Long before the construction of Harrah’s, Borgata and the Golden Nugget, that part of Atlantic City was only a marina. Specifically, it was the Frank S. Farley State Marina, a joint venture between the state of New Jersey and Atlantic City, built in the late 1950s to promote recreational boating at the Jersey Shore.
Atlantic City’s own Frank “Hap” Farley was a Republican state senator when he initiated legislation to create the Atlantic City State Marina, and the now-thriving marina district. Farley served 34 years in the New Jersey Legislature from 1938 to 1972, including two years as an assemblyman and a stint as senate president. He was described by The New York Times in 1977 as “probably the most powerful legislator in New Jersey history.” He was powerful, he was influential and he was a visionary.
In addition to coming up with the idea for the marina, he was also instrumental in the creation of the Garden State Parkway, the Atlantic City Expressway and the Atlantic City Race Course. He helped push through the Cape May Lewes Ferry, Stockton College, the Atlantic County Improvement Authority, and the Atlantic City Luxury Tax (funding beach and boardwalk repairs).
Farley legislation created the state Mosquito Control Commission, shore protection funding, fisheries protection, tax relief for veterans and seniors, and the predecessor to the Hughes Technical Center known as National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center (NAFEC).
There’s no telling what he would have thought of today’s marina district. What we do know is that in the 1970s, he went on record opposing legalized gambling in his hometown, only to become a gaming supporter in his final year as a state senator.
Not long after Farley’s passing in 1977 at the age of 75, a company co-owned by Holiday Inns, then the new owners of the Harrah’s Corporation, and an outfit called the LM Waters Company, looked seriously at the gaming properties on the Boardwalk.
They were well aware that by 1980, Resorts, Caesars, Bally’s Park Place, the Brighton (later the Sands) and the Golden Nugget would all be operating on the Boardwalk. The companies also knew that three more hotel/casinos – the Tropicana, Playboy (later the Atlantis) and Claridge – would be opening on the Boardwalk the following year.
With all of that in mind, and the belief that the Boardwalk would be saturated with casinos, Holiday Inns and LM Waters decided to build a hotel/casino in the “virgin territory” of the marina district. It was to be called Holiday Inn Marina Casino.
It opened as Harrah’s Marina Hotel Casino on Nov. 22, 1980. Featuring, among many other things, a 506-room Coastal Tower, and a 46-story Waterfront Tower, it quickly became the top-grossing hotel/casino in Atlantic City.
The success of Harrah’s was not lost on Donald Trump, who saw the marina district as gold. The hotel/casino known as Trump’s Castle opened in 1985. Later renamed Trump Marina in 1997, it was quite successful for a time, though financial problems facilitated the sale of Trump Marina in 2011 to Landry’s, Inc., an outfit with a vast amount of experience in casinos, hotels and hospitality.
Given that by 2011 the Boardwalk’s Golden Nugget was no longer called the Golden Nugget, (it had just become the ill-fated Atlantic Club), and that Landry’s owned several other hotel/casinos across the country with the Golden Nugget name, Trump Marina was renamed the Golden Nugget. Other than necessary expansions at Harrah’s and the Nugget, not much happened through the years at the marina in the way of new hotel/casino construction until 1999 when ground was broken on the Borgata, an MGM Mirage/Boyd Gaming joint venture.
Also key to the district’s story is the Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector, a bridge/tunnel Atlantic City Expressway exit leading right into the marina district. Opposition lawsuits from Trump, residents, and environmentalists, coupled with engineering complications delayed the connector, but the 2.5-mile project was finally completed in 2001.
Borgata opened two years later, revealing something that was elegant in every way, and unlike anything Atlantic City had experienced on such a grand scale. The main tower, with a façade of reflective gold glass, is the third tallest building in the city and can be seen from virtually everywhere.
The idea of elegance at the Jersey Shore must have struck a chord. Borgata was a success from the outset, leading to a new wing and general expansion in 2006, and the opening of a second hotel, The Water Club, in 2008. Borgata grew to become the largest hotel in New Jersey with almost 2,800 rooms, and a value estimated at more than $1 billion.
Today Borgata remains, along with Ocean Casino Resort and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, one of the top-grossing hotel/casinos in Atlantic City. And yes, the Frank S. Farley State Marina continues to thrive with more than 600 slips, and dockage available for vessels up to 300 feet long.
The senator would have been proud.
Bruce Klauber is the author of four books, an award-winning music journalist, concert and record producer and publicist, producer of the Warner Brothers and Hudson Music “Jazz Legends” film series, and performs both as a drummer and vocalist.
