Aria Resort and Casino has announced plans to expand its convention center by 200,000 square feet.
MGM Resorts International will spend $154 million on the expansion, which includes indoor/open-air spaces, high-tech, flexible meeting space across four stories, and a glass-enclosed venue that offers views of the Las Vegas Arena and The Park. At full build-out more than 500,000 square feet of meeting space will be offered at the Aria. It will take the space currently occupied by the Cirque du Soleil’s running of “Zarkana”. The production closes on April 30.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, expansion of the $350 million arena is scheduled to begin in May, only a month after it opens. The expansion is expected to be completed in February 2018.
Aria President Bobby Baldwin said, “Convention business at Aria is booming, and demand is currently exceeding the space we have available.” Baldwin added, “Hosting large meetings and conventions is a core part of our business. As our clients’ needs grow, we are committed to grow with them.”
Aria’s convention center was built according to LEED Gold standards, the largest hotel in the world to have done so, and the expansion will be as well. Another feature of the expanded convention center will be an outdoor patio on the facility’s top floor. The patio will be capable of accommodating up to 2,000 guests.
The Aria is part of the CityCenter complex located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The facility consists of two steel high-rise towers adjoined at the bottom center, and opened on December 16, 2009. It was a joint venture between Infinity World Development and MGM Resorts International. One of its most notable aspects is its incorporation of technology in its interior and exterior of the hotel’s design. The Aria’s hotel has smart rooms which automatically regulates the temperature in the room as the guests enters or leaves, adjusts curtains, and turns off lights and electronics not being used. Guests settings are saved and used again upon future visits. It is the tallest and largest structure at CityCenter, at 4,000,000 square feet and 600 feet high, according to Wikipedia.