s
Hazel nightclub (hazelasvegas.com) features everything from hip-hop to house music. In this day and age of Vegas nightlife, that counts as diverse.
STAY
The Mandarin Oriental (from $225, mandarinoriental.com/lasvegas) is a non-gaming hotel that caters to high-rollers with its 392 Asian-inspired rooms and suites, French superhero chef Pierre Gagnaire’s Twist restaurant, glorious Strip views and a Zen-like spa that offers everything from Chinese foot-spa treatments to the three-and-a-half hour Qi Balancing Journey.
The eighth-floor pool deck, open from March to October, is an oasis with two swimming pools, a plunge pool and two Jacuzzis. It’s a relaxing escape from Vegas’ often overcrowded pools, but the gorgeous vistas of the rest of CityCenter remind you that you’re still at the center of it all.