New casino proposed at foot of Route 40 entryway
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Published: Saturday, April 19, 2008

GRAPHIC: Click for a larger view of the Proposed Atlantic Beach Resort graphic

ATLANTIC CITY - A casino development group that has been quiet about its plans wants to build a $1.5 billion to $2 billion megaresort highlighted by an array of nongaming attractions and the tallest building in Atlantic City's bulging skyline.
Dubbed the Atlantic Beach Resort & Casino, the complex would rise at the southern end of the Boardwalk, at the foot of the Route 40 entryway, on oceanfront property where the ill-fated Dunes Casino Hotel once stood.

The centerpiece would be a 2,000-room hotel tower soaring 832 feet high, easily making it the tallest building in the city, approaching the height of some of Manhattan's skyscrapers.

There would be 210,000 square feet of gaming space, bigger than any of the city's existing casino floors. Complementing the casino operations would be nearly 350,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment attractions and 150,000 square feet of convention space - all part of a Las Vegas-inspired trend to offer guests more to do than just gamble.

The developer is AC Gateway LLC, an investment group headed by Cape May hotel owner Curtis Bashaw and Wallace R. Barr, the former president and chief executive officer of Caesars Entertainment Inc. The group has been shunning publicity but finally broke its silence Friday after details of the project surfaced in a construction application with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

"What we're trying to do is a complementary project with everything that is happening in town," Bashaw said in an interview. "We think this is a very important site along the beach. When you add this project to what Revel is doing and what Pinnacle is doing, you're creating a nice rhythm on the Boardwalk."
Leading the way for Atlantic City's next generation of megacasinos, Revel Entertainment Group is building a $2 billion resort scheduled to open in late 2010 at the northern end of the Boardwalk next to Showboat Casino Hotel. Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. wants to develop a $1.5 billion to $2 billion gaming complex on the site of the old Sands Casino Hotel midway on the Boardwalk.

Across town in the Marina District, gaming giant MGM Resorts Inc. has proposed a colossal $4.5 billion to $5 billion project that would feature three hotel towers totaling 3,000 rooms and 280,000 square feet of casino space. MGM's tallest tower would top out at 800 feet, just shy of the 832 feet that Bashaw's group is discussing for its hotel.

Dismissing the idea of too much competition, Bashaw said he would welcome all of the casino projects that have been announced. He also said he doesn't fear the possibility of the 140-acre Bader Field site, just a few blocks away on the Route 40 corridor, being rezoned for casino development.

"I've always been a big believer that a rising tide lifts all boats," he said. "I think the developments on the drawing board are all going to come into the marketplace and take Atlantic City to the next step, including Bader."

Bashaw's group has assembled about 14 acres of land bordered by the Boardwalk, Ventnor Avenue, Lincoln Place and Hartford Avenue. Parts of Atlantic, Pacific, Trenton and Albany avenues also brush the development site.

Construction could start in 2009, but the timing depends on the global credit crisis finally calming down, Bashaw noted. Tight credit markets have all but dried up financing right now for major casino projects. Pinnacle disclosed in February that it would hold off on its casino until the credit crunch eases.

"The viability of a project is always dependent on a multitude of factors," Bashaw said. "We think the market in Atlantic City has a lot of promise. But first we have to get through the (regulatory approvals) that we are seeking and then we need the financial markets to be a little less choppy."

Bashaw has other projects that allow him to be patient with the casino. He heads another Atlantic City development group that is busy transforming the old Holiday Inn and Howard Johnson hotels into an upscale noncasino hotel, called The Chelsea. The 330-room hotel is scheduled to open around Memorial Day weekend.

The proposed casino site has been vacant for years. Part of it is where the hulking remains of the old Dunes Casino Hotel stood for five years before finally being torn down in 1991 after the project went bust.

Bashaw's casino group also owns the former Atlantic City High School site, now poised for redevelopment following the school's demolition in 1999. The former high school property is not zoned for gaming, so it would serve as the site of a 4,200-space parking garage for the Atlantic Beach Resort & Casino. Plans show that a second phase of the project would include a 500-room hotel built on top of the garage.

An intriguing aspect of the casino project includes the proposed relocation of the nearby Knife & Fork restaurant and the 86-year-old World War I monument that now sits in the middle of a traffic circle on Albany Avenue.

The development group has an option to buy the Knife & Fork in 2009. Designed in a Flemish-influenced architectural style and dating to 1912, the landmark restaurant would be moved from its perch at the odd-shaped intersection of Albany, Atlantic and Pacific avenues to vacant land a block away at Hartford and Pacific avenues, Bashaw said.

The monument would be relocated to the adjacent O'Donnell Memorial Park to accommodate the proposed widening of Albany Avenue to create an improved gateway to the new casino.

"We think both the monument and the Knife & Fork are icons that are worth preserving within the development," Bashaw said.

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