Jolly Roger Motel Wildwood Crest

By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Press of A.C. Staff Writer | Wed., Sept. 1, 2010

WILDWOOD CREST — New hotel construction or existing hotels and motels that undergo renovations will have to meet new parking requirements under a new borough ordinance.

The regulations, approved this week by Borough Commission, require onsite parking at hotels and motels of 1.2 spaces for units as large as 650 square feet.

Deborah Rogers, land-use administrator, said Wednesday that the town’s old guidelines allowed for one space per unit of that size.

“We’re slightly increasing parking requirements because most people come down with more than one car,” Rogers said. “It’s basically one more space for every five units.”

The new ordinance, created at the recommendation of the borough’s Planning Board, also specifies that tandem space, meaning parking one behind the other, is not allowed for units as large as 650 square feet.

Motel units of between 651 to 799 square feet must have two spaces, but tandem parking is permitted for those units, Rogers said.

“Parking is at a premium at the shore,” Rogers said.

The ordinance also requires additional parking for restaurants with more than 60 seats of one space for every six additional seats. Gift shops do not add to the parking requirement.

Rogers said the new ordinance applies to construction or renovations, not existing buildings.

Also this week, Borough Commission approved the purchase of a school district property near the Public Works building near Washington and Newark avenues.

Borough Clerk Kevin Yecco said the school district said it no longer needed the land, which hosted tennis courts and soccer fields.

The borough will pay $195,000 for the parcel, and Yecco said the borough could sell off the front lots along Newark Avenue.

The borough is buying three parcels all together.

Resorts Casino Hotel, Atlantic City.

DONALD WITTKOWSKI Press of A.C.Staff Writer | Friday, Aug. 6, 2010

ATLANTIC CITY – A former top gaming executive who was unsuccessful in attempts to acquire the Trump and Tropicana casinos has emerged as a possible buyer for the financially ailing Resorts Atlantic City.

Confirming his interest in Atlantic City’s oldest casino, Dennis Gomes said he toured Resorts this week but stressed that he has no agreement to buy the Boardwalk property.

Related story: Lender wants to force Atlantic City’s Hilton casino into receivership

“I’m looking at it,” Gomes said in an interview. “I was all over the property, examining the place. But until we have a purchase agreement, I can’t say anything.”

In December, Resorts was taken over by a group of banks after it defaulted on its $360 million mortgage and faced possible foreclosure. Lenders led by Wells Fargo Bank now own the casino hotel and are trying to unload it.

TriMont Real Estate Advisors, an Atlanta company that has been working with the lenders, has the casino up for sale on its website. No price is listed. Eastdil Secured, a commercial real estate subsidiary of Wells Fargo, is helping with the sale. Officials with TriMont and Eastdil did not return messages seeking comment.

Gomes, who spent more than 30 years as a senior executive in the Las Vegas and Atlantic City gaming markets, has been on the prowl for a casino ever since he left Tropicana Casino and Resort in 2005 following a management shake-up. He fell short in attempts to buy the Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. casinos in 2007 and was part of a group that made a bid for Tropicana in 2008 before billionaire investor Carl Icahn eventually acquired the gaming hall in a bankruptcy auction.

“I love Atlantic City, and everybody knows I’ve been interested in coming back to the city,” said Gomes, who is now a gaming consultant. “I want to show what my love, passion and marketing promotions can do. All I can say is that I want to be back because I love it.”

Gomes said he remains optimistic about the city’s future, despite a four-year revenue slump caused by the economic meltdown and intense competition from casinos in neighboring states.

Gov. Chris Christie wants to revive the casinos by creating a state-controlled tourism district to oversee the gaming and entertainment zones. Even before the governor unveiled his plan last month, Mayor Lorenzo Langford began holding a series of summit-style meetings with community leaders to discuss ways to reduce blight and make the city safer. Gomes is a member of the mayor’s planning group.

“I love what the governor is doing. I love what the mayor has been doing with the city, too,” Gomes said. “I think the combination of what the governor and mayor are doing and what I can do will help bring the city back to what it was in the ’20s and ’30s.”

Resorts, formerly known as Haddon Hall, is a hotel that dates to Atlantic City’s tourist heyday in the 1930s. The hotel was transformed into the city’s first casino in 1978, but despite its rebirth as a gaming hall, the building’s aged physical condition has been an expensive headache for its succession of owners over the years.

Wall Street analysts believe Resorts’ future is bleak. They say Resorts, the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Trump Marina Hotel Casino could be casualties of the fragile economy and competition from casinos in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware.

“We believe that Atlantic City may experience the closing of two or more properties by year end 2011,” Andrew Zarnett, managing director of Deutsche Bank, warned in a recent research report. “The likely candidates that may shut down are Resorts, A.C. Hilton and possibly Trump Marina, as each of those properties continues to post negative operating income and lose market share every month.”

Lawrence Klatzkin, managing director of Chapdelaine Credit Partners, said Resorts is at “high risk” for shutting down if its finances do not improve.

Resorts warned in an April tax filing with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission that it has been suffering from “severe cash shortages” that could jeopardize its chances for survival while it searches for a buyer. Resorts posted an $18 million gross operating loss in 2009 and has seen its gaming revenue plummet nearly 17 percent through the first six months of this year.

Before the lenders took over, Resorts was owned by Colony Capital LLC, a private real estate investment company that bought the casino in 2001 for $140 million. Colony surrendered ownership when the lenders threatened to foreclose on the property.

Nicholas L. Ribis, Colony’s former partner in Resorts, agreed to manage the casino for the lenders while a buyer was sought. Ribis said shortly after the lenders took charge that he was interested in acquiring the casino. Ribis’ office said he was traveling Friday and was unavailable for comment.

TRENTON

The Atlantic City takeover removes virtually all local control from the gaming district, from police protection to garbage pickup. At the same time the state is finally throwing in the towel on state-backed harness racing, which lost nearly $10 million last year.

The plans — reviewed by The Star-Ledger — were outlined in a report by a special commission created by the governor in February and charged with the task of deciding how best to fix the state’s faltering casino and horse racing industries.

The governor’s office put an advisory this afternoon saying only that Christie will announce the findings of the commission Wednesday at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, and in Atlantic City, but provided no detail. A spokesman for the governor declined comment.

The recommendations, as outlined in the commission report, call for the most significant changes in New Jersey’s once lucrative entertainment, sports and gaming venues since casino gambling was approved and the opening of the Meadowlands in 1976.

Under the plan:

• Atlantic City’s entertainment and gaming districts would become an independent city within a city overseen by state government. That includes the casinos, the marina, beachfront and Boardwalk areas. Those parts of the city would all be put under the administration of a state authority directly answerable to governor.

• New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority would be all but disbanded, becoming simply a landlord for the facilities it now operates.

• The Meadowlands Racetrack could be sold for a token $1, or turned into an off-track wagering facility without live horse racing. The plan also recommends that the Izod Center arena be privatized or sold.

• In addition, the state would help re-finance the long-stalled Xanadu project in the Meadowlands, enabling a new developer to take control of the garish, high-visibility retail and entertainment complex alongside the New Jersey Turnpike that many consider an embarrassment.

• Financial aid to help complete Xanadu would be contingent on changing the building’s much-hated mutli-color exterior, and requiring that it be an entertainment complex, not simply another mall.

The recommendations were made by a seven-member commission headed by former sports authority chairman Jon F. Hanson, who ironically was one of the movers behind the expansion of the Meadowlands Sports Complex and the reach of the sports authority.

Previous coverage:

• Gov. Chris Christie plans review of N.J. sports, shows, gaming management

• Gov. Chris Christie to make sure N.J. sports authority stays afloat

• Gov. Christie creates oversight panel for struggling N.J. casino, sports industries

• N.J. Sports Authority seeks $30M state subsidy as losses mount

• N.J. Sports Authority audit is sought by lawmakers amid mounting debt

• N.J. Sports Authority faces $30M budget gap despite cuts to operations, payroll

• Sports Authority needs N.J. bailout funds to continue operations, state auditor says

• Star-Ledger Editorial: New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority’s time has passed. Let’s kill it.

Both Atlantic City casinos and the Meadowlands Racetrack have steadily been losing market share to out-of-state competition as gamblers are lured by places far closer to spend their money.

In recent years, Yonkers Raceway in New York added slot machines, becoming a “racino.” Foxwoods in Connecticut continues to attract players from New York and northern New Jersey. And just last week, casinos in eastern Pennsylvania began operating table games once exclusive to Atlantic City, including poker and blackjack.

Some legislators have long pushed to turn the Meadowlands — only about eight miles from Times Square and now served by a new rail line — into the new Atlantic City. There has been legislation introduced that would allow slots or video lottery terminals at the racetrack, as well as serious discussions about turning Xanadu, which was never competed, into a casino serving the metropolitan area.

But the Hanson report specifically rejects any expansion of gambling at the Meadowlands. The Atlantic City casinos and the 38,000 jobs they provide remain an economic engine for southeastern New Jersey, and the report argues that Atlantic City be given a chance to get better before consideration is given to gaming anywhere else in the state.

Left unsaid was that the only hope Christie had for getting Hanson’s recommendations enacted was to keep casino gambling in Atlantic City alone. Any move to put gambling in the Meadowlands would result in certain opposition from Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), who could unilaterally kill any of the legislation needed. Sweeney and the rest of the South Jersey contingent in the Legislature are vehemently opposed to gaming licenses being issued outside of Atlantic City.

Instead, the play is being made to keep Atlantic City a major destination resort and in fact expand its entertainment and amusement offerings. The report calls for the revival of the city’s convention business, which has gotten little promotional assistance. Criticizing a generation of underinvestment in non-gaming activities, it also suggests adding family type amusement rides on the boardwalk, and possibly the addition of a NASCAR track.

The report, though, was highly critical of Atlantic City’s municipal government. According to the report, developers, businesses and casino companies are now wary of investing there while visitors are reluctant to come because of a perception that it is not safe.

The authority would take control of security, planning and traffic in the district, essentially becoming a city within a city. Boardwalk Hall and the convention center would be taken over by the district, while the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority would be shuttered. Money from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, now shared throughout the state, would stay in Atlantic City.

The report also called for sweeping changes and updates in the state’s gaming regulations, mirroring them more closely on Nevada. Rules and laws need to be updated and eased based on changes in technology since the casino rules in New Jersey were first drafted a generation ago — before the explosion of computers and prior to the gaming industry being taken over by multi-national conglomerates based in far-flung locales.

The report calls for the near-dismantling of the sports authority, which currently operates Meadowlands Racetrack and the Izod Center, Monmouth Park Racetrack, the Atlantic City Convention Center, Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall and the Wildwood Convention Center.

Created by the Legislature in 1971, the authority is operating in the red this year, largely because of massive losses in horse racing, as well as funding lost with the closing of Giants Stadium. The old stadium had generated $20 million in income for the authority. Under terms of a deal with the Jets and Giants, however, the authority will see only $6.3 million in lease payments this season when the two football teams move to the privately operated New Meadowlands Stadium.

Under the plan proposed by the Hanson commission, the authority’s operations would be privatized through sale or lease, and the agency itself would become little more than a landlord. The Izod Center would remain open, but sold or leased through a bidding procedure, and operated by a private company.

The authority, which drew fire earlier this year after disclosures that it spent more than $1 million to secure seats in the new football stadium, will be required to sell its seat licenses by March of next year.

The report also recommends that the state offer the Meadowlands Racetrack to the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association for $1 a year, or simply eliminating racing there and turning the facility into an off-track wagering hall. A project to build another OTW facility in Bayonne would be delayed, pending a final decision on the Meadowlands.

Monmouth Park, which runs thoroughbred horse racing in Oceanport and expects to lose $10.9 million this year, would be leased out or sold as well.

Xanadu, the stalled retail and entertainment complex next to the Izod Center, would also be revived under the plan.

The $2 billion facility — which features an indoor ski slope, skydiving wind tunnels, hundreds of retail shops and restaurants, and was to be crowned with the country’s tallest Ferris wheel — had been slated to open in 2007, but ran into financing problems and sits unfinished amid questions over the long-term viability of the project. Billionaire real estate developer Steve Ross and his investment partners have been in discussions with the Christie administration for months about possibly taking over the project, but wanted state financing.

Under the proposals put on the table by Hanson’s commission, the state would either put up its own bonding or federal Recovery Zone Facilities bonds, charging the debt against future tax revenue. In return for the financing, state would expect to get an equity position in the project. Financing would be contingent on the Xanadu exterior being redesigned.

If the Xanadu project is not put back on track by year’s end, the report said the state should proceed with foreclosure.

Some of what the governor is calling for can be done through executive orders, but must of it will require approval of the state Legislature — a process that could take time.

By Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman/The Star-Ledger

Sea Isle City mayor Leonard Desiderio and Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi, will flip coins to determine which of their communities will receive sand first from a beach replenishment project that will reconstruct eroded beaches of both seashore towns. The project is contracted to run from the beginning of May through the end of June with both islands receiving sand. The specially made coins have logos of Avalon and Sea Isle on each side. Two coins will be use with each mayor flipping one coin. The first town to have both sides land face up is the winner and will get sand first. The coin flips will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday atop the Ocean Drive Bridge that connects both towns. Tuesday Apr. 20, 2010. (Dale Gerhard /Press of Atlantic City).

By BRIAN IANIERI, Press of A.C. Staff Writer | Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The mayors of Sea Isle City and Avalon will determine who gets new sand first by flipping coins today on the Townsends Inlet Bridge, neutral territory connecting the two barrier island municipalities.

The winning municipality will see its beaches replenished in May. The other will wait a month for new sand.

Mayors Leonard Desiderio of Sea Isle City and Martin Pagliughi of Avalon are using the friendly game of chance to promote their respective municipalites, which have competed for tourist dollars nearly every year since they were founded.

“This is the most anticipated thing to happen this winter,” Desiderio said. “It’s the Super Bowl of sand.”

Island Trophies in Wildwood specially made the two coins with Sea Isle City’s logo on one side and Avalon’s on the other. To eliminate a fluke victory, the winner’s logo must appear heads up on both coins, or the mayors will flip again.

Desiderio and Pagliughi will bring the coins to their respective churches for morning Mass today in case a higher power wishes for a fortuitous wind gust.

“The Las Vegas odds makers are going to be checking the weather,” Desiderio said.

Fate rarely determines such issues.

But the 50/50 odds seemed the fairest way for both mayors to settle the issue, which arose last year after the municipalities partnered on a $10.4 million project to stock 1.2 million cubic yards of sand on beaches decimated by fall and winter storms.

With no federal or state money earmarked, both tourism-reliant towns were desperate to rebuild beaches and protective dunes that in some cases have 10-foot-tall sand cliffs that drop straight to the tide line.

Illinois-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., which is finishing a beachfill project in Ocean City this month, said either Avalon or Sea Isle City could go first as long as their permits are in order at the time.

Work is expected to start in May.

The beachfill will suck sand from the floor of Townsends Inlet through gigantic tubes and pump it onto the shoreline, requiring several blocks of beaches to be closed temporarily.

For the municipality that goes first, the beaches will be stocked with sand when tourists start arriving.

All work for both municipalities must be finished by July 1, Avalon spokesman Scott Wahl said.

Competition is nothing new for these municipalities. The mayors play each other in bocce – an Italian form of horseshoes – each October. Sea Isle City, has won six years in a row, Desiderio said.

Sea Isle City will receive 700,000 cubic yards of fresh sand between 73rd and 94th streets at its southern end. Avalon will receive 500,000 cubic yards between Ninth and 26th streets at its northern end.

“The beaches took a monumental hit,” Wahl said. “It’s always safety before suntans.”

In Avalon, some northern-end beaches, including those around 12th and 13th streets, are blocked off by fences because of sharp cliffs and uncovered rocks.

“The beaches were just ravaged (this winter),” said Tom Sanders, 50, of Cape May Court House, who was surfing in the 51-degree water Tuesday afternoon in Avalon. “In 30 years, I’ve never seen this many storms so close together.”

Sanders suggested that instead of a coin flip, the municipalities should have had their beaches surveyed to determine whose was in the worst shape.

“None of us have seen anything like this,” said Ron Anzalone, 64, of Avalon, who also was surfing.

Meanwhile, at the 78th Street beach in Sea Isle City on Tuesday afternoon, Pagliughi and Desiderio practiced with a trial coin flip.

When Sea Isle City’s logo appeared heads up on both coins, Desiderio shouted, “We win. Yes!”

There was disagreement on whether the practice result was a sign or a jinx.

However, there was one thing both municipalities could agree on come the coin flip at 10 a.m. today at the apex of the Townsends Inlet Bridge.

“If it lands on its edge, Stone Harbor’s paying for the whole thing,” Avalon Business Administrator Andrew Bednarek joked.

Mortgage Foreclosure

By KEVIN POST, Press of A.C. Business Editor | Thursday, April 15, 2010 |

Southern New Jersey foreclosures in the first three months of 2009 were down significantly from the final quarter last year, but still up sharply from the first quarter a year ago.

Atlantic County’s 807 foreclosures was 31 percent fewer than the prior quarter, but 61 percent higher than the period a year before, according to data released today by RealtyTrac.

A similar pattern held in Cape May County, with 297 filings, down 35 percent for the quarter, up 22 percent from a year ago; Cumberland County, 271 filings, down 31 percent, still 23 percent higher than a year ago; and Ocean County, 1,270 filings, 28 percent lower for the quarter, 45 percent higher than the first quarter of 2009.

In the nation as a whole, foreclosures rose 7 percent in the first quarter and were 16 percent higher than the previous year.

James Saccacio, CEO of Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, said there was evidence the increases were in part the result of lenders catching up with a backlog from processing delays and foreclosure prevention programs.

For the 14th consecutive quarter, Nevada had the highest rate of foreclosures in the nation with one in every 33 homes subject to a filing. Arizona’s one in 49 ranked second and Florida’s one in 57 came third.

RealtyTrac ranked New Jersey 22nd, with a foreclosure rate of one in 226 homes.

California accounted for nearly a quarter of the nation’s foreclosures on its own.

Foreclosure rates were lower in southern New Jersey than the national rate of one in 138 homes, according to RealtyTrac.

In Atlantic County, the rate was one in 158; Cape May County, one in 346; Cumberland County, one in 206; and Ocean County, one in 216.

A Stone Harbor real estate firm was not responsible for inspecting a rental property or warning a family of potentially dangerous conditions that led a 72-year-old man to fall down steps and injure himself, the New Jersey State Supreme Court has ruled.

Summer rental homes change hands every Saturday along the shore — many of them handled by local Realtors for absentee owners. The Thursday ruling, which did not assess blame, was praised by the real estate industry, which has said it cannot function as building inspectors for the properties its members rent.

But an attorney for the Hackensack, Bergen County, man who was injured said this will not be the last time the state’s highest court will be asked to decide the issue.

The Supreme Court ruling was actually a 3-3 tie with one justice absent. But the deadlock upholds an earlier court ruling favorable to the real estate industry.

“It’s as close as it gets, but certainly I think it’s the right decision,” said Barry S. Goodman, an attorney with the New Jersey Association of Realtors.

The court record indicates that Columbia Reyes rented the Stone Harbor house from Harry and Holly Egners from August 23 through Sept. 6, 2003, for a summer vacation. She paid $4,050 with the real estate firm Prudential Fox getting a commission of $486.

Her father, Hermes, who was 72 at the time, fell when walking from a bedroom onto the back deck. He testified it was the first time during the vacation he went onto the deck and he thought the deck was at the same level as the interior floor.

There was actually a platform 7 inches below the sliding glass door followed by a drop of 6.5 inches from the platform to the deck, the ruling said. Reyes stumbled and then fell down the stairs leading to the backyard. He testified he instinctively grabbed for a handrail, which by code should have been on the stairway, but it was not there.

He spent the next five days in the hospital and his attorney, John J. Novak of Toms River, said Hermes suffered from the back injury until his death on March 23, 2009, although his death was not due to the injuries.

Novak argued the real estate agent should have inspected the rental home and warned the renters about “open, obvious and dangerous conditions” including the lack of a handrail on a back deck and a step that was not marked.

Novak said that with thousands of summer rentals at the shore, he expects his argument to eventually be won. He said Reyes got hurt on his ninth day in the home. He said this was a huge factor in the case. Novak argues that at some point, the real estate agent has liability but then it shifts to a tenant.

“The lasting impact will not be so lasting. Sooner or later, somebody will get hurt at a short-term summer rental from an obvious defect and if it occurs on day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 they may get something. We know on the ninth day they won’t get anything,” Novak said.

Novak brought previous case law into the argument, including a 1993 case in which a real estate agent was found liable for injuries suffered at an open house.

Novak argued a summer renter should at least be afforded the protections of prospective home buyers going to an open house.

“How could Columbia Reyes and her father possibly inspect the house?” Novak asked.

Michael T. Kearns, the attorney for Prudential Fox, said such inspections should be made by a building inspector.

“This is a licensed Realtor and not a license building inspector. A Realtor is not trained in the building code,” Kearns said.

The missing handrail is required by local construction code. Kearns said the Egners purchased the house several months earlier and it had been inspected by a building inspector and they were issued a certificate of occupancy.

Novak said the Egners put up a handrail after Reyes fell, and painted a white stripe on the step, which he contended was an admission that it was a liability.

While Stone Harbor is one of the more upscale towns on the shore, Goodman said commissions for a two-week rental are typically $50 to $75.

“If a Realtor is liable for every construction defect and potential problem, then it’s not worth it for the commissions they get,” Goodman said.

Novak counters that rentals are keeping some agencies afloat.

“If there’s not enough money, maybe they shouldn’t be involved with this,” Novak said.

Kearns, Novak and Goodman all agree the 3-3 decision does not really settle the issue. Each case has different facts and there will be more of them, although Goodman said that about 95 percent of such cases get settled out of court.

“The good thing is the law has not been extended, but it still applies to an open house,” Kearns said.

Goodman said if a similar accident happens “in the first 15 minutes” a renter is in the house, the justices could rule differently.

Kearns said losing the case would have stifled the shore rental industry and would surely have added to the cost of the business.

“It would have driven up insurance premiums and the price of rentals,” Kearns said.

Novak said there is still a pending lawsuit against the Egners, who have since demolished the house, and it will be a jury trial. This suit will not include Prudential Fox.

“The damages suffered by Mr. Reyes are worth so much. The case is still worth what it’s worth, but now the Egners stand alone. No money is lost,” Novak said.

ATLANTIC CITY — A new casino may rock Atlantic City out of its economic doldrums.

Hard Rock International, one of the best-known brands in the gaming and entertainment industry, announced tentative plans Tuesday to develop one of its signature music-themed casino hotels on the Boardwalk.

The company said it has formed a partnership with the New York-based investment group Och-Ziff Real Estate for a $300 million project at the foot of the city’s Route 40 entryway.

The gaming property would include a luxury hotel, upscale restaurants and entertainment attractions, a beachfront pool and a spa. The number of hotel rooms would be determined later.

But Hard Rock stressed that its project largely depends on approval of proposed state legislation that would allow for construction of four smaller, less expensive casinos in Atlantic City. The Florida-based company has been playing with the idea of building in Atlantic City for some time, but said the new legislation would allow it to develop a casino at a greatly reduced cost.

“We are intrigued by the newly proposed legislation, which makes entering the marketplace more manageable,” Hard Rock International Chairman Jim Allen said. “Despite current headwinds, Atlantic City remains the second-largest gaming market and would be an exciting location for a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.”

State Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, introduced legislation Monday that would lower the requirement for casino-hotel construction from the current minimum of 500 rooms to just 200. Whelan, a former Atlantic City mayor, will have to overcome objections from Republican opponents and some of the current casino operators to get the bill approved.

“I’ve talked to the leadership on both sides of the aisle and in both houses,” Whelan said, aiming for bipartisan support. “There are people who support it and some who have reservations about it. As we work through the process, we hope we can address any concerns.”

Whelan said he had been discussing the casino project with the Hard Rock group for months, but decided to introduce the legislation when the company’s plans grew serious.

“No one has gotten to the level of being where Hard Rock is,” Whelan said.

Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of the three Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. casinos, has denounced Whelan’s bill as a “ludicrous” idea that would cheapen Atlantic City’s image and undermine efforts to develop a more high-end tourism market.

Don Marrandino, president of the Bally’s, Caesars, Harrah’s Resort and Showboat casinos owned by Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., said his company will consider giving its support to the legislation if it is a catalyst for nongaming amenities that would enhance Atlantic City’s visitor base.

“If someone came up with some really cool stuff — like the exhibit of aquariums at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, or a shark tank or amusements or big concerts — then I think we would take a look at it,” Marrandino said. “But if they came in with just 200 hotel rooms and a casino, we wouldn’t be interested in it.”

Whelan’s legislation is part of efforts to revive Atlantic City’s gaming industry, now mired in a three-year slump caused by the fragile economy and competition from Pennsylvania’s slot parlors. His bill would lead to a new generation of cheaper, boutique-style casinos, making it much more affordable for developers to build.

Allen emphasized the importance of the legislation for Hard Rock’s project. He also said the company is attracted by New Jersey’s historically low casino tax rate and the potential gains for the Atlantic City market once the economy recovers.

“We really do believe in the market,” Allen said. “We believe there is a lot of upside.”

Hard Rock International, which operates 13 casino hotels and 130 cafes around the world, is one of the most recognized brands in the entertainment business. The company’s extensive collection of music memorabilia is displayed in its clubs and casinos. The Seminole Indian tribe in Florida owns the Hard Rock empire.

If built, Hard Rock’s Atlantic City casino would rise at the southern end of the Boardwalk, at the Albany Avenue terminus of the Route 40 corridor. Years ago, the property was the site of the ill-fated Dunes casino, which was torn down after the developer went bust during construction.

Hard Rock would operate the casino and the Och-Ziff investment group would finance it, Allen said. Och-Ziff is a private equity fund that has nearly $25 billion under its management. It owns the development site as part of an investment group that includes hotelier Curtis Bashaw. The Hard Rock casino would take the place of a $2 billion megaresort that Bashaw had once hoped to build, which was stopped cold by the recession and global credit crisis.

Bashaw has tentative plans for another casino project linked to the Whelan proposal. The legislation also raises the possibility of existing noncasino hotels being converted into boutique casinos. Bashaw is thinking of converting his posh Chelsea hotel, which overlooks the Boardwalk at Chelsea and Pacific avenues, into a casino hotel.

A view across Townsend Inlet looking toward the beach at 88th Street in Sea Isle City shows where extensive erosion has taken place. Photo by: Dale Gerhard

By BRIAN IANIERI Press of A.C. Staff Writer | Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2010

A coin flip may decide whether Sea Isle City or Avalon gets its upcoming beach replenishment first.

The neighboring municipalities joined together for a $10.4 million project to pump 1.2 million cubic yards of sand on beaches battered by erosion.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock’s work is expected to start in May.

The beachfill could continue into early summer, particularly if bad weather causes delays, Sea Isle City Administrator George Savastano said.

“It may be determined by the flip of the coin. Obviously both towns want to go first,” Savastano said. “It seems like the only fair way to go.”

The municipality that goes first is in a better position because work likely will have finished by the time vacationers start showing up.

Several blocks of beaches will have to be closed where sand pumping takes place, officials said.

The municipalities left the decision on where to start to the dredging company, which indicated it could start in either Avalon or Sea Isle City, Savastano said.

Avalon Business Administrator Andrew Bednarek said if there is no decision from the company, the mayors would likely flip a coin to pick.

Last year, Sea Isle City and Avalon announced plans to partner for a beachfill that will pump sand from Townsends Inlet — which divides the two municipalities — to build up their beaches, which are vital for tourism and storm protection, officials said.

“We understand we have to get this done,” Savastano said. “It’s needed from a shore-protection standpoint. And when the dredging contractor starts, he has to keep working until he’s done. It’s a big deal, but we understand.”

Dredging is among the most efficient ways to pump large amounts of sand on beaches, but work is very expensive. Both municipalities are splitting the nearly $2 million cost of mobilizing the dredge. They are each paying slightly more than $7 per cubic yard of sand, Savastano said.

Sea Isle City beach project is larger and will involve 700,000 cubic yards of sand between 73rd and 94th streets in the southern end of the city. Avalon’s includes 500,000 cubic yards between Ninth and 26th streets in its northern end.

“The most important thing is we’re both getting it done before summer,” Avalon spokesman Scott Wahl said. “We saw what we went through this winter. Who knows what’s coming in the spring?”

Meanwhile, Sea Isle City had hoped to expand its project to include other areas, but there may not be enough available sand in Townsends Inlet’s “borrow area” — the delineated section of the ocean floor from which a dredge can remove sand under state and federal regulations, Savastano said.

“Once we get a little bit further along in the next 30 days, we can re-evaluate and see if there’s potential to extend,” Savastano said.

Roy Wagner, Ocean City Councilman, and Charlie London show the outside of the Ocean City Lifesaving Station at 801 4th St. in Ocean City. Photo by: Anthony Smedile

By MARTIN DEANGELIS, Press of AC Staff Writer | Posted: Sunday, March 7, 2010

OCEAN CITY — Charlie London wants to put you in this house.

Or you. Or you.

Actually London, 51, the president of the Saving Our Station Coalition, would like to see just about anybody move into the house on the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue here, because this house isn’t just another house.

It’s the old Ocean City Lifesaving Station, which dates back to the 1880s — and which has been the subject of a series of court battles that started in the 1990s and has dragged on for a long decade since.

The station was built by the United States Lifesaving Service and then became U.S. Coast Guard property when those two agencies were merged. It was sold and became a private home in 1945 and has gone through a series of owners since, including ones who bought it in 1999, planning to demolish the building and replace it with three new duplex condos on the 130-by-100 foot corner lot.

That gave birth to the Saving Our Station Coalition, which started those court fights and tried several other plans for rescuing the building, including getting the city to buy the property for more than $3 million — a move voters rejected in a 2005 referendum.  There have also been proposals to move the building and to get the city to trade for it with an unused piece of city land, but so far, nothing has worked to guarantee that the building and its history won’t be destroyed.

In the latest court case, though, the owners agreed with the SOS Coalition and the city on a “preservation price” for the property of $887,500. But that agreement, helped along by a judge, came with a deadline: If there’s no buyer by May 14, the owners can get rid of the building.

And that pressure has turned London and other members of his coalition into committed — but no-commission — real-estate sellers of a sort. They’ve held two open houses already trying to lure the right buyers to the house, and they have two more open houses scheduled this month, on Saturday and then again March 27.

“At this point, we’re planning another two in April, and one more in May, if not two,” said London, 51, who helped lead a visitor on a weekend tour of the 135-year-old building and pointed out some of the details that its fans hope can attract a buyer who would want to live in a historic house.

They include wide-planked hardwood floors all through the home. There’s a working fireplace that dominates a front parlor, a sprawling, open kitchen with an island area topped by a butcher-block counter, four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms.

“The building is solid,” adds Kim Baker, a retired writer and editor who lives in Egg Harbor Township, and is the SOS Coalition’s historian. “I mean, it was built to last.”

They point to the 180-square-foot greenhouse as they walk by, mention the high ceilings and “a lot of closet space,” says London, strolling down a first-floor hallway lined with closets on one side. For more storage, there’s a detatched garage outside.

London lives in Ventnor and works at Atlantic City International Airport now, but he got involved in the lifesaving station when he lived right next door for a dozen or so years. He leads the way to the upstairs, where the master bedroom — which used to be the crew’s quarters — has a bathroom that’s so big, he sees it being turned into two bathrooms to make the master suite a little more attractive.  

Above it all, on the third floor there’s a cupola that the lifesaving crew used as its lookout — and that still has an ocean view, Baker and London promise, even if the windows are boarded up now.

“And this is considered beach-block,” Baker adds — although it is a full, long block to the Boardwalk and ocean, past many homes built on the beach after the lifesaving station went up in what was then a largely empty area of town.

The terms of the historic-preservation agreement say a prospective owner can do just about anything they want inside the house — including convert it into a duplex, the tour guides say. But they warn that buyers have to protect the “historic integrity” of the building, so they’d be strictly limited in what they can do to the outside of the home.

Ocean City Councilman Roy Wagner is still pushing to get the city to do a land-swap for the building and help convert it into a maritime museum, but he’ll be satisfied with any plan that will preserve the lifesaving station.

“The firstest with the mostest gets it,” Wagner said.

London isn’t giving up hope on public preservation plans, and he looks forward to a city meeting planned for this week that could help make that happen at the new price — which is less than a third of what the city planned to buy the place for in 2005.

“We’re going on both paths, full speed ahead,” he said.

So even though the house wasn’t scheduled to be open, when two visitors on a house-hunting mission in Ocean City went to the door on Saturday, London happily let them in and showed them around.

 Jim and Kristin Kline are from Sparta, in Sussex County, but they’ve visited Ocean City for years and they’ve always wondered how the lifesaving station was on the inside.

 “It looks like a great house,” Kristin said. “Lots of charm and character.”

Her husband agreed — to a point.

“It has the character,” he said, “but it needs work.”   

The people making the sales pitch understand that. But London argues that at the court-mandated, non-negotiable purchase price, even if it takes $200,000 worth of renovations, a beach-block house on an oversized lot for less than $1.1 million qualifies as a positive bargain in today’s Ocean City real-estate market.

Oh, and speaking of the size of the lot, near the end of the tour, London pointed out a feature of this property that could make the lifesaving station the dream property for almost anybody in Ocean City — or in any other traffic-clogged local shore town almost any summer day.

“Out back,” he said, leading the way, “you have probably 12 parking spaces.”

Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Estimated opening Spring 2011

By MICHAEL CLARK, Press of AC Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Unlikely forces will band together today to protest a $300 million tax-incentive plan that Revel Entertainment Group is relying on to open its $2.6 billion casino project in Atlantic City.

Steve Lonegan, a conservative gubernatorial candidate last year, and members of the powerful hotel and casino workers’ union UNITE-HERE are scheduled to protest in front of the Jersey City offices of Morgan Stanley, the financial services provider that owns the South Inlet site where Revel sits.

Lonegan said his conservative advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, hopes to educate taxpayers outside the southern New Jersey region about the proposed deal.

“New Jersey cannot afford this bailout mania,” he told The Press of Atlantic City on Tuesday. “As people learn more and more, I don’t know how people are going to tolerate this.”

The plan would save Revel about $300 million in state sales taxes over 20 years, which could go a long way to attracting potential financiers. Lonegan said his group also is opposed to a $50 million plan that would redirect future Atlantic City property-tax revenue to fund infrastructure improvements around the half-built casino.

The Revel project remains under slow construction as company officials work to secure financing, the prospects of which have spiraled since the collapse of the financial market in 2008. In January 2009, Revel officials laid off 400 construction workers and pushed back the project’s grand opening from 2010 to 2011.

Revel Chairman and CEO Kevin DeSanctis initially had little reaction to news of the protest Tuesday, simply saying, “they’re persistent.” But he soon added to that.

“If they have a problem, I wish they would speak to the legislation,” DeSanctis said, referring to the stimulus act passed in the summer that enables abatements to qualified applicants. “I don’t recall anyone coming out like this when the legislation was passed.”

DeSanctis and his company has faced stiff opposition from Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of UNITE-HERE. The union leader started a petition drive against Revel’s proposal, which required Atlantic City Council approval. The group has also lobbied state legislators unsuccessfully.

Lonegan, who credited McDevitt for organizing today’s rally, said state lawmakers are describing the proposal as “a done deal.”

McDevitt, who did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday, is also the first political opponent of the plan to change the target from Revel to Morgan Stanley, a clear attempt to capitalize on widespread outrage over the banking bailouts of 2008. Morgan Stanley received $10 billion from the federal government.

Morgan Stanley purchased the city land in 2006, but Revel filed the application and is lobbying to obtain tax breaks.

“Revel made the application, not Morgan Stanley,” DeSanctis said. “There’s just too much confusion out there. The point is being lost.”