Revel Sold, Won’t Become a University for Geniuses

The dream of a university for geniuses at the failed Revel casino is gone.

At auction this morning, Brookfield Asset Management purchased Revel with a bid of $110 million — besting Florida developer Glenn Straub’s $95 million bid for the property. Brookfield, based in Toronto, describes itself by saying it focuses on “owning and operating assets with a focus on property, renewable energy, infrastructure and private equity.”

Brookfield, which manages almost $200 billion in assets, owns the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas and the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas. It plans to run Revel as a casino.

Straub earlier said he was going to build a second tower and put a university at the Revel site. (He also talked of blowing up the building if his plan failed.)

On Monday, Straub said he’d challenge the auction results if he lost — due to what he says was a lack of transparency. But don’t feel too bad for him: Because he lost the auction, Straub gets a $3 million breakup fee.

[NBC News]