Showboat will have a new owner

Published reports say Bart Blatstein will be the new owner of the Showboat

Here's a link I found to the situation.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150915_Developer_Blatstein_poised_to_buy_Showboat_from_Stockton.html

The funny thing I take from it is that Caesars has a clause in the sale terms that the property can NOT be used as a casino.

But Caesars has another agreement dating back to 1988 with it's neighboring property Trump Taj Mahal that say the property can ONLY be used as a casino. lol

I guess a judge will have to figure that one out. Common sense says the first agreement takes presidence, but common sense and the law often do not mesh. :/

Quote: kewlj

Here's a link I found to the situation.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150915_Developer_Blatstein_poised_to_buy_Showboat_from_Stockton.html

The funny thing I take from it is that Caesars has a clause in the sale terms that the property can NOT be used as a casino.

But Caesars has another agreement dating back to 1988 with it's neighboring property Trump Taj Mahal that say the property can ONLY be used as a casino. lol

I guess a judge will have to figure that one out. Common sense says the first agreement takes presidence, but common sense and the law often do not mesh. :/

Feeling lazy about finding the source, but I'm almost sure that someone who was buying the Showboat for a non-casino was denied the sale for that use, and the non-casino clause CET imposed when they closed it and put it up for sale was voided in favor of the older one. Think it was in one of the AC threads about 3 months ago.

Glad to see someone is buying it. Curious to see what happens. I think more hotels in AC is a good thing, however more casinos aren't needed. There is such a wonderful boardwalk and beach, that people that don't gamble or ones that have kids should be coming more often. I know that the hotels may be slow in the winter, but most hotels that I've been to in beach towns in the off season are quite slow.

Hopefully whoever buys it puts some money into it to upgrade it a bit. Like the new owners of the Claridge. I've never stayed there, but I read very few positives in the past, now that's all it seems you read.

Quote: pens4821

There is such a wonderful boardwalk and beach, that people that don't gamble or ones that have kids should be coming more often.

Have things changed in recent years? Back when I was playing AC 4-5 days a week (2004-2009), there was almost no beach traffic. There as almost no beach! A couple of the casinos, were opening private beaches and beach bars at the time, but really AC has no beach. At high tide the water came right up to the boardwalk.

Ac beach was such a contrast to some of the other Jersey shore beaches. Look at Wildwood, where it's about a mile walk to the water.

I haven't been back to AC since I left, but the boardwalk was very sad as well. Again, couldn't compare to other Jersey beach towns. There also was a lot of homeless living under the boardwalk (along with tons of stray cats). Several boardwalk fires that destroyed businesses were attributed to the homeless under the boardwalk.

Have things changed?

I've never been to Wildwood, but AC has a nice sized beach in my eyes. No, it's not nearly a mile, but there is plenty of room for there to be rows and rows of people (as there were Labor Day weekend-the beach was PACKED). I go to the Outer Banks a couple times a year too, and I think that AC has wider or comparable beaches than most places there. There are beach bars and such, but there is plenty of open beach. The water, that I have seen, never nears the boardwalk.

I also don't notice that many unsavory people on the boardwalk. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some. Mostly people asking for money, but I'm sure you get that anywhere. The boardwalk, to me, also feels safe. I never feel that I'm in an unsafe situation (although, I don't walk the boardwalk when it's the middle of the night and empty too).

The one thing that AC does have against it is off the boardwalk. It's quite run down, and just seems unsafe to me in general. I wouldn't want to walk the streets during the day, there would be no way in hell I'd be out in them at night. That's why another hotel on the boardwalk is great, because people don't have to walk to the next block to get to their hotels.

Here's an article with a good overview on what's happened with the Showboat to this point and why.

Correcting what I said above with a quote from the article to reflect that the legal status is still murky, not decided in favor of the older agreement:

Quote: cdcgamingreport:

Still to be unraveled are the competing deed restrictions. One, placed by Caesars Entertainment, prohibited the property from ever again being used as a casino. But there also was a 1988 legal covenant among the Showboat, the Trump Taj Mahal and Resorts casinos requiring the Showboat never be used for anything other than a casino.

After Trump Entertainment Resorts, which owns the Taj Mahal, refused to waive its rights under the 1988 covenant, Stockton tried to sell the property to Straub, who had recently bought the former Revel casino. That deal also fell through, leaving Stockton with a building it could not use and maintenance bills of $500,000 a month.

Quote: kewlj

Have things changed in recent years? Back when I was playing AC 4-5 days a week (2004-2009), there was almost no beach traffic. There as almost no beach! A couple of the casinos, were opening private beaches and beach bars at the time, but really AC has no beach. At high tide the water came right up to the boardwalk. Have things changed?

They did some major beach replenishment at the north end of Boardwalk. The waves used to reach the Boardwalk at the Taj, but the millions they spent to add sand...dunes and flat beach...seems to have worked. There has been a decent-sized beach for a few years now in front of Taj, Showboat & Revel.

Resorts built the massive Landshark Bar right out on their beach and it is still there with plenty of beach between it and the ocean.

The beach in front of Bally's has grown to Wildwood-like width...too far to walk in bare feet when the sand is hot. There are plans to put a permanent concert stage on the north side of the Pier, and a swimming pool complex on the south side.