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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Motown meets Vegas in new MGM Grand Detroit

Photo galleryPhoto gallery: MGM Grand Detroit Hotel and Casino

By Jeff Karoub
Associated Press Business Writer

DETROIT — Casino officials and celebrity chefs flashed $800 million worth of Las Vegas glitz amid Motown grit yesterday — as MGM Grand Detroit officials prepared for a showy, fireworks-studded gala marking its debut.

Billed as the first Vegas-style resort in another major metropolitan area, the MGM Grand includes 400 rooms and suites, and its 18-story hotel has electronic concierges in each room. It sits a block from the temporary casino the company opened in 1999.

Celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck and Michael Mina will operate three restaurants in the new facility: Puck's Wolfgang Puck Grille and Mina's Saltwater and Bourbon Steak restaurants. Puck also is providing 24-hour in-room dining service.

The MGM Grand Detroit was to open officially before midnight with fireworks and lighting of the Grand Garden near its main entrance.

Jim Murren, president and chief operating officer of MGM Mirage Inc., said the facility is not only a casino and hotel, but an "entertainment destination" that he hopes will lure travelers from the rest of the Midwest, East Coast and elsewhere.

"We've taken the chic of Manhattan and combined it with the sizzle of Las Vegas and brought it to Detroit," said George Boyer, MGM Grand Detroit's president and chief operating officer.

Local designers have teamed up with national firms to help weave in a Michigan and Midwest vibe. Deer antlers adorn the ceiling of Wolfgang Puck Grille's tavern area and Bourbon Steak's wooden beams and wall bricks were reclaimed from the Detroit area. The Living Room, a guest-only area off the lobby, features Great Lakes-inspired sculptures by Michigan artist Herb Babcock.

Puck said it is important to inject local flavor into the decor and dining experience.

"It can be subliminal — something feels very comfortable, very homey," he said. "It's a good mixture of innovation and comfort."

Detroit's other two casinos are working to complete their permanent sites.

Greektown Casino is spending $475 million to expand its existing facility, including $200 million for a 20-story hotel and parking structure set to open next year. MotorCity Casino opened its expanded casino floor earlier this year but is spending $275 million on a 17-story hotel to open later this fall.

The casinos are spending $1.5 billion combined to build sleek new hotels that are adding 1,200 luxury rooms and thousands of square feet of convention space.

The MGM Grand has 90 gambling tables and more than 4,000 slots in 100,000 square feet of casino space. But officials spent more time emphasizing many of the facility's nongambling features, such as its two-level Immerse Spa; five lounges and bars; and spaces for private parties, conferences and events.

John Hutar, the MGM Grand Detroit's vice president of hotel operations, said the extra elements are important to attract business from the automotive industry and elsewhere.

"They simply didn't choose to have meetings in Detroit because the products simply are not here," he said. "There was no luxury product in downtown Detroit until now."

Robert Russell, a casino analyst with Regulatory Management Counselors PC, toured the facility yesterday. He said it's still too early to know if the venue will be a national draw, but that developers "hit a home run" in design, amenities and investment in the urban core.

"You can't replace the Vegas experience ... but they clearly have brought the Detroit hospitality market into a new level with their offerings," he said. "It's clearly a step up on what Detroit had with its temporary facilities."