It’s 67 acres of shiny steel and glass, enough steel to build 10 Eiffel towers. And it’s smack dab in the middle of the Vegas strip!

They call it CityCenter, because it’s just like a self contained city — capable of generating its own power in a totally green environment.

The $8.5 billion project has been five years in the making and it’s set to open its doors next week with a grand opening – Vegas style.

The venture boasts four new hotels, the super-luxurious Mandarin Oriental, the Vdara  and the Harmon, smaller original hotels, and the larger Aria, the only one that offers a casino.

In addition there are high-end restaurants and stores to satisfy even the snobbiest of tourists and shoppers. Cartier, Carolina Herrera, Rolex and the single largest Louis Vuitton store in North America. And that’s just a few of the shops that fill out the “Crystals” 500 thousand square feet of retail heaven.

There are also condos for sale in three high rise luxury towers, currently they are at 70 percent occupancy.

But things weren’t always so glamorous for the folks behind CityCenter.  Earlier this year, MGM-Mirage CEO Jim Murren admits the deal was just hours away from filing for bankruptcy.  Their largest investor Dubai World had filed a lawsuit and the banks were hesitant to continue to fund the project.  Murren says he bought himself some time, settled matters with Wall Street and tapped Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid for help with the banks.

Now not only is the project finished, but it has created 12,000 new permanent jobs and that is something CityCenter says it is most proud of. That means thousands of jobs for Nevada residents who are on the job hunt!

The question is whether it will put a dent in the sagging Vegas economy which is dealing with a 13 percent unemployment rate, and the highest number of foreclosures in the nation.

Local economists say everyone is cheering for the project and hoping for the best, but whatever impact there is probably won’t be evident for another six to nine months.   A roll of the dice perhaps in these troubled times, but odds are good it will generate excitement and something to feel good about in Vegas just in time for Christmas.