The Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City was set to be auctioned off on Wednesday, but despite all relevant parties being in attendance, nothing happened. The auction will resume – or start – next Tuesday, September 30th.
Closed September 2nd, the Revel received a bid of $90 million on September 10th from real estate developer Glenn Straub. At the time, he told the Wall Street Journal that his offer was “an opportunity to turn things around.”
He added, “That’s what they need right now—a new direction. Give us our six months, and we’ll actually physically be open. In two years, we’ll be 100% open.”
On Tuesday, Straub’s attorney Stuart Moskovitz told The Press of Atlantic City that the Revel had received more bids, that it expected even more bids, and that it expected an auction to commence on Wednesday. Straub’s bid is the only one that has been made known to the public and is serving as a “stalking horse” bid, in that it has now set the market for the rest of the bids. Reuters has reported that other bids have come from another real estate developer and a “party involved with casino gaming outside New Jersey.”
But even though the bidders got together in the offices of the Revel’s attorneys in New York on Wednesday, all set to go, the auction did not take place. Instead, reports The Press, higher-ups from the Revel held closed-door meetings about offers even though Tuesday, the last day for bids, had come and gone. Straub was none too pleased about this, his attorney saying, “There are serious concerns about what’s taking place.”
Straub believes the Revel’s lawyers are just extending the auction until next week to rack up more billable hours. He even went so far as to say that he doesn’t even care if he wins, that he bid on the Revel because he had nothing better to do, and that he didn’t “need that monstrosity of a building.”
He may not need it, but he has some grand plans. Straub told The Press that he wants to build a second tower to house “geniuses” that will try to solve the world’s biggest problems, like nuclear waste disposal. He also wants a fleet of “high-speed catamarans” to shuttle people back and forth between Atlantic City and Manhattan, “super jumbo jets” to bring in whales from Saudi Arabia, and artificial ski mountains. Phew.
The Revel opened on April 2nd, 2012 and cost $2.4 billion to build. It was supposed to compete as a luxury property with the Borgata, but it never amounted to anything. After coming out of its first bankruptcy, it tried to re-imagine itself as a locals casino, even going so far as to allow smoking, but nothing worked. It became the third Atlantic City casino to close this year; the Trump Plaza soon followed and the Trump Taj Mahal may also close in November.
