How Much Did The Revel Casino Cost To Build
Revel Casino Hotel. This July 23, 2014, photo shows Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. The casino cost $2.4 billion to build and never turned a profit. 2 after just over two. Revel Casino, which cost $2.4 billion to build, opened in 2012 and closed on Sept.
Revel Atlantic City, commonly referred to as Revel, was an entertainment resort, hotel, casino, and spa located on 20 acres of beachfront property in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Opened to the public in April of 2012, the resort claimed bankruptcy only 10 months later and failed to find a buyer in bankruptcy court, resulting in the closure of Revel that will take place next month. The Revel was Atlantic City’s newest and largest casino with over 3,000 employees. A $2.4 billion resort, the Revel never managed to turn a profit in the city’s struggling casino industry–the Showboat will be closing later this month and Trump Plaza is planned to close next month as well. Read on to find out five reasons why the Revel failed.
5. The Principle Owner Walked Away from its Investment
Unfortunately, the Revel fell into a slew of financial crises from the very beginning. In 2010, global financial company Morgan Stanley, which owned 90 percent of Revel Entertainment Group, decided to discontinue construction and walk away from its $932 million investment, leaving the state of New Jersey to invest in the stalled project in exchange for 20 percent of the revenues.
4. The Revel is Enormous
Located on over 20 acres of beachfront property in Atlantic City, it’s safe to say the Revel’s property taxes were in no way cheap. Adding to that the cost of the building’s construction as well as its vast size and peculiar configuration–patrons had to ride a steep escalator from the lobby to get to the casino and the 57-story hotel–it must have been difficult to turn a profit.
3. Surrounding Competition
Atlantic City, New Jersey used to be the go-to place for gambling and high-rolling entertainment. But due to recent surrounding competition from other east coast markets, the “Las Vegas of the East” is suffering. The city has now slipped to third place behind Pennsylvania, the state which set off the town’s revenue and employment plunge with the opening of its first casino in 2006.
2. Failing to Appeal to the Right Age Group
In the beginning, Revel did a sufficient job of attracting a younger generation of visitors to its popular nightclub–called HQ–and beach club. But these young visitors weren’t really traveling to Atlantic City to play blackjack and feed the slot machines. With two nightclubs, two entertainment venues, and 13 restaurants, the Revel attracted visitors but not any steady profits.
1. The Revel Simply Failed to Pay Back What it Owed
Over the course of two unprofitable years, the Revel simply borrowed more money than it could pay back. In 2012, after a loss of over $70 million, Revel asked lenders for a $100 million credit cushion. In November of that year, Atlantic City officials noted that Revel owed $12 million in unpaid property taxes and $51 million to contractors. One month after that, Revel stated that they received another $150 million in loans and after another credit downgrading, Revel filed for bankruptcy.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Developer Glen Straub said on Tuesday that he plans to reopen the shuttered Revel resort with a casino, although a smaller one than what was there before.
Straub, who owns the site, told The Associated Press he has made up his mind to offer casino gambling at the resort, ending a long period of uncertainty about its future.
'We'll have a casino that's about 50 percent of what was there,' he said.
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He gave no timetable for the opening of a casino, which he indicated would come after other plans that are already underway for the resort. Straub said he is moving forward first with plans for a water park at the resort, which could start construction in late May. Hotel rooms could be open by June, he said.
The Florida developer's application for a state casino license is incomplete, and it appears unlikely a casino could open at Revel this summer, given the lengthy investigation state gambling regulators would be required to undertake.
How Much Did It Cost To Build Revel Casino
Straub said he plans to hire an operator to run the casino, which would include Asian gambling attractions.
Revel had high hopes of reinvigorating Atlantic City's struggling casino market when it opened April 2, 2012. But it never caught on with gamblers, filed for bankruptcy twice and shut down on Sept. 2, 2014. It was one of four Atlantic City casinos to go out of business that year.
How Much Did The Revel Casino Cost To Build A
It cost $2.4 billion to build, but Straub bought it for $82 million from bankruptcy court.
If Straub succeeds in reopening Revel with a casino, it would become the city's 9th casino. Its next-door neighbor, the former Showboat Casino Hotel, was bought last week by Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein, who has yet to decide whether to reopen it as a casino or as a non-gambling attraction.
Taken together, the two developments could represent some hope for growth in the Atlantic City casino market, even as the area braces for losses from two new casinos being proposed for the northern part of the state. A bill is pending in the state Legislature for a November referendum in which voters would be asked whether to approve the new casinos.
Atlantic City's eight surviving casinos have begun to stabilize their finances with less competition, and it remains to be seen how a reopened Revel or Showboat might affect that tenuous balance.
Straub has also said the new casino won't be named Revel, but he has yet to decide on a new moniker.
He cleared away a major obstacle to its reopening last fall when he decided to buy the power plant that was at the heart of months of litigation that was preventing the complex from being occupied again.