The progressive Las Vegas casino and hotel developer is at it again. They have the CityCenter project well underway here right on the Strip and now they've turned their sights east. Atlantic City is the second-largest gaming market in the country, so heading that way with their great brand makes a lot of sense.

The Borgata that MGM Mirage owns over there in a fifty-fifty partnership with Boyd Gaming has been hugely successful since its opening a couple of years ago. It was the first new, upscale property in town in a long while. It can be said it was kind of a test case for the company and evidently passed it with flying colors. Top-flight gaming and entertainment is in high demand nowadays on the Atlantic shores and made their decision pretty easy.

The development is called MGM Grand Atlantic City and projected cost is set at about $5 billion. As of now the plans call for over 3,000 hotel rooms and suites in three different buildings, each with a unique theme. Besides that, it'll include the mandatory casino and plenty of restaurants, night clubs, other entertainment venues and a fair amount of retail and convention space. The usual mix you see in these new, large resorts.

This initial stage will leave around 12 acres undeveloped and my bet is that sooner or later they will house a condominium tower. The company is gaining solid experience on condo development at the CityCenter and that would be a logical solution for the parcel. Condo sales would also help offset a nice share of the entire development costs.