New York-New York Hotel & Casino opened January 3, 1997, on the Las Vegas Strip, built at a cost of roughly $460 million by a partnership between MGM Grand Inc. and Primadonna Resorts. Its complex of twelve towers, modeled on Manhattan skyscrapers including the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, rises to 47 stories and remains part of MGM Resorts International's Strip portfolio. The Statue of Liberty replica out front stands about 150 feet from base to torch, roughly half the scale of the original in New York Harbor. The Big Apple Coaster, originally called the Manhattan Express, opened alongside the resort and includes a 144-foot first drop and a 180-degree "heartline twist" maneuver, once making it one of the fastest coasters on the Strip.
Photo taken in April 2008.