Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. is asking a Pennsylvania contractor to help prop up Mandalay Bay, the $950 million hotel-casino it's building south of its Luxor hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Circus calls the problem affecting the new resort a normal "settling" of the building, though some site workers say the structure's core is "sinking."

The casino company also objects to the wording of a release issued Monday by the state Contractors Board calling for an "emergency meeting" Wednesday to address "concerns regarding the structural integrity of Mandalay Bay."

At the meeting, Circus will urge the board to grant an emergency license to Nicholson Construction Co., which specializes in pressure concrete pumping and grouting, according to Contractors Board Chairman Kim Gregory.

"They can pump in concrete to lift and stabilize the whole building," he said. "This is something that's done all the time."

"They are the best settlement experts in the country," said a Circus Circus executive who requested anonymity.

The Circus executive acknowledged that the 43-story tall building has settled, or sunk into the ground, during construction due to "changes in the relative stability of the layers of caliche" underlying the structure.

"This isn't really unusual," the executive said. "The building has settled, though it hasn't been at a uniform rate. The center core of the building has settled about 5 inches more on average than the outer edges."

The resulting damage has been limited to "minor cracks in the valet parking garage," according to the executive.

But workers at the site said portions of the resort's core have sunk as much as 18 inches, warping door frames, windows and other structures and pulling loose aluminum studs.

"There are a lot of stories going around that simply aren't true," the Circus executive said. "This is similar to what happened when we built Luxor."

Rumors of settling were circulated about that project when it was under construction, as well. The unconfirmed rumors blame a purported aquifer, or layer of porous rock or sand containing water, that reportedly stretches south beneath Luxor and Mandalay Bay past Russell Road.

The Circus executive, who hadn't heard of the purported acquifer, said the company has spent about $300,000 on the problem so far. The final cost won't be known until Nicholson Construction has completed its work, the executive said.

archive