The Cosmopolitan

As Strip grand openings go, tonight's celebration at The Cosmopolitan will be unlike any other from the valley's two-decade megaresort boom.

It's the end of an era.

At every previous launch party, nearby construction cranes signaled the countdown to another. But not this time.

No one can say when the next sparkling new hotel and casino will open inside the resort corridor. The tourist economy is showing signs of improvement, but some of The Cosmopolitan's competitors are convinced the Strip's newest towers will hinder the recovery by injecting 3,000 new hotel rooms into a market that lacks demand for them.

Those concerns aside, The Cosmopolitan has one thing in common with some of its neighbors: Plenty of skeptics thought tonight's revelry would never happen.

Two years ago, Ian Bruce Eichner and his company, 3700 Associates LLC, defaulted on their construction financing. Deutsche Bank AG then bought the 8.7-acre property, just south of Bellagio, out of foreclosure and spent almost $4 billion finishing it. The luxury hotel's vertical design differs from other hotels, incorporating shops, restaurants and services on multiple floors.

And its intriguing advertising campaign -- "Just the right amount of wrong" -- ensures that prospective visitors will at least know The Cosmopolitan is open for business.

Everyone in Las Vegas hopes The Cosmopolitan will do what The Mirage, New York-New York, The Venetian and so many others did before -- grow the visitor market.

If that happens, then perhaps we'll be celebrating The Cosmopolitan's opening for a long time to come -- and planning the next big Strip debut.