LAS VEGAS — Usually in this city of ephemera,
they at least finish the buildings before they bring them down.
But because of what it is billing as structural defects, MGM Mirage
announced recently it has decided to shorten a hotel-condominium
project it is building on the Strip to 28 stories instead of the
planned 49.
Architectural experts say they cannot recall such a drastic
midconstruction downscaling, especially of a building designed
by a marquee architect, in this case Norman Foster. No one from
Mr. Foster’s firm, based in London, responded to e-mail and
telephone requests for comment.
“This is not the way we had expected things to play out,”
said an MGM Mirage spokesman, Gordon Absher. “But we want to
build safe buildings whose structural integrity everyone has
confidence in.”
County inspectors discovered the defect — improper installation
of critical steel reinforcements known as rebar — after 15 stories
of the building, the Harmon, had been erected.
The Harmon is one of several structures that make up CityCenter,
an $8.6 billion, 67-acre development at the heart of the Strip
that includes two other hotel-condominiums, two residential
towers, a 4,000-room hotel-casino and a 500,000-square-foot
shopping center. Those involved in the effort promote it as
the largest privately financed construction project in United
States history. Besides Mr. Foster, other prestigious architects
working on CityCenter buildings are Cesar Pelli, Daniel Libeskind
and Helmut Jahn.
All the buildings were to open by the end of this year, Mr.
Absher said, but the oval, aqua-colored Harmon, which was to
have a 400-room hotel and 207 condominiums, now will not be
ready until late 2010. And there will be no condominiums, he
said. Would-be buyers who had put 20 percent down on 88 units
will be offered refunds or the chance to buy in other buildings.
Mr. Absher said the company and county officials were investigating
who is to blame for the problems but he predicted that that
would be up to “a whole lot of attorneys” to sort out.
The Harmon is the CityCenter structure closest to the Strip
so the shortening will significantly change the development’s
look.
“There’s a lot of new work to be done in finding the new skyline
of CityCenter,” Mr. Absher said. “We’re still working with the
county to address their concerns, so new renderings have not
yet been issued.”
