>Regulators Grant License To Casino Company, But Wonder When They'll Come

Now the questions are what will MGM build and when?

The owners of the world's biggest casino hotel, the 5,005-room MGM Grand in Las Vegas, announced plans two months ago for a $700 million project on the north end of the island.

MGM Grand will not say how big its project is, what it will consist of or when construction will begin until the company figures out how much land it has to work with, Chairman J. Terrence Lanni told the state Casino Control Commission on Wednesday.

The company controls 30 acres adjacent to Showboat Hotel Casino and wants to acquire 40 more by buying hundreds of small parcels in an area so decrepit it was once known as "Bronx by the sea."

Pressed by Commissioner Leanna Brown as to when work might start, Lanni said construction alone would take 18 months and that the company hoped to open its property within three years.

"This is job number one for us," he told her.

Mayor James Whelan has said the city would use its powers of eminent domain should property owners refuse to sell to MGM Grand. The city will not be an agent for MGM Grand, he said.

Lanni said MGM Grand would rather acquire the properties through private negotiations, not public redevelopment.

"We are more than willing to pay fair, reasonable, market prices," Lanni said.

But he noted that many of the property owners expected their land to be snatched up - at high prices - shortly after casino gambling was approved in 1976. That could affect negotiations, he said.

Sun International Hotels Ltd. said this week it wanted to build a similar project in the same neighborhood, but there are questions about whether enough land exists for both.

Lanni said MGM Grand would not rule out the possibility of including Sun International - or any other entity - in its project, but said the company was not pursuing that option now.

MGM Grand has reached agreement with shopping mall developer Forest City Ratner to have a 335,000-square foot entertainment and retail area within the resort.

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