Morning Headlines: Was Revel’s Design to Blame for Its Failure (VIDEO)

Looking back at its two-year life (and the process leading up to it), it’s easy to see where things may have started to go downhill for the Revel Casino Hotel. But could one of the falling dominos that factored in its demise have been its design?

The Architect’s Newspaper recently published a piece pondering this question, and referred back to a New York Times article that pointed out Revel’s design issue last week:

But in terms of Revel, specifically, its design may have been its fatal flaw. “The enormous cost of the property, its vast size and its peculiar configuration—patrons had to ride a steep escalator from the lobby to get to the casino, the 57-story hotel and the restaurants—made it difficult to turn a profit,” reported the New York Times.

Indeed, this “peculiar configuration” did not go unnoticed by critics. In June, the Inquirer’s Harold Brubaker mentioned many felt Revel’s layout faults “include[d] a long distance between the casino floor and the hotel’s front desk, a casino floor that fails to engage gamblers, and vast empty spaces that make Revel expensive to heat and cool.”

One of said critics was Alan R. Woinski, chief executive of Gaming USA Corp., who happened to be interviewed by NPR just a few days ago, and had this to add about the shuttered resort:

“It’s a much more striking property – the problem is then, then you go inside, and that’s when things start to fall apart. I couldn’t find my way around there. There were empty spaces that tables or chairs or couches looked like they were just thrown there just to take up space. I think five minutes after I walked into the place, I said, I don’t give this place a year.”

So there was really not much hope for this place, was there?

Well, that makes watching the video below all the more of a downer. It’s from A/N’s visit to Revel two years ago where then CEO Kevin DeSanctis talks about its design, calling it “really more of an urban development, than a casino plan,” and his hopes for the success it would bring:

http://vimeo.com/46702862

• WAS THE REVEL CASINO’S DESIGN ITS FATAL FLAW? [Architect’s Newspaper]

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