ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (CelebrityAccess) — Revel, the lavish, shuttered Atlantic City casino that became a symbol of the city’s gaming decline when it closed in 2014, has been sold to a Colorado real estate developer for $200 million, according to published reports.
According to the Atlantic City Press, AC Ocean Walk LLC, the property’s new owners, plan to recast the former Revel as the Ocean Resort Casino and re-open it later this summer. AC Ocean Walk is controlled by Bruce Deifik, founder, and CEO of Integrated Properties, Inc, which owns and operates 103 commercial properties across the U.S., including the Lucky Lucy Casino in Las Vegas, according to its website.
If and when the former Revel property re-opens, it will join Hard Rock Hotel and Casino which occupies the site of the former Trump Taj Mahal as revived casinos in Atlantic City.
“The opening of both the Hard Rock and Ocean Resort casinos, in 2018, is both good and bad news for the local gaming industry,” said Steve Norton, an industry consultant told the Asbury Park Press. “The expected growth of even one casino would be hard for Atlantic City to absorb without negatively impacting the seven remaining casinos.”
The Revel, which cost a reported $2.4bn to build, opened its doors in 2012 and was the first new casino property to open in the city since the Borgata opened its doors in 2003. However, the Revel faced immediate financial challenges amid a rapidly changing casino gaming market and closed just two years later in 2014 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Following its closure, the property was bought in bankruptcy court by Florida real estate developer Glenn Straub for $82 million, but his plans for the property never came to fruition, with Straub citing the New Jersey’s “unfriendly business climate” to the A.C. Press.
