Florida Developer Offers $90 Million for Revel

Photo | Dan McQuade

The Wall Streeet Journal reports that Florida developer Glenn Straub is offering $90 million in cash to buy the shuttered Revel Casino.

It’s unclear, the paper said, whether he would operate the Revel as a casino. And a re-opening, Straub said, might come in stages:

Reached on Wednesday, Mr. Straub said the all-cash bid represents “an opportunity to turn things around.”

“That’s what they need right now — a new direction,” he said. “Give us our six months, and we’ll actually physically be open. In two years, we’ll be 100% open.”

Talking to USA Today, however, Straub sounded a note of disdain for casino gambling:

Refusing to say what his specific plans are for the property — it’s only 2 years old — Straub in an interview lamented the notion that, “When everybody thinks of Atlantic City, they think of casinos.”

He not only dislikes the idea of Atlantic City as a casino town but says he would be bothered by the idea of his family profiting from an enterprise built around gambling.

“We feel the city needs what we do – we are like doctors who turn around sick patients. We turn around big properties.”

Atlantic City has had three of its 12 casinos close this year, with two more slated to shut.