Of the six towers coming up with CityCenter it looks like Aria is going to be a favorite for those who like high-end dining prepared by celebrity chefs. Over at the Daily Dish, Jessica Gelt has a rundown of the new restaurants that were announced for CityCenter's Aria. Among them are some familiar names but also some new-to-Vegas stars. For example, local writer Steve Friess is excited about the Chicago-based chef behind Sage, Shawn McClain, writing:

"He won 'Chef of the Year' from Esquire in 2001 and has seafood, steak and "vegetable-focused" restaurants in Chicago and the release makes it sound like Sage will be a greatest-hits medley similar, perhaps, to what Alain Ducasse does at Mix."

Anyway, it is an impressive mix. Included among the familar Vegas culinary titans are Michael Mina and Julian Serrano. (artist's rendering of Aria courtesy of MGM-Mirage)

Bloomberg is reporting that even the largest project on the Strip, CityCenter, is experiencing economy-related problems. This is happening despite MGM-Mirage selling 50% of the project to oil-rich Dubai World. According to Bloomberg, MGM-MIrage and Dubai are late with finishing the arrangement for more than $3 billion in financing that was to be in place for the massive six-tower project. According to the Bloomberg story, all the financing was to be arranged by the end of June, but some banks may have gotten cold feet about giving loans. And, while an MGM executive is quoted in general terms in the story, it is not clear if this loan issue will have any practical impact on the project or on its opening date. So I contacted an MGM-Mirage spokesperson about the story and got those crucial answers:

"First, MGM MIRAGE as a policy doesn’t discuss financial transactions while they are underway. That being said, what goes without saying is that no one is immune to the current state of the financial world. This final piece of our project financing for CityCenter is certainly taking more time that we had anticipated, but we’re not rushing just to get a deal done. We are receiving significant support and continue our discussions. Both MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World have the financial wherewithal to finish this project. Most importantly, no one should be mistaken into thinking this has any impact on our project schedule. CityCenter is on schedule to open 4th quarter of 2009."

(photo by Sarah Gerke)