Alfred Taubman at Sirio's in Las Vegas

The opening of Las Vegas’ new $9 billion City Center was heralded with a Wednesday night bash. The evening featured bikini-clad Tiger Woods-style showgirls, fireworks, a new Elvis-inspired Cirque du Soleil show, former Sotheby’s chairman Alfred Taubman and the unveiling of a corporate art collection including a mesmerizing Jenny Holzer in the nightclub valet area. The evening marked the end of an era of big-money development on the Vegas strip.

Henry Moore's "Reclining Connected Forms" at City Center

Maya Lin's "Silver River" above Aria check-in desk

The 67-acre faux-urban development features an art collection, acquired and installed for $40 million. Adviser Michele Quinn oversaw the project. For a town sorely lacking a major museum, the artworks are a major cultural addition. Maya Lin’s lyrical 84-foot long Silver River, traces the shape of the Colorado river and hangs above the Aria hotel check-in desk.

Nancy Rubins "Big Edge"

Nancy Rubin’s tilting, acrobatic Big Edge comprised of about 200 canoes and acts as a fulcrum, around which a series of glass buildings rise. Frank Stella’s 1969 Damascus Gate Variation I hugs the walls behind the check-in desk at Vdara, originally a condo and now a hotel with large rooms.

Frank Stella "Damascus Gate Variation I"

Art Adviser Michele Quinn and husband

Visitor at Dale Chihuly gallery

Delicate touches include a series of Jun Kaneko ceramics, fitted into niches at Aria.  Larger versions are also installed in the lobby of the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Henry Moore’s 1969-74 Reclining Connected Forms dominates a small park, visible from the dinner tables at Beso, a nightclub-like restaurant owned by actress Eva Longoria Parker. A moody Richard Misrach landscape photo perks up Aria’s VIP check-in.  A pair of earthy Richard Long 72-foot tall mud-paintings transform the walls of the two buildings. Three Tony Cragg swirling stainless silver columns dress up the atrium leading to a parking lot.

Jun Kaneko at Aria

The Michigan-based real estate developer, and former Sotheby’s chairman Alfred Taubman, 86, attended the festivities with his son William. The Taubman Centers Inc. leased City Center’s 500,000 square feet of luxury retail and entertainment and developed Crystals, an angular aluminum Daniel Libeskind designed mall. The intrepid Alfred Taubman, wearing red socks and an “M” pin in solidarity with his hometown university, attended the Cirque du Soleil show, followed by dinner at Sirio’s, Sirio Maccioni’s new restaurant.

Leslie and Dale Chihuly

Jenny Holzer "Vegas"