Contractors may build, but without owners to provide a project, they’d have nothing to do.

Each year, ENR Southwest selects an Owner of The Year in consultation with industry experts, the ENR/Dodge Top Starts list, and with ENR regional and national editors as the final arbiters. As part of the judging process, the editors consider the expanse of the owner’s projects, and the company’s engagement with contractors and communities.

This year, the ENR Regional editors have selected MGM Resorts International as the Owner of the Year.

The hospitality, gaming and development company was runner up last year. Over the past two years, MGM Resorts International has embarked on a nearly $1 billion in building projects scattered throughout its nine Las Vegas properties. Most of the projects are not directly related to gaming and include a massive arena, a new medium-sized theater, hotel and conference center renovations, retail and foodservice development and smaller projects. The company is a Las Vegas institution with a hands-on approach to working with construction teams: a relationship more akin to a government entity than a private enterprise.

MGM Resorts International has been especially active in the area in and around the Monte Carlo. Besides the $375 million T-Mobile Arena that is situated between the New York-New York and Monte Carlo, the company is also getting started on the $100-million The Park project that will link the two resorts. It has also started work on a new $100million, 5,000-seat theater for the Monte Carlo. Recently completed is a $66-million upgrade to Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

Many thanks to the runner-up: Nevada Department of Transportation, which also impressed judges with its work. Especially notable is Project NEON, the largest, most expensive project in Nevada’s 152-year history. The $559.4 million project is nearly two decades in the making, and covers a 3.7-mile stretch of Interstate 15 between Sahara Avenue and the U.S. 95 “Spaghetti Bowl” interchange. Also notable is Interstate 11. NDOT, along with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC), last year broke ground on the $318-million, 15-mile first segment of Interstate 11 in Boulder City, Nev.

We will have an article on MGM Resorts International in the March 14 issue of ENR Southwest.

We also will have the list of top construction starts for 2015 in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. See the preliminary list here and as always, email me with any questions or suggestions to ENRSouthwestEditor@bnpmedia.com or jguzzon.enr@gmail.com.