Pinnacle is finally attempting to put their attempt at an Atlantic City property in their past. Pinnacle put the land next to Bally’s up for sale last week.
The casino operator will formally put 19.5 acres of land on sale this week and it will likely sell at more than a 70% discount to its $340 million acquisition price, says Tom Kirschbraun, a broker at Jones Lang LaSalle who is representing Pinnacle. “The decision is to get this property off the books,” said Mr. Kirschbraun, anticipating that other casino operators, foreign investors and hedge funds would be attracted to the land.
This is a lot of land and a great location. I’m not sure that I would bet on business in Atlantic City ever getting back to its peak 5 years ago, but if I can see an investor with a surplus of cash laying around purchasing the property as an investment. It could be a high risk – high reward scenario.
I’m back home after about 10 days on the road. In that time I lost a travel buddy for my trip to Las Vegas. Along with a friend, I lost my comp rooms at Paris. I still have rooms on hold at Palazzo and I’ll take a look at my offers when Planet Hollywood becomes part of Total Rewards, so I’m not really sweating it.
Even though I was away, I was still able to get a handful of blogs up. Lots of east coast action, which is always fun. Enjoy the week that was.
What would you prefer instead of a casino – a pile of dirt or a parking lot? A month ago Pinnacle announced there were not going to build a casino on the land where Sands used to stand. There has been a pile of dirt sitting on the land for a couple of years now. While they prepare to sale the property Pinnacle is considering cleaning up the property.
Pinnacle would pave the site to create a temporary parking lot serving the downtown business district and Boardwalk attractions. Plans also include decorative lighting, landscaping and new sidewalks to replace those torn out by Pinnacle on Indiana and Kentucky avenues and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The chain-link fence surrounding the property would also be removed, Mason said.
This won’t “clean up” Atlantic City, but anything that can be done to get this land to change hands quicker is another step towards a new casino. Nothing will happen quickly, but this could only be a good thing.
I was doing a little reading this morning and found something interesting at the bottom of another gloomy article about Atlantic City. The beginning of the article touches on Pinnacle and MGM Mirage leaving Atlantic City. Towards the end the article touches on a note that may have been forgotten that gives the market a glimmer of hope.
..at last spring’s East Coast gaming conference, N.J. State Sen. Jim Whelan (D., Atlantic) floated the idea of modifying state regulations requiring investors to build casinos with at least 500 hotel rooms.
I said glimmer…
Perhaps allowing smaller hotels will give investors reason to look at building in Atlantic City. I’ve liked this idea for a while, as this was touched on last year. I know that if the Chelsea Hotel had a small casino I would frequent it more than I do now.
This idea has been on the table for almost a year with no movement, so I don’t expect movement any time soon. If a company really want to build, I can’t imagine the government saying no. I have to assume that there aren’t any real prospects, no matter what the press reports.
I’m fully converted to my macbook and loving it. I know I’m not using it to it’s fullest ability, but I’ve been enjoying it. This week I decided to write up a review for the movie “Tyson” and enjoyed doing it. I’ll do some more of these in the future when I watch movies that involve gambling, casinos and sports. Now for the week that was, excluding the Super Bowl.
