I’m sitting in the front seat of a limousine propelled by compressed natural gas, or so says the gaudy label affixed to the dash. Outside the window, a muddy expanse of desert rolls by as we creep towards the Las Vegas strip. The sky is gray, but the itinerary I've been given, outlining how I’m to spend the next three days at the new Las Vegas CityCenter, seems to have been curated by the sunny director of a cruise ship. Over the next few days, the schedule promises me, I will eat at some of the most luxurious restaurants in the world, I will swizzle custom cocktails at open bars, I will have my back rubbed at high-end spas, I will stay in a non-smoking king suite for free and hostesses, waiters, staff and concierges will be extremely nice to me. All of this in hopes that I, along with 102 other journalists on this press trip, will have such a wondrous experience that we'll leave believing the CityCenter is Xanadu.

The economic downturn has hit Vegas hard. At 13 percent, Nevada’s unemployment is the second worst in the country, just behind Michigan. In these penny-pinching times, everyone's taking fewer vacations, and the vacationers left aren't as keen to throw their money away on slot machines. It's in this environment that the CityCenter finally opened its doors, on December 16th.

A 18 million square foot mixed-use, massive urban complex located on 67 acres located of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, the Center cost $18 billion and six years to build. It is the largest privately funded construction project in the history of the United States, a joint venture between the MGM Mirage and Dubai World. Originally envisioned as a project that would change the nature of Las Vegas tourism, it is now meant to salvage it. As the Las Vegas Sun put it, “Watching Southern Nevada these past months has been like watching a sick loved one wither and worsen— endlessly depressing.“ Depending on who you ask, the CityCenter is then either the equivalent of getting that sick loved one the boob job she’s always wanted--an unnecessary upgrade for a failing frame-- or an investment in chemo--an expensive, but necessary, resuscitation.

Hallway decor in Aria

In December 2008, it looked to be the latter, when the CityCenter revealed it would be hiring 12,000 employees. That announcement seemed to be made just in time to counter fears that the project would never be finished-- fears flamed by news that Dubai World was suing its partner and in the midst of withdrawing $200 million in financing. (MGM Mirage and Dubai World resolved the issue, and both remain invested in the project.) The CityCenter has made other efforts to ingratiate itself, not just with locals, but global tastemakers. In November the project earned its fifth and sixth Gold Class LEED certifications, a accreditation system that declares whether a building is environmentally responsible, from the U.S. Green Building Council, becoming one of the world’s largest sustainable communities. It lured in respected chefs, who are well-known in the culinary world, but lack cable cooking shows and Top Chef appearances. These masters include, Pierre Gagnaire, who makes his American debut with Twist at the Mandarin Oriental, Masa Takayama and his relatively conservatively priced Bar Masa at Aria, Maccioni (of Le Cirque fame) and the PR-preened Sirio and Chicagoean Shawn McClain and his first commercial expansion. (A few Vegas favorites, like Michael Mina and Julian Serrano, are on hand too.) Real art, not tacky hotel knock-offs, are scattered around the premises-- a Julian Schnabel hangs carelessly in a hallway, a large Nancy Rubins’ sculpture sits a few feet from the slot machine floor.

Julian Schnabel in a connecting corridor.

The CityCenter's highbrow aspirations starkly contrast with the $12 million, "Do without thinking. Do Vegas right now” ad campaign the Las Vegas tourism board has been circulating. "The message is 'Don't think about how crappy your economic situation is, just come to Vegas, damn it,” Tania Franco, an Atlanta resident who frequently travels to Vegas, told Newsweek of the ‘Do Without Thinking’ ads. "It’s insensitive." But if the CityCenter wants to lure in the culturally conscientious-- with it's top tier restaurants and art, its culturally relevant art, its gorgeous, decidedly un-Vegas design, its sunlit lobbies, which stand in direct contrast to stereotypical, windowless casinos, where patrons are encouraged to forget the passage of time -- it still, ultimately, wants them to "Do Vegas right now." There are, after all, plenty of places to play the slots in the CityCenter-- they just happen to blow "purified, vanilla scented air" on the gambler. In other words, the two branding strategies at play-- spend money in Vegas because its trashy vs. spend money in Vegas because it's classy-- are at odds, except for the part about spending money.

Can the CityCenter's highbrow pitch work? Cindy Ortega, Sr. VP of Energy and Environmental Services at the CityCenter, thinks so. "Our research has shown that people are discerning and will gravitate to companies that show a care and concern about the environment," she says-- but then, of course, she has to.

But who is even traveling to Sin City these days? Newsweek reports the traffic largely comes from Australians and Europeans. Robert LaFleur, a gaming-stock analyst for Susquehanna Financial Services says, "Bachelor parties in Vegas are now all the rage for fellows from Australia and the U.K.. Right now it's an easy sell to get people from overseas." And why would these people be interested in what the center has to offer? Perhaps upscale food and the luxurious surroundings make the strippers and craps tables go down even easier. Certainly, Europeans are more concerned with global warming and sustainable development-- they might appreciate that LEED certification.

Michael Mina's American Fish

As much as the CityCenter seems designed to cater to spendy Euro-tourists culture, it's also trying to introduce culture to Americans. Chef Masa, who owns Masa in New York, one of the most expensive restaurants in the world, has broadened his scope to account for less knowledgeable eaters. “Sushi has to be different for Las Vegas compared to New York,” he says “people in the Midwest don’t understand what good sushi is, so we have to focus on more items like sashimi and tempuras, rather than the sushi itself.” What does seem odd: Shaboo, a DIY noodle-based dining room is decidedly more "Midwest-friendly" but carries the bigger price tag; $500 per person.

For those that think this sort of excess might be out of place, it bears mentioning that it feels--granted from the confines of a press tour-- like the new development has fostered a great deal of optimism, creating a new market for art enthusiasts, business conventions and perhaps luring groups who were previously anti-Vegas to the city. It really has hired 12,000 employees. But it's hard to say whether the buzz will last: CityCenter is part of an economy, not operating independently, and the entire Las Vegas strip has been over built and under sold. It might be enjoying a pop of foreign tourism while it's still new and hot, but the massive development is essentially cannibalizing from other strip properties and eating up the non-gaming revenue from its neighbors. When the hype wears off, the CityCenter could just be another Vegas boob job.

Which actually might not be so bad thing, if we can remember that lots of kitschy-loving visitors to the strip love a good boob job, metaphorical and otherwise. There is still a large cross section of people who want to wade in the tastelessness of Las Vegas, who enjoy The Hangover-style anti-culture of it all. Take Annie, a 28 year old from Iowa who tells me, as she asks me to take her photo in the Las Vegas airport, “I really want to eat at Paris and see New York, New York. This was my first time on a plane!” If it were up to the center, the only kitsch she'd get would be Eva Longoria Parker's restaurant Beso. That might not be enough.

The fretted, environmentally friendly windows in the convention center.

Indeed, my experience at the City Center was different than any Vegas experience I ever had. I left feeling pure and wholesome. Between waking up early for tea and juice at the Mandarin Oriental and a sunrise yoga class I took at 5:30 one rainy morning, I found that the permanent taste of stale Whiskey somehow left my mouth. But, honestly, on my last night at the CityCenter, I longed for a layer of grime that only tequila shots and cigarettes in a seedy Las Vegas dive can provide. After all, a girl doesn't go to Vegas for a yoga class, does she? Neither does anyone else. “We wanted to have an old school Las Vegas time, so we were at the Exacalibur,” two giggling girls tell me on the way back to their Aria suites, “we just wanted the weirdness.”