ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — One of President Donald Trump’s former Atlantic City casinos will be blown up next month, and for the right amount of money, you could be the one to press the button that brings it down.
ATLANTIC CITY — In about the same time it takes for a roulette ball to fall and settle on a number in the spinning wheel, the Sands Casino Hotel was demolished Thursday night.
The demolition of the former Trump Plaza casino will become a fundraiser to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City that the mayor hopes will raise in excess of $1 million
“Not often does inner-city oceanfront land open up. We have one chance to get this right.” Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small. Casino demolition in Atlantic City does not happen every day: the last one was in 2007 when the former Sands casino was torn down to open space for another casino complex which never appeared. The demolition makes way for a mega-casino to be built on the Sands site by Pinnacle Entertainment at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion to $2 billion. The as-yet unnamed complex is to open in late. The last casino implosion in Atlantic City was in October 2007 when the former Sands casino was dynamited to make way for a new casino-hotel project that ultimately was never built. Topics New Jersey. Officials in Atlantic City are calling for the demolition of a dilapidated casino property formerly owned by US President Donald Trump.
Opened in 1984, Trump's former casino was closed in 2014 and has fallen into such a state of disrepair that demolition work began earlier this year. The remainder of the structure will be dynamited on Jan. 29.
“Some of Atlantic City's iconic moments happened there, but on his way out, Donald Trump openly mocked Atlantic City, saying he made a lot of money and then got out,” said Mayor Marty Small. “I wanted to use the demolition of this place to raise money for charity.”
The Boys & Girls Club has hired a professional auction company to solicit bids from Thursday through Jan. 19, when the top bids will be revealed and a live auction will determine a winner. The organization provides after-school and summer recreation, education and career-training programs for Atlantic City children and teens.
Trump, then a real-estate developer, opened the casino in a prime spot at the center of Atlantic City’s Boardwalk where the Atlantic City Expressway deposited cars entering the resort. It was the site of many high-profile boxing matches, which Trump would regularly attend.
It closed in 2014, one of four Atlantic City casinos to shut down that year, followed by another former Trump casino, the Taj Mahal, in 2016. That property has since reopened as the Hard Rock casino.
The third casino Trump used to own here, Trump Marina, was sold to Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta in 2011 and is now the Golden Nugget.
Trump cut most ties with Atlantic City in 2009 aside from a 10% fee for the use of his name on what were then three casinos in the city. That stake was extinguished when billionaire Carl Icahn took ownership of the company out of bankruptcy court in February 2016.
Trump Plaza has sat empty for six years, and has been deteriorating. Earlier this year, large pieces of the facade broke loose from one of the hotel towers and came crashing to the ground. In one storm, additional debris fell from the structure onto the Boardwalk.
Icahn owns the former Trump Plaza building, and has agreed to the demolition. Small said he is eager to discuss potential uses for the land with Icahn once the casino is gone, including some sort of family attraction.
“Not often does inner-city oceanfront land open up,” the mayor said. “We have one chance to get this right.”
Sands Hotel Atlantic City
The last casino implosion in Atlantic City was in Oct. 2007 when the former Sands casino was dynamited to make way for a new casino-hotel project that ultimately was never built.
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Officials ask for immediate action
Officials in Atlantic City, New Jersey are calling on a judge to give an order for the immediate demolition of a casino formerly owned by US President Donald Trump.
the building has fallen into serious disrepair
Formerly known as the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, the property is nearly 40 years old. It is now under the ownership of billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who purchased it through a bankruptcy proceeding. The facility has been closed for some time, and Icahn says he already has plans to conduct the demolition.
The building has fallen into serious disrepair, with significant portions of the structure’s facade tearing away and falling on the sidewalk in recent days. There are now gaping holes in the building, and drones are being used to determine the safety of the structure.
An issue of public safety
An inspection carried out by city officials and local firefighters declared the former Trump Plaza Casino an immediate threat to public safety. Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small spoke during a press conference on Thursday about the demolition papers being filed with the Superior Court that afternoon.
The mayor said,
We could have had a fatality. We had high school wrestling championships with 13,000 people walking nearby.”
The response from Icahn
Hunter Gary, the spokesperson for the Icahn Enterprises President of Real Estate, said they were “puzzled” by the action of the city officials.
He maintained that the finalization of contracts for the site’s demolition was already under way and concluded, “If the mayor had simply called us instead of holding a press conference, we could have updated him as well.”
Mayor Small did mention during his press conference that he had been dealing with Icahn officials on the matter for several weeks. He added that, while both parties were on the same page, they might have different paths in mind.
No exact timeline was given for the planned demolition.
Stagnation of the facility
The Trump Plaza closed its doors in 2014 along with three other local casinos during the rapid decline of the city’s casino sector.
Another of Trump’s casinos in the city was the Taj Mahal. It closed down in 2016 and reopened in 2018 under the Hard Rock brand.
Sands Casino Atlantic City Closing
In 2009, Trump ended his association for the most part with Atlantic City, aside from licensing his name to be used with some of the casinos. The name licensing deal was dropped when Icahn purchased the company in February 2016.
Sands Casino Atlantic City Demolition Corporation
Icahn has been asking for over $5m worth of redevelopment tax payments to offset the demolition cost. These payments were made by the Trump Plaza when it had been in operation.