Murren's Opening Aria

Normal 0 0 1 304 1734 14 3 2129 11.1282 0 0 0 **Visit VegasTripping.Com and vote for us in the podcast, blog and Tweeter categories!** In case you haven’t heard, there’s a little company opening up a few new attractions out there on Las Vegas Boulevard this month and the guy behind all that is a fellow named Jim Murren. The CEO of MGM Mirage was, for better or worse, the visionary behind CityCenter, the $8.5 billion project that is finally a reality and has already opened the hotel-condo Vdara, the Mandarin Oriental and the mammoth Crystals shopping mall. In the interview you’ll hear in this episode, Steve challenges Murren on several ideas behind CityCenter and Murren offers some surprising boasts – that CityCenter will singlehandedly save the Nevada economy, that he’s never set foot on Encore or Palazzo and much more. Plus, Murren admits that the problems of Fontainbleau and Echelon are good for CityCenter, has tough words about Harrah’s and Station Casinos regarding overleveraging and describes the green elements of CityCenter as “a gift to the United States.” Also, Steve asks, much to Murren's chagrin, if CityCenter is a Vegas version of EPCOT. That’s coming up. Plus RateVegas.Com’s Hunter Hillegas is here to discuss being Steve’s date at the Mandarin Oriental gala last night, to tell all about his exclusive Aria tour and to explain how this Harrah's-Planet Ho thing makes sense. Or not. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @TheStripPodcast Voicemail: 206-424-4737 Blog: VegasHappensHere.Com Site: TheStripPodcast.Com