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In September 1989, the company announced plans for a $700-million Hollywood-themed complex, including a 4,000-room hotel and a theme park. The Desert Inn site was initially considered as a location for the project, but within weeks the location was finalized as the Marina Hotel and Casino and the Tropicana Country Club, which MGM Grand acquired for $93 million plus $30 million in stock. The company put the Desert Inn up for sale to focus efforts on the new project, but found no outside bidders, and agreed to sell it to Tracinda for $130 million. Construction on the MGM Grand Las Vegas and the MGM Grand Adventures theme park began in October 1991, and the property opened in December 1993 at a final cost of $1 billion. The park permanently closed in 2002 due to a lack of interest.

The company moved its headquarters from Beverly Hills to Las Vegas in July 1992.

During construction of the MGM Grand, the company acquired an option to buy an 18-acre site across the street from the project. Gary Primm of Primadonna Resorts approached MGM president Bob Maxey in 1994 with an idea for the site: a casino recreating the New York skyline. A joint venture was formed between the two companies, and construction began in March 1995. Completed at a cost of $460 million, the New York-New York Hotel and Casino opened in January 1997.

With New York-New York under development, MGM Grand made moves to expand in several other markets. An exploratory agreement to develop two casinos on the Chinese island of Hainan was announced in August 1994, but came to nothing. In Darwin, Australia, a lucrative market attracting high rollers from Pacific Rim countries, the company considered building a hotel, but instead bought the Diamond Beach Hotel and Casino, renaming it as the MGM Grand Darwin. MGM announced plans for an Atlantic City casino in July 1996. In Michigan, where voters approved casinos in November 1996, MGM made plans for a bid on one of the three available gaming licenses, which would eventually be approved and open in July 1999 as the MGM Grand Detroit.

In South Africa, with casino gambling newly authorized, MGM announced plans in August 1996 to develop 15 properties in conjunction with Tsogo Sun. The first, a temporary casino in Johannesburg's Sundome, opened in October 1998. Three more casinos followed before MGM agreed to sell out its interest in the properties to Tsogo Sun in November 2001.

Since the initiation of New York-New York, analysts had speculated that MGM Grand or Primadonna would buy out the other's interest in the project. Instead of making such a cash-intensive purchase, however, MGM agreed to buy Primadonna outright for $276 million in stock plus $336 million in assumed debt. The merger closed in March 1999, giving MGM ownership of three casinos and two golf courses at the Nevada–California state line, in addition to full control of New York-New York.

= Shelby White = Shelby White is an American investor, art collector, and philanthropist. She serves on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is a founding trustee of the Leon Levy Foundation.

Early life
White was born in 1938 and grew up in Brooklyn, NY. She received a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s from Columbia University. After college, White married investment banker Rodney L. White, who died in 1969.

In the 1970s, White got remarried to Leon Levy, an American investor and philanthropist, and she and her husband developed an interest in antiquities and started bidding at New York auctions in 1975.

Career
Over the next several decades, White and Levy accumulated a substantial collection of objects from different time periods and international origins. Many of the pieces in their collection are on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In the early 1990s, White and Levy gave 16 artifacts to the British Museum after being threatened with a lawsuit. In 2008, White returned 9 pieces that the Italian government suggested had been exported questionably.

In 1995, White and her husband made a donation of $20 million for the renovation and expansion of the Met’s Greek and Roman Galleries. White has also served on the board of the American Schools of Oriental Research, an archeological organization with institutes in Cyprus, Jordan and Israel.

White was also a financial journalist and wrote for publications including The New York Times. In 1992, White published the book What Every Woman Should Know About Her Husband’s Money.

In 2000, White was appointed to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, a government organization formed in 1983 to help combat illicit international trade of antiquities.

After her husband’s death in 2003, White established the Leon Levy Foundation. Through this organization, White has funded her philanthropic efforts including a $25 million donation to New York City parks in 2008, $200 million to NYU for an ancient studies institute, and $3.25 million for an addition to the Brooklyn Public Library in 2010.

In 2017, White received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, a private philanthropic award established in 2001.