Las Vegas: CityCenter sells site of since-demolished hotel tower for $80M

CityCenter Holdings said Monday it sold the site for $80 million to two national developers, Brett Torino of Torino Development and Paul and Dayssi Kanavos of Flag Luxury. The developers formed 63SLVB LLC to take ownership of the location.

CityCenter Holdings is a 50-50 joint venture between MGM Resorts International and Dubai World, the investment arm of the United Arab Emirates.
The value for the site – roughly $40 million an acre – is far above the more than $33 million an acre an Israeli development group paid billionaire Phil Ruffin for the 36-acre site of the since-demolished New Frontier 2007.

Under the terms of the agreement, the developers plan to build a multi-level retail complex comprising specialty retail offerings, and casual and fine dining locations.

In a statement, the developers said Arquitectonica of Miami Beach was hired to design the project to reflect CityCenter, a mixed-use development on 76 acres, which includes the MGM Resorts-operated Aria Resort and Casino.

The site was originally the location for the planned 49-story Harmon Tower, a non-gaming hotel and condominium development. The project was halted in 2008 when significant construction defects were discovered.

CityCenter, which includes the non-gaming 1,400-room Vdara Hotel, the non-gaming 392-room Waldorf Astoria, the residential-only Veer Tower, and Crystals retail center, opened in December 2009 at a cost of $8 billion.

The Harmon construction stalled while the developers tried to determine a way to complete the project, which is at the northern corner of CityCenter at the Strip and Harmon Boulevard, across from the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

The Harmon became the center of a construction defect lawsuit that was settled out of court. A judge approved the tower’s demolition in 2013. The dismantling began in 2014 and was completed a year later.

The sale of the site is expected to close in the next two months.