Trump Plaza Could Be Closed for 10 Years
Trump Plaza in November 2014, after it had closed. (Photo: Dan McQuade)
Trump Plaza was the last casino to close in Atlantic City’s tumultuous 2014, shutting down on September 16th after 30 years in business. Now, it may not re-open for another decade.
As reported by the Associated Press, Trump Entertainment Resorts is seeking a deed restriction on the property that would prohibit it from being used as a casino for a decade.
Trump Entertainment Resorts made the move due to a bill that just passed the New Jersey Senate last week. The bill, which has already passed the assembly, would replace property taxes them with a payment-in-lieu of taxes of $120 million for all A.C. casinos. Casinos would not be able to appeal. It applies to any building that operated as a casino for at least part of 2014, which includes Trump Plaza. “The Plaza could be required to make mandatory payments under the PILOT program notwithstanding the fact that it generates no revenue and its hotel rooms are closed,” Trump Entertainment Resorts wrote in a bankruptcy court filing.
The filing, per the AP, says that Showboat was kept out of the PILOT program with a similar deed restriction. (Yes, the same Showboat casino that also has a legal covenant with Trump Entertainment Resorts restricting it for use as a casino. Atlantic City is confusing.)
Trump Plaza was built as a joint venture in the early 1980s by Trump and Holiday Inn, which owned Harrah’s at the time. Originally called Harrah’s at Trump Plaza, two sides almost immediately got into legal wrangling over the name. (Five months in, the Harrah’s name was dropped.)
In April 1985, Trump bought Hilton’s marina hotel after the company was denied a gaming license. Harrah’s sued its partner in Trump Plaza after it opened Trump’s Castle casino in the former Hilton hotel. Trump said Harrah’s and Holiday Inn were incompetent stewards of his boardwalk casino. “I gave them a Lamborghini, and they didn’t know how to turn on the key,” he said.
Trump eventually bought out Holiday Inn’s share in Trump Plaza, making him the first to own more than one casino in Atlantic City. The casino had a bit of glamour in the 1980s, as it was connected with Convention Hall — either Trump Plaza or what is now called Boardwalk Hall hosted nine Mike Tyson fights in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1990, high roller Akio Kashiwagi famously gambled $200,000 a hand at baccarat at Trump Plaza. He took Trump for $6.4 million in February, but lost $10 million in a marathon week of play in May. Later, he was killed while still owing the casino millions. In Temples of Chance, a book about the legalization of gambling in Atlantic City, former Inquirer writer David Johnston says Trump lost about $1 million on the whole deal.
Donald Trump left Trump Entertainment Resorts shortly before its third bankruptcy in 2009. He retained a percentage of the company in exchange for the use of his name, and last year sued to get his name removed from Trump Plaza and Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. His name has since been removed from Trump Plaza.
Trump Plaza was sold for $20 million in 2013 to a group of California investors, but mortgage-holder Carl Icahn torpedoed the deal.
Paul Steelman, a casino architect who is partnering with Bart Blatstein on The Playground, said last year that Trump Plaza should be demolished. There has been talk of expanding The Walk, Atlantic City’s outdoor outlet mall, to the space formerly occupied by Trump Plaza (if it were to be demolished). A new Bass Pro Shops now sits across the street from Trump Plaza’s hulking garage.