Numerous casinos have been planned for Atlantic City, New Jersey but never opened.
In November 1976, New Jersey voters approved a referendum that legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City, and when the Casino Control Act of New Jersey was signed by the governor on June 2, 1977, Atlantic City became the first place in the U.S., outside of Nevada, with legalized casino gambling. A rush of investors announced plans to build hotel-casinos. However, a lack of available financing, along with legal issues such as zoning, licensing, and environmental regulations, ended most of these plans. Most of them stopped in the planning stage; only a few, such as the Dunes and the Penthouse, entered construction. Many of the proposed projects were announced with major publicity efforts but died quietly.
In July 1978, American Land Company, headed by Steven Silverberg, announced plans to build a hotel-casino in the marina area, named The Marina Casino. However, later that year, he faced charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading investors in the project. He later sold an option on the land for the project to MGM Grand Hotels. [1] [2] [3]
In June 1979, a joint venture to construct a hotel-casino in the marina area was announced by American Motor Inns, Inc. and Great American Industries. [4] [5] [6]
In 2006, AC Gateway LLC, headed by Wally Barr and Curtis Bashaw, purchased a number of properties near Albany Avenue and the Boardwalk in order to build a hotel-casino. These properties included the former Dunes and Sahara projects, along with the former Atlantic City High School site. [7] A plan for a $1.5-billion mega-casino called the Atlantic Beach Resort & Casino was unveiled in 2008. [8] The project was suspended in 2009 due to the economic downturn. [9] The project was later revived in 2011 as the proposed Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. [10] [11]
Atlantic Land Limited opened an office near New York Avenue in 1979, proposing to build a 31-story hotel-casino. However, by the next year, the office was closed. [12]
In May 1977, Edward Sims announced that his investor group would develop a hotel-casino, called the Atlantis, in the marina area. (This was no relation to the Atlantis Hotel and Casino, which was renamed from the Playboy Hotel and Casino in 1984.) In 1978, a portion of the land they owned was sold to Harrahs, contingent on getting it rezoned. However, the rezoning was refused and the sale was cancelled. In 1980 the investor group announced that the property was to be sold to American Motor Inns. [6] [13] [14] [15]
The Shelburne Hotel (Atlantic City) was leased to Japanese investors Rocky Aoki, owner of the Benihana restaurant chain, and Takashi Sasakawa, who planned to keep the existing hotel as well as add a 31-story tower and casino calling it the Benihana Hotel-Casino. [16] In 1983 work crews began to renovate the hotel, however, disagreements between the Malmut family (owners of the hotel), the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, and outside investors led Akoi and Sasakawa to abandon the project after investing over $25 million in construction and renovations. [17] Sasakawa was the son of noted Japanese fascist and philanthropist Ryoichi Sasakawa, who had links with the Yakuza. [18] Aoki and Sasakawa had also faced charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading in the stock of Hardwicke Companies, which had planned to manage the hotel/casino. [19]
After the Benihana Hotel-Casino project stopped, the Shelburne Hotel (Atlantic City) was acquired in 1984 by Blumenfeld Development Corp. and the hotel was demolished. The company applied for a casino license on July 23, 1985. In 1986 a groundbreaking was held for the intended construction of the Carousel Club Hotel Casino. (It was originally called the Carnival Club Hotel Casino, but the name was changed after Carnival Cruise Lines sued them.) However, the company did not obtain sufficient financing and after foreclosure the property was sold to Bally's Manufacturing Corp., which built Bally's Wild Wild West Casino in 1997. [20] [21] [22] [23]
In June 1977, Caesars World Inc. leased the site where the Traymore Hotel had once stood. (The hotel was imploded in 1972.) They planned to build Caesars Palace Atlantic City on the site. However, when the opportunity came about in June 1978 to lease the Howard Johnson's Regency Motor Hotel and use the existing facilities to more quickly build a hotel-casino complex, the Traymore site project was put on hold. The Boardwalk Regency opened in June 1979. The company applied for a license on January 8, 1980, for the Caesars Palace Atlantic City project but never built anything on the site. The land was later sold to Pinnacle Atlantic City for a proposed hotel-casino. However, that project also fell through. [24]
See entry for Camelot Hotel/Casino.
Captain Starn's Restaurant was a popular restaurant located at Maine Avenue, Caspian Avenue and the Boardwalk, by the Absecon Inlet. The owners were approached twice by potential investors to buy the land for a hotel-casino, the first time by Meister Associates and the second time by Edward Wong. Caesars later took an option on the site and tried to swap it with the United States government for the site of the United States Coast Guard station in the marina area, but were turned down. [25] [26]
In June 1978, Levin Computer Corporation, along with Hotel Associates, announced plans to develop a hotel-casino in the marina area named Casino by the Sea. Levin Computer had briefly owned the Bonanza Casino in Las Vegas. Levin later offered a leasehold interest in the property to Cavanaugh Communities Corp. [27] [28] [29]
In 1979, Cavanaugh Communities Corporation, a Florida land sales company, planned to develop a hotel-casino in the marina area called the Royale Vista. However, the land was sold to Resorts Casino Hotel in 1983, after a Cavanaugh subsidiary filed bankruptcy. [30] [31]
Holiday Inns purchased the Chalfonte Hotel from Resorts Casino Hotel in 1979, intending to demolish the hotel and develop a new hotel-casino. However, in 1981, they announced that the development was postponed and eventually the project was cancelled. [32] [33]
Colonial Commercial Corp. was a company that made cement and blue jeans. In 1979, King International Corp., which operated a hotel-casino in Aruba, acquired an option to purchase some land from Trans-Expo Inc. Colonial Commercial then acquired the option from King International, with which it planned to merge, and later exercised the option. Colonial filed bankruptcy in 1982 and gave the land back to Trans-Expo, which held the mortgage. [34] [35] [36] [37]
In June 1979, Context Industries, Inc. announced that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with Terminal Industries, Inc. to develop a hotel-casino. [38]
See entry for Dunes Hotel and Casino (Atlantic City).
In October 1977, First Artists Production Company confirmed reports that they were negotiating for potential hotel-casino properties in Atlantic City. The company was partly owned by entertainers Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand, Steve McQueen, Sidney Poitier and Dustin Hoffman. The property mentioned was the Holiday Inn, which was sold a few months later to Penthouse for its Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino project. [39] [40]
Hard Rock International announced plans in 2010 to build a $300-million casino in partnership with Och-Ziff Real Estate on the Boardwalk at Albany Avenue, at the site previously proposed for the Atlantic Beach Resort & Casino. [11] [41] It was proposed under the state's recently enacted "boutique casino" law, which allowed up to two casinos to be opened with a minimum of 200 hotel rooms, instead of the usual 500 rooms. [42] The first phase of construction would have included 208 hotel rooms and 54,800 square feet (5,090 m2) of gaming space; a second phase would follow with an additional 642 rooms and 27,500 square feet (2,550 m2) of gaming space. [43] Other features would have included a beachfront Hard Rock Cafe, other upscale restaurants, bars, a rock-and-roll museum, a spa, and beach cabanas. [41]
Construction was planned to begin by July 2012, with an opening date in 2014, but the schedule was pushed back because of delays in the permitting process. [42] [44] Hard Rock dropped the project in September 2012 because market conditions in Atlantic City, including poor results at the newly opened Revel casino, made it very difficult to secure financing. [45] The company would later return to the city in 2017 with its purchase of the shuttered Trump Taj Mahal and planned renovation of the property as a Hard Rock casino. [46]
Hard Rock Casino Atlantic City opened June 28, 2018. [47] [48] [49] [50] [51]
In 1977, William Kissane and John Leddy, announced that they were seeking to lease land in the marina area to develop a hotel-casino. In 1980, they had their land surveying licenses suspended. [52] [53]
After the original Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino opened in 1980, the Mirage Resorts explored sites for another hotel-casino. In 1982, they looked at acquiring a site on Great Island from Vornado, Inc., but the site required rezoning. In the mid-1990s, the company proposed to build the Le Jardin hotel-casino in the marina area if the state of New Jersey built a road that connected to the hotel-casino. The company had also agreed to allow Circus Circus Enterprises and Boyd Gaming to build casinos on the site, but later reneged on the agreement. While the road, called the Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector, was eventually built, Le Jardin was cancelled after the company was acquired in 2000 by MGM Grand Inc., which later built the Borgata, in a joint venture with Boyd Gaming, on the site. [54] [55] [56]
Loews Corporation is a large conglomerate with interests in hotels, movie theaters, insurance, and cigarettes. In 1977, they conducted a feasibility study to determine whether they should re-enter the Atlantic City market and develop a hotel-casino. The company had formerly owned the Traymore Hotel and the Ambassador Hotel, but sold them before gambling was legalized in the city. [57] [58]
Jean Savage, a Nutley NJ realtor and the president of HEJJ Inc. approached the 72 owners of properties bordered between Texas Ave., Bellevue Ave., Pacific Ave. and the Boardwalk. She offered them $100,000 each to sell their properties, contingent on all of them agreeing to sell. She reportedly represented some unnamed company that planned to build a hotel-casino. The effort failed. [59] [60] [61] [62] [63]
Metropole Associates, Inc, of New York, in November 1978 announced plans to build a hotel-casino at the site of the Morton Hotel on Virginia Avenue. [64]
MGM planned to enter the Atlantic City market in the late 1970s. However, a catastrophic fire, which killed 85 people, in 1980 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (now Bally's Las Vegas) in Las Vegas, Nevada postponed those plans. The fire resulted in substantial litigation. In 1996, the company began buying parcels of land adjacent to the Showboat Atlantic City for a planned hotel-casino. The effort was delayed for several years due to a few land owners refusing to sell. After MGM acquired Mirage Resorts in 2000, the company switched its focus to developing the Borgata in the marina area and abandoned plans for the Boardwalk site. The land was then sold to North Beach Holdings, which in turn sold the land to a group that built the Revel. For plans by MGM to build a hotel-casino in the marina area in 2007 see the entry for MGM Grand Atlantic City. [65] [66] [67] [68]
In 1978, Nortek, Inc, a textile and tombstone company, indicated it planned to invest in a casino. The following year, an investor lawsuit was filed against the company claiming it drove the stock price up by using false claims. [69]
In 2008, realtor Robert Pagano and a representative from shopping mall owner Triple Five Group sought to get land they owned in the marina district rezoned for hotel-casino and retail use. The land consisted of 17 acres adjacent to The Borgata owned by Pagano, and a 13-acre site across the street owned by Marina Towers Association. [70] [71]
In 2008, Penn National Gaming had two proposals for new hotel-casinos. They offered to buy the recently closed Bader Field airport for $900 million. They planned to build one hotel-casino and sell up to three other parcels to other developers. Later that year, they planned to rezone a parcel of land on Route 30 at the city's gateway for development of a hotel-casino. Neither venture went through. [72] [73]
See entry for Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino.
See entry for Pinnacle Atlantic City.
In 1996, Planet Hollywood International Inc., a theme restaurant chain, and ITT Corporation, which had recently acquired Caesars World, announced a joint venture to develop a hotel-casino. However, nothing became of it. After Planet Hollywood acquired the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, they announced plans in 2005 to open a hotel-casino in Atlantic City. However, the casino was never built, and after having financial problems, the company lost ownership of the hotel-casino in Las Vegas in 2010. [74] [75]
Prime Motor Inns had announced in January 1980 that it had approval from lenders for financing for a hotel-casino. However, the company was denied permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. They later tried to do a joint venture with the Dunes Hotel and Casino (Atlantic City) project, but that fell through. [76] [77] [78]
In August 1977, Jerrold Polinsky, a cable television owner from Minnesota, announced an agreement to lease the Howard Johnson's Regency Motor Hotel and build a casino. His partners included former New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin, attorney Adrian Foley and local art dealer Reese Palley. Werblin and Foley were the chairman and Treasurer, respectively, of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. Palley had been appointed as Chairman of the New Jersey State Lottery Commission. Werblin and Foley soon dropped out of the partnership after the media and politicians noted the conflicts of interest. Polinsky sought additional investors, but could not meet the lease terms and the agreement was terminated in May 1978. Rocky Aoki had come in at the last minute to try to save the project, but the court rejected his claim. (Aoki would later try to develop the Benihana Hotel-Casino.) The property was subsequently leased to Caesars World in June 1978 and they developed the Boardwalk Regency . Polinsky went on to other ventures in the gambling industry, but was convicted in the mid-1990s of bribery, tax evasion, and securities fraud. [79] [80]
In 1978, an investor group purchased the Ritz-Carlton Atlantic City intending to convert it to a hotel and casino. However, unfavorable publicity linking it to the Abscam investigation ended that plan. [81] Senator Harrison A. Williams (D-N.J.) told an undercover FBI agent that he could help save the investors $30 million by allowing them to renovate the existing property, rather than building a new one. Williams' wife was a paid consultant and shareholder in Hardwicke Companies, the majority investor in the project, and Williams expected to receive a $1 million finder's fee for helping arrange financing for the project. Williams was later convicted on other charges relating to the Abscam scandal. [82] [83]
Al Olshan, a developer from Little Ferry, New Jersey purchased some land in the marina district through a partnership, Hotel Associates, intending to develop a hotel-casino. In 1982, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Olsham and his company, Route 1 Corp., with securities violations involving Hotel Associates. [84] [85] [86]
Robert Maheu, a former aide to Howard Hughes, and Grady Sanders announced plans for a hotel-casino in August 1978, called the Royale Atlantic Hotel. However, they were unable to get funding for the project and turned it over to other developers. [87]
Howard Weingrow, Robert Lifton and Midland Resources took over the Royale Atlantic hotel-casino project in 1979, and renamed it the Atlantic Plaza Hotel Casino. They applied for a casino license on September 4, 1979. However, they were unable to get funding for the project, and Donald Trump took it over and developed the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. [88] [89]
See entry for Sahara Boardwalk Hotel and Casino.
In 1986, two theatrical producers, who had recently bought Sardi's restaurant in New York, announced plans to develop a hotel-casino in the marina district called Sardi's Broadway Casino Hotel. The project was a venture with the successor company that had tried to develop the Camelot Hotel/Casino. The producers lost ownership of Sardi's restaurant in a 1990 bankruptcy case. [90] [91]
In July 1977, a group headed by Harry Katz announced that they were trying to purchase the ocean liner SS United States and dock it at a pier in Atlantic City. The ship would have a casino and the cabins would function as a hotel. [92] [93]
In August 1977, Alvin Snyder, a Maryland real estate developer, planned to use the famous Steel Pier to house a hotel-casino called Casino at Sea. He bought the pier, contingent on getting the necessary government approvals for the construction and use. However, the approvals could not be obtained. In July 1978, the pier was purchased by the Resorts Casino Hotel for non-casino use. [94] [95] [96]
Kupper Associates, a Piscataway, New Jersey engineering firm announced plans in February 1978 to build a hotel-casino at Arkansas Ave. near the terminus of the Atlantic City Expressway. The land was later sold to Colonial Commercial Corp., which defaulted on the mortgage and the land was reacquired by Tran-Expo. [97] [98]
In 1996, Donald Trump proposed building a 430-foot yacht, docking it next to the Trump's Castle resort in the marina district, and opening a casino on the boat. At the time, it would have been the largest yacht in the world, costing $75 million and having 35,000 square feet of casino space on three levels. The yacht was never built. [99]
The Trump World's Fair (formerly the Trump Regency, which was formerly the Atlantis Hotel and Casino, which was formerly the Playboy Hotel and Casino) was torn down in 2000. Donald Trump then proposed building a 62-story hotel-casino on the site. However, after his company entered bankruptcy in 2005, the property was auctioned off to BET Investments, owned by real estate developer Bruce E. Toll. A deed restriction, preventing the property being used as a casino, was lifted in 2011 in exchange for $5.5 million, but no plans were announced for a hotel-casino. [100]
Two New Jersey developers, John Griek and Martin Cummins announced plans in April 1977 to develop a hotel-casino on a tract of land on U.S. Route 30 and the Absecon bridge. They were seeking to have the land rezoned from industrial to commercial use. [14] [101]
Vornado, Inc., the owner of the Two Guys discount store chain, announced in November 1978 that they planned to open two hotel-casinos on Great Island, about a mile west of the Boardwalk. In 1982, Golden Nugget announced plans to purchase the site if it could be rezoned for a hotel-casino. However, the site was in the flight path of the Bader Field airport and failed to get the required Federal Aviation Administration approval for the structure. [76] [102] [103] [104]
Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
MGM Resorts International is an American hospitality and entertainment company. It operates resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, Macau, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Sanya, including the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and Park MGM.
Mirage Resorts was an American company that owned and operated hotel-casinos. It was acquired by MGM Grand, Inc. in 2000, forming MGM Mirage.
The Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector is a connector freeway in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. It is a 2.37-mile (3.81 km) extension of the Atlantic City Expressway, connecting it to New Jersey Route 87, which leads into Brigantine via the Marina district of Atlantic City. Locally, the freeway is known as "the Tunnel", due to the tunnel along its route that passes underneath the Westside neighborhood. The connector is a state highway owned and operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA); it has an unsigned designation of Route 446X.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. was a gambling and hospitality company. The company previously owned and operated the now-demolished Trump Plaza and Trump World's Fair, the now-closed Trump Marina, Trump Casino & Hotel in Gary, Indiana, Trump 29 in Coachella, California, and Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. It was founded in 1995 as Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts by Donald Trump, who after 2004 held only a minority ownership. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, 2009 and 2014. It became a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises in 2016. Since then, all of the company's properties have been closed and sold.
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The Tropicana Atlantic City, often referred to as The Trop, is a resort, casino hotel located on the beach and Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Caesars Entertainment, and is the third largest hotel in New Jersey, with just under 2,400 guest rooms and the 200,000-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex, The Quarter. It has over 30 restaurants, 30 shops, 20 bars and lounges, 4 pools, the Tropicana Showroom, multiple spas, and an IMAX Theatre. In 2016, Tropicana completed over $200 million in renovations and additions, including a Multimedia Light and Sound Show, the addition of AtlantiCare LifeCenter Fitness, Garces restaurants, renovations to over 900 hotel rooms, and casino floor but Tropicana will continue investing. The Tropicana is the largest resort and casino on the boardwalk, with 2,364 rooms, 3,000 slot machines, 30 restaurants, and 30 shops, along with two 2,500-space parking garages, totaling over 5,000 parking spaces. In 2021-2023 Tropicana is said to complete renovations through these years, the renovations will include renovations to all 604 West Tower rooms, modernized elevators and escalators, pool enhancements, gaming space enhancements, and more undisclosed renovation projects.
Resorts Casino Hotel is a hotel and casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Resorts was the first casino hotel in Atlantic City, becoming the first legal casino outside of Nevada in the United States, when it opened on May 26, 1978. The resort completed an expansion in 2004, adding the 27-story Rendezvous Tower, and underwent renovations in 2011, converting the resort to a Roaring Twenties theme.
Bally's Atlantic City is a casino hotel on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is owned and operated by Bally's Corporation.
The Traymore Hotel was a resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Begun as a small boarding house in 1879, the hotel expanded and became one of the city's premier resorts. As Atlantic City began to decline in its popularity as a resort town, during the 1950s and 1960s, the Traymore diminished in popularity. By the early 1970s the hotel was abandoned and severely run down. It was imploded and demolished between April and May 1972, a full four years before the New Jersey Legislature passed the referendum that legalized gambling in Atlantic City.
The Claridge is a historic hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that opened in 1930. Beginning in 1981, Claridge's operated for many years as a casino, known first as "Del Webb's Claridge Hotel and Casino", then as "Claridge Hotel and Casino". The hotel was acquired by Bally's on December 30, 2002, as a hotel tower of Bally's Atlantic City. In February 2014, the property was acquired by TJM Properties of Clearwater, Florida, which returned the property to a stand-alone hotel without casino gambling.
The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, formerly known as Golden Nugget, Bally's Grand, The Grand, Atlantic City Hilton and ACH, is an abandoned hotel and casino located at the southern end of the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, owned and operated by Colony Capital. It was the city's first and only "locals casino". The Atlantic Club permanently closed on January 13, 2014, at 12:01 AM, largely as a result of dwindling casino visitors to Atlantic City due to increased competition in neighboring states. A third of Atlantic City's boardwalk casinos closed the same year, the others being Revel, Trump Plaza, and Showboat. Redevelopment proposals include a water park.
The Shelburne Hotel was a resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey located at Michigan Avenue and the Boardwalk. Built and opened in 1869, the hotel was originally a wood-frame cottage. Following several expansions, under the direction of hotel manager Jacob Weikel, a modern, brick-faced, steel frame, multistory structure was constructed along Michigan Avenue at the corner with the Boardwalk. This portion of the hotel opened in 1926. The hotel was an example of Georgian Revival architecture and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel was a historic resort hotel property in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built in 1902–1906, and demolished in October 1978.
The Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino was a proposed hotel and casino that was to be built in Atlantic City, New Jersey, between Pacific Ave, South Missouri Ave, Columbia Place and Boardwalk, during the late 1970s. Due to financial and legal difficulties, the hotel was never completed and a casino license was never issued.
The Ritz-Carlton Atlantic City, located at 199 S. Iowa Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, began as a hotel on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, built at the beginning of the Roaring Twenties and renowned for its luxurious decor and famous guests. It was used as an apartment hotel beginning in 1969, and then purchased in 1978 with the intention of developing it as a hotel and casino. The building was converted to The Ritz Condominiums in 1982.
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The Sahara Boardwalk Hotel and Casino was a proposed hotel and casino that was to be built in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The site of the proposed project was located at Albany Avenue and the Boardwalk, between the original Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino and the proposed Dunes Hotel and Casino project. However, because of financial and legal difficulties, construction of the hotel/casino was never completed and the site was sold in 1982.
The Camelot Hotel/Casino was a proposed hotel and casino that was to be built in the early 1980s in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The site of the proposed project was located in the marina district, adjacent to Harrahs Resort, and was to consist of 990 hotel rooms and a 60,000 sq ft casino. Entertainer Merv Griffin was appointed as entertainment director of the company and planned to broadcast his television show from the hotel. However, because of financial, political and legal difficulties, construction of the hotel/casino was never completed and a casino license was never issued.
Resorts International was a hotel and casino company. From its origins as a paint company, it moved into the resort business in the 1960s with the development of Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and then expanded to Atlantic City, New Jersey with the opening of Resorts Casino Hotel in 1978. After the death of its longtime chairman, James Crosby, in 1986, the company was briefly controlled by Donald Trump, before being acquired by Merv Griffin in 1988. It was acquired by Sun International in 1996.