The opening of the $8.5 billion dollar project CityCenter seems to be taking hold, as far as condominium buyers are concerned.

Last week, 10 potential buyers put up their bid to units inside the Veer Towers, an all-residential complex within City Center.  Closing these sales will take place in January, when the potential buyers are required to put down 20% of the purchase price.  Prices range from $500,000 for the smallest, studio-sized unit, and up to $9 million for the penthouse suites over the Mandarin Oriental.

Veer Towers is just one of CityCenter’s three different residential choices, with 2,400 high-rise condos in total.

To spur sales, a 30% price reduction on the condo units went into effect in October.  At the time of this writing, the company has stated that buyers have reserved more than 1,300 units for a total sale price of $1.6 billion.   Of that, MGM Mirage – who owns half of CityCenter – has collected deposits of more than $300 million.

Of the three residential properties, Mandarin Oriental is 97 % sold out, and Veer Towers is approximately 67 % reserved.  The real challenge lies in Vdara, which is CityCenter’s hotel-condominium development.  Here, owners have the ability to place their units into a rental program which are leased as hotel rooms when the owners aren’t occupying them – with a cut of the revenue split between owners and Vdara.  Not unlike time-shares, it’s been more challenging so far convincing buyers to go this route.