By Bruce Klauber
Atlantic City’s original Golden Nugget was the Atlantic City Boardwalk’s crown jewel. Built by Las Vegas casino magnate Stephen Wynn and the infamous broker/investor Michael Milken at a cost of $140 million, the Nugget had the best of everything: The biggest name performers, best restaurants, nationally-known lounge entertainers, service, rooms and amenities.
Upon its opening in 1980, it was the Boardwalk’s second smallest hotel/casino with only 506 rooms, yet by 1983 it was Atlantic City’s top earner. Prior to the opening of the Borgata, the Nugget, and in its later incarnation as Bally’s Grand, was as close as one could get to the true, Las Vegas experience.
It was Bally’s Grand from 1987 to 1996 when it became the Hilton. Gradually the venue lost its luster and by 2009 it was in trouble. In 2012 it was sold again and the name was changed to the Atlantic Club. Marketing efforts focused on making the Club the spot for locals. It didn’t work and the Atlantic Club closed for good on Jan. 14, 2014.
That was 10 years ago, and the vacant, rusted, possibly dangerous and crumbling embarrassment of an eyesore still stands. If visitors enter Atlantic City via Albany Avenue, a very large and abandoned building is one of the first things on view. In the 10 years since the venue closed, plenty of plans have been floated for it. None have come to fruition thus far.
Upon its closing, Caesars Entertainment bought the physical property and the Tropicana purchased the gambling equipment. Not long after, Caesars sold it to a Florida development firm called TJM Properties. TJM hooked up with a Pennsylvania-based outfit called Endeavor Property Group.
EPG’s concept, which was actually approved by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, was to build an indoor/outdoor water park, with the casino space redeveloped for conventions and as an arcade. Again, nothing happened.
Next a company called the R&R Development Group stepped in. Again, the plan was a water park and family entertainment center, but R&R couldn’t obtain financing.
One of the more exciting possibilities happened in September of 2018 when Stockton University expressed interest in buying the property as a part of its expansion. Plans were to keep the parking garage but tear down the building and erect a new structure in its place. It was a great idea and Atlantic City residents and political powers-that-be agreed that it would be great for the city. Unfortunately, TJM didn’t like the deal and the plan fell through. A deal was finally made in 2019 with a company called Colosseo Atlantic City, Inc.
Colosseo’s Rocco Sebastiani has been doing a lot of talking since then and floating all manner of plans. To his credit, and the credit of Colosseo, the plans are impressive, thorough, and for the most part, realistic.
The plan, first detailed in February of 2023, was to turn the former Atlantic Club into a combination of luxury condominiums and a “branded,” high-end boutique hotel.
“So the project will be classified as a condo-tel, with condos on one side and a hotel on the other side,” Sebastiani told the online magazine, Play NJ, in 2023. “It’s going to take us two years to open.”
If that’s the timeline that’s troublesome, as it’s clear to anyone who has passed by the property that absolutely no work has been done on it, at least none can be seen from the outside. Sebastiani admitted in March that a 2025 opening won’t happen. He cites delays in obtaining permits from the Atlantic City construction office as one reason for the delay.
“As of January, we were in front of the construction board of appeals regarding our permit,” he told Play NJ. “The process has not been streamlined. The process is fighting to get a permit.”
Sebastiani obtained a construction permit from the city in September 2022 to begin recladding (removal and replacement of the building’s damaged façade). But Sebastiani said that, since March, he has been waiting for the city to approve one permit which he called a “condominium design permit for architecturals.”
Regarding other issues, the building has been approved for electric and plumbing subcodes pending payment, and the structural plans submitted earlier this month are “pending review,” according to city officials.
In addition, the Atlantic Club needs to update its fire technical form for devices to secure approval. As for the condo complex, city officials said the only applications received were related to HVAC units, and those plans were “rejected as insufficient considering the scope of the project.”
One issue that was only addressed briefly by Sebastiani is whether the structure’s deteriorating and somewhat dangerous current condition can actually be structurally rehabbed.
“We had the plan to go in and modernize the furniture and the fixtures,” he told Casino.org in April of 2023. “But when we got in there, the systems didn’t work. It was really, really bad.” Not only was the building’s façade falling onto the Boardwalk and streets below, the interior was severely damaged by water intrusion and years of neglect, he said.
The city acknowledges that it is an important issue, and is engaged in working toward a solution.
“The city shares your concerns with respect to this property,” Mayor Marty Small told me. “The façade permit has been issued, the electrical and plumbing permits have been approved, but not yet issued, and the building permit was submitted, but returned for correction.
“We stand ready to assist the private owners in any way we can to secure the necessary permits to proceed with work, but the city must also make sure we are following proper protocols in doing so during this process.”
The upside of all this is that it looks like a new and revamped Atlantic Club will eventually happen. If anyone doubts that miraculous things can happen on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, remember the case of the Revel Hotel and Casino.
Revel closed in 2014, the same year the Atlantic Club closed. It took four years, but the spectacular Ocean Casino Resort opened on the Revel site in 2018.
If the Revel saga had a happy ending, there’s no reason why the Atlantic Club can’t have one as well. It’s only a question of when.
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.
