The "CityCenter six-pack" lives on, thanks to a late-breaking accord between MGM Mirage and bickering spouse Dubai World. It's a tactical victory for MGM, in that it -- among other things -- keeps the project moving forward and forestalls the prospect of bankruptcy. But it looks as though, when the points are tallied, Dubai World comes out ahead.

CityCenter: Is it too late to bring back the Boardwalk?

Dubai World's biggest concession is to drop its March 22 lawsuit against MGM, which was endangering completion of the metaresort. Lenders also yielded significant ground by agreeing to immediately release $1.8 billion in credit which had been heretofore contingent upon several hundred million dollars' worth of put-in by MGM and Dubai World. Both debtors agreed to a 2% interest-rate hike but MGM was able to gain a temporary waiver of certain debt covenants.

The days of getting $7 billion with no strings attached are over, though: Instead of selling its Gold Strike and MGM Grand Detroit casinos, the company is pledging them as collateral (along with unspecified raw land, probably the "Project Z" site south of Mandalay Bay) for its senior debt. Beau Rivage's fate remains unknown. Cost overruns at CityCenter will be collateralized by Circus Circus and "certain adjacent land" ... i.e., what was going to be the site of an MGM/Kerzner joint venture. MGM CEO Jim Murren had been maintaining that he wasn't going to tear down the clown castle -- and now he can't, even if he wished.

If condominium sales hit $250 million, that money can go toward construction costs. However, if they don't reach $243 million, then MGM is on the hook for the difference. It's also fully responsible for construction costs that push the price tag beyond $8.5 billion. As a consolation prize, it gets the $135 million that Dubai World should have paid toward the joint venture over the last five weeks -- a shortfall that MGM had to make good out of its own coffers.

As the Las Vegas Sun summarized the pact, "The bottom line is that the most important construction project in Las Vegas and the gaming industry will proceed and open as scheduled, with it likely boosting revenue for MGM Mirage but hurting competitors already suffering from an oversupply of hotel rooms in Las Vegas."

Everybody can now heave a giant, grateful sigh of relief and go back to business as usual, like ...

Look out below! Forty-seven stories of glass at CityCenter's Mandarin Oriental and not a one of them has been inspected. Sadly, that's become par for the course with this project: Another day, another graveyard-humor headline from the former site of the Boardwalk.

Said the MGM spokesman given the thankless task of handling this latest revelation: "In the end, we want to build a structure that's comfortable and enjoyable to the guests and beautiful to behold -- and also meets, to everyone's satisfaction, the highest safety criteria." Until then ... duck!