Striking ‘Green Gold’ in Las Vegas with LEED Certified CityCenter

The city’s all-new City Center has finally earned Six LEED Gold Certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council. Opening this December, the development has long-touted its commitment to environmental consciousness through its efforts in energy, materials and waster management; creating a veritable 18 million square foot sustainable metropolis.

“From its intense focus on water conservation to the multiple strategies for energy efficiency, the CityCenter team has delivered several exceptional properties that qualify for the LEED Gold rating,” said S. Richard Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair, USGBC. “Extreme climates challenge the most creative of project teams, and the CityCenter team has risen to the occasion and then some. We congratulate them on their significant achievement.”

CityCenter is an unprecedented urban metropolis opening in December 2009 on 67 acres between Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. This Gold LEED certification is the highest LEED achievement by any hotel, retail district or residential development in Las Vegas.

“From its inception to design, development and construction, we had one single goal in mind for CityCenter: create a destination that is not only built in an environmentally sustainable manner, but also operates every day with an equal commitment to conserving natural resources,” said Bobby Baldwin, president and CEO, CityCenter. “As we approach CityCenter’s opening next month, now with six LEED Gold recognitions, we’re very close to sharing with the world a remarkable demonstration that a community can be both beautiful and sustainable.”

CityCenter is paving the way for other entities to build and operate sustainably. As recently honored by the Forest Stewardship Council-US (FSC-US), CityCenter’s dedication to the use of sustainably harvested FSC-certified wood products is unprecedented in scale and resulted in a significant market transformation, including multiple wood suppliers receiving their FSC chain of custody certification to supply wood to the development.

Other sustainability highlights include:

• First energy-generation on The Strip through its 8.5 megawatt natural-gas co-generation plant, providing efficient electricity on site, reducing emissions and using “waste heat” to provide domestic hot water
• World’s first fleet of stretch limos powered by clean-burning compressed natural gas (CNG)
• Water conservation technology and programs that will save between 30% and 43% of water within the buildings and 60% in outdoor landscaping, for an overall savings of approximately 50 million gallons annually
• Energy-efficiency initiatives providing a savings equivalent to powering 8,800 households annually
• Development of slot machine bases that serve as floor air-conditioning units, efficiently cooling guests from the ground up, rather than wasting energy on empty space by cooling from the ceiling
• Creation of a large-scale recycling operation that enabled the recycling or reuse of more than 260,000 tons of construction waste, more than 80% of the imploded Boardwalk Hotel
• Collaborating with the nation’s foremost sustainability and LEED consultants, CityCenter has introduced more than 10,000 construction trade and craftsmen to green building techniques that can be implemented at future developments

Green from the ground up

Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas is the first hotel in the prestigious Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group to receive a LEED rating. A sophisticated sanctuary of modern elegance, Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas will feature 392 rooms and suites and 225 residences. Opening December 4, 2009, the 47-story, non-gaming hotel and residences bring the legendary service of the renowned hotel group to Las Vegas for the first time.

Veer Towers, CityCenter’s only purely residential development, is a masterful translation of energy and excitement into physical form; its two 37-story glass towers shimmer day and night. Inclined at five-degree angles – a feature celebrated by the development’s name – the towers seem to dance with each other. Designed by famed architect Helmut Jahn, each tower will house approximately 335 modern condominium residences. Residential occupancies are slated to begin mid-January 2010.

Tony Dennis, executive vice president, CityCenter Residential Division, said “The LEED Gold certifications of CityCenter’s residential buildings are a brilliant example of sustainable development. In satisfying the growing demand for smart and environmentally responsible living, CityCenter’s green commitment is a meaningful point of pride for our homeowners and an element of value that is as important as our quality and service.”

CityCenter’s LEED certification effort was led by MGM MIRAGE’s Energy and Environmental Services Division along with a recognized group of sustainability consultants including CTG Energetics, Green Building Services, Viridian Energy & Environmental and Fore Solutions and Simon & Associates. CityCenter’s previous LEED Gold awards include ARIA Resort’s hotel tower, ARIA’s convention center and theater, Vdara Hotel & Spaand Crystals.

For more information, visit www.citycenter.com.