MGM Mirage has entered into a "strategic alliance" with Dubai World, in which the Middle Eastern company will pay $2.7 billion for a 50 percent ownership share of MGM's mega-resort, CityCenter, under construction on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip. In addition, Dubai World will buy 14 million shares of MGM Mirage, infusing another $1.2 billion in cash into the casino giant. When the deals are completed, Dubai World will own nearly 10 percent of MGM Mirage. Dubai World is a holding company that manages the business and investment portfolio of the government of Dubai.

DEFENDING THE PLAZA: As expected, the downtown Plaza is taking umbrage to the foregone conclusions of some that the former New Frontier will become the home to a new Plaza hotel in Las Vegas. Tamares Las Vegas Properties, owners of the existing Plaza, has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit citing several owned trademarks using the Plaza name. The new owners of the New Frontier property have not commented on how this will affect their plans for the redevelopment of the property.

TROTTING BACK: Chicago-based celebrity chef Charlie Trotter, whose initial Las Vegas experiment lasted only a year (in 1995 at the MGM Grand), is on his way back. He'll open the 100-seat "seafood-focused" Restaurant Charlie at The Venetian in November. Dinner tabs are expected to average $175 per person in the restaurant; food and drinks $225 per person in the bar.

TANGERINE NEXT: As the top-end casino nightclubs continue their jockeying for market share, word is that the next renovation will be at Tangerine at TI.

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