Revel was Atlantic City's most spectacular casino flop. It cost $2.4 billion to build, and closed after just over two years, It never came close to turning a profit. It cost $2.4 billion to build, but Straub bought it for $82 million from bankruptcy court. If Straub succeeds in reopening Revel with a casino, it would become the city's 9th casino.
Wellington real estate developer Glenn Straub says he may quit trying to reopen a shuttered casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that he bought last year.
Straub paid $82 million for the Revel casino in Atlantic City, which cost $2.4 billion to build. Revel opened in 2012, then descended into bankruptcy twice and closed in 2014.
Straub blames the state of New Jersey for his failure, so far, to reopen Revel. In an interview, he told the Star-Ledger, “This state stinks. It just stinks. … I worked in five states. This is 10 times worse than what it would be anyplace else.”
Asked if he still would try to reopen the casino, Straub told the newspaper, “To hell with that. I’ve got other things to do. I don’t have time to be screwing around with this stuff.”
Straub earlier had pledged that at least part of the 6.2 million-square-foot Revel casino would be in operation by the middle of June.
Revel Casino Sold
But his company, Polo North Country Club, is still seeking city and state permits to reopen Revel, where fencing blocks entrances to the casino from Atlantic City’s oceanfront boardwalk.
Straub’s company needs site-plan approval from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to do construction work at Revel before reopening it.
The authority decided in an August 18 public hearing to continue the hearing to September 8, allowing Polo North more time to address potential street-traffic issues at the casino.
The authority’s decision to extend the public hearing is “unnecessary and unwarranted,” said Nick Talvacchia, an attorney representing Straub’s company.
The extension of the public hearing led Straub to tell the Star-Ledger that he may end his efforts to reopen Revel: “I’m pretty much there now.” [Star-Ledger] — Mike Seemuth
It cost $2.4 billion to build Atlantic City's Revel casino and hotel a couple of years ago, but the property was just sold at a bankruptcy auction for a mere $110 million.
Winning bidder Brookfield Asset Management plans to reopen the venue as a casino, but won't say whether it will keep the Revel name.
Brookfield has owned the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas since 2011, and hasalso run the Atlantis Paradise Island resort and casino in the Bahamas since 2012.
Is Revel Casino Open
The deal still needs to be approved by the bankruptcy court judge, but it looks like Brookfield is about to score a tremendous bargain.
The extremely lowprice may be the key to making the new casino a success in the same exact spot where Revel failed.
'The new owner got a high-cost asset at a rock-bottom price. They have a significant advantage over the original investors who took enormous losses,' said Joseph Seneca, an economics and policy professor at Rutgers University.
But the new casino, like the rest of Atlantic City, still faces an uphill battle amid intense competition from casinos out of state.
Annual revenue for all of Atlantic City's casinos fell 6.2% last year. This year, four out of 12 Atlantic City casinos were forced to close: Revel, Showboat, and the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino closed at the end of the summer, while Atlantic Club Casino Hotel shut its doors in January.
That put about 8,000 people out of work.
'We are certainly hopeful that this is a positive step forward for Revel and for Atlantic City,' said Ben Begleiter, a spokesman for the local casino workers' union.
Revel Casino Cost To Build
Willis declined to say whether all 3,100 of Revel's workers will be rehired.