By Bruce Klauber
Atlantic City has had its share of comeback stories over the years. The Million Dollar Pier and the Steel Pier were almost destroyed several times by fires and hurricanes, but they were rebuilt and have continued operating for years. The venue once known as the Ocean One Mall has experienced several failed permutations, but is now successfully operating as ACX1 Studios, a film production and entertainment facility.
The most spectacular boardwalk comeback saga of all time is the opening, and unparalleled success of the Ocean Casino Resort, once the site of the Boardwalk’s most dramatic failure, Revel Hotel and Casino.
In retrospect, Revel Casino Hotel was doomed from the start, or as The Architect’s Newspaper described the situation, “Atlantic City’s Revel Casino Hotel was a shining example of a totally misguided and inappropriate concept, built at the wrong time and in the wrong place, that actually became reality, however briefly. It cost $2.4 billion to build and it lasted for just about two and one-half years.”
Revel’s issues were clear from the beginning. It was a poorly designed behemoth which was geared toward an upscale market that simply didn’t exist in Atlantic City. When the hotel/casino opened, Revel CEO Kevin DeSanctis commented, “It’s more of an urban development plan than a typical casino plan. I am really hoping that we are successful.” It was anything but and lasted from April 12, 2012 to Sept. 1, 2014.
Among the reasons for its failure was that visitors had to ride a steep escalator from the lobby to get to the casino, the astounding operating costs, and the fact that everything about it, from restaurants and retail stores, to the actual gambling floor, was geared to an ultra-upscale market that never existed in Atlantic City.
It arrived on the scene amid a general downturn in casino business at the time – The Showboat, Trump Plaza, and Atlantic Club all closed at about the same time the Revel did.
Alan R. Woinski, CEO of the Gaming USA Corporation, pulled no punches when asked about the Revel’s future. “The only solution to Revel’s problems is to ‘completely knock the thing down and redo it.’”
It’s incredible that Revel was actually built at all.
Plans for a 3,800-room hotel and casino, the first new casino in the city since the Borgota’s opening in 2003, were filed in September of 2007. Tragically, less than a year later, three Revel executives were killed in a plane crash in Minnesota. In April of 2010, investor Morgan Stanley decided to pull out and declare a $932 million loss.
But there were those who still believed that Revel had a future and a chance in Atlantic City. In February of 2011, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced that Revel managed to obtain additional financing. It’s hard to believe now, but Christie signed a bill that included the creation of a New Jersey-supervised tourism district, as well as $261 million in financing that would kick in if the Revel could demonstrate that it could make a profit.
Sadly, Revel never did turn a profit, but construction still continued in 2011 on a downsized hotel/casino, with the number of rooms reduced to 1,100 from 3,800. On March 26, 2012, the facility was granted a casino license and on April 12, it opened for business.
Business was lousy from the start, and later that year, the financial situation was so dire that new financing had to be secured in February of 2013, and again in June of 2014. It just wasn’t enough and on Sept. 1, 2014, the hotel closed. The next day, the casino closed. I was there on Aug. 31. It was a ghost town. Even the curiosity-seekers stayed away.
There was nothing to do after the closing except to find a buyer. Florida developer Glenn Straub was the first to step forward, offering $90 million. Then, a Toronto-based firm called Brookfield Asset Management upped the bid to $110 million. Then Brookfield pulled out and Straub again stepped forward and finally reached an agreement to purchase it for $82 million on April 7, 2015.
It was like a soap opera. Straub floated all kinds of grandiose plans. A water park, a rope climbing course, an e-sports lounge, an equestrian facility, a windsurfing center, three movie theaters, a heliport, and a bicycle endurance course were all proposed at various times.
The media reported all of Straub’s far-fetched plans with glee while he fought almost continuously with the Casino Control Commission and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority about just what needed to be done to reopen. Plans for a reopening, under the name of “TEN” were announced often, but nothing ever happened and Revel never opened or operated under Straub’s ownership.
Finally he sold the casino, the power plant and two other hotel/casino-related leases to a Colorado developer with some hotel/casino experience in Las Vegas named Bruce Deifik. In the end, Glenn Straub was the real winner. He paid $82 million for a venue that cost $2.4 billion to build, and ended up selling it for $229 million. The official sale was announced in January of 2018, and Ocean Resort Casino opened on June 27, 2018.
A year later, Deifik sold it to a New York-based hedge fund called Luxor Capital Group, an outfit that actually helped Deifik with financing for the original purchase. Luxor announced that it would invest $70 million to upgrade the hotel and casino.
A shift in direction was announced. Initial changes and upgrades included the launching of sports betting and an online casino, a 7,450-square-foot, high-limit slots area, a new sports bar, new restaurants, completion of 460 new rooms that were previously started but never finished, and other guest-friendly and competitively priced improvements.
Ocean was a success almost from the start.
According to PlayNJ.com, “In the winter of 2019, if any New Jersey sports book had tried to offer odds on the Atlantic City casino hotel then known as Ocean Resort Casino making it through another summer, no gambler in their right mind would have taken the bet. Fast forward to the end of summer, 2023, and the property now called Ocean Casino Resort is one of the city’s best performers. In fact, an argument can be made that Ocean’s rise to the upper echelon of the Atlantic City casino market is the most remarkable turnaround of any gambling parlor in history. Through the first half of 2023, Ocean is the second-most profitable operator in the city and the third-highest revenue-generating casino in town.”
Miracles can and do happen here.
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.
2 Responses
What the author didn’t include in his story is that the vast size and space of the casino was a turn off in the beginning and then became a huge advantage during the pandemic when everyone was concerned about social distancing.
If Miracle’s Happy what about the Money Chris Christy took from the State Police Police and the Teachers Pension Fund to help the Revel Casino and when it Sold he got the MONEY back and I believe Christy never put it back in the State Police and Teacher Pension Fund I like to know were the Money went TOO!!!