The Atlantic Club

The Atlantic Club closed down along with its neighbouring casinos, Revel, Trump Plaza, and Showboat, in January of 2014. This was due to the sheer decrease in casino visitors to the Atlantic City since most people were going to casinos in their neighbouring states.

For most of us who are casino and gambling enthusiasts, The Atlantic Club was over. But an investment and construction firm in the city of New York seems to think otherwise after it bought the property from the real estate company that had owned the Club Casino Hotel for the last five years, TMJ Properties of Florida.

TMJ sold the Atlantic City Club Casino to Colosseo Atlantic City Inc., with the sale being completed last year in October. Near the end of the same month, the owner hired a New Jersey-based broker.

Making the Sale

Matt Bradley, who is one of the heads of developments for the real estate company TMJ, expressed his confidence in the casino's ability and plan, saying that:

"We have made every effort to find a buyer who could realize the potential of The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel. We are confident that with their extensive experience in construction and redevelopment of large properties, Colosseo is the right company for the job.”

The Future

As of now, no sale price has been provided, and a deed of transfer has yet to be recorded with the Atlantic County Clerk’s office. Though restoration of the casino to its former glory should be the ultimate plan, there is currently a deed restriction in place that prevents the property from running any operations as a casino. Colosseo’s Principal, Rocco Sebastiani, said

"We are looking forward to working in Atlantic City and restoring such a great property," adding that, "We're going to renovate the property and reopen it as an 800 room hotel room with new retail and new food and beverage offerings."

He also went on to add that he plans on operating the building and property as a non-casino hotel, though time will tell what the final plans are.

A Series of Bad Deals 

The sale of The Atlantic Club seems like a good deal now, especially considering some of the deals that were made public but didn't age that well, eventually falling apart.

The first of these includes the initial deal in 2015, when a Pennsylvania real estate company, Endeavor Property Group LLC, announced to the casino and the world its desire to buy the property. That's all it was apparently, a desire. The sale never went through.

The second that comes to mind is Stockton University, which wanted to use the club's parking lot as a parking space for its AC campus. Naturally, that deal never went through either, eventually falling apart.

A little more mainstream and serious than the first two deals, the R & R Development group sought to bring changes to the shutdown casino by proposing to build a water park called Dolphin Village. According to the group's plans, the Village would have around 300 hotel rooms accompanied by an indoor go-cart racing track. Unfortunately, as exciting as it sounds, no such water park was ever built.

The Atlantic Club also seems to have gone through an identity crisis quite a few times, with the casino struggling to stick to a particular name. In the beginning, the casino was launched under the name Golden Nugget online casino in 1980 by the former Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn. A particular memory for some people from that time might include Frank Sinatra starring in the Golden Nugget commercial. Seven years later, Wynn sold the property, and that is when it started taking on a series of different names after every few years.

After the sale, it was popularly known as Bally’s Grand & The Grand, between the years of 1987 and 1996. In 1996, it was renamed again to Atlantic City Hilton, or more commonly known as just Hilton. That name stuck around for an impressive span of 15 years, after which it was renamed ACH. ACH lasted for just a year after the name was changed again, a year later, to The Atlantic Club.

And now, if and when the property reopens, there are chances that the old name won’t be around anymore. If you are more into online gaming, check out the bonuses for New Jersey players.