With the recent announcement that TEN (formerly Revel) is scheduled to open its doors in the first quarter of 2017, the Atlantic City resort has ramped up its hiring of new employees for low- and high-level positions.
Earlier this month, the New Jersey Business Journal announced TEN hired a trio of new execs:
- Frank Leone – vice president of casino operations
- Cindi LePine – vice president of hotel operations
- Vincent Turrano – vice president of food and beverage
The three new execs all worked at the Trump Taj Mahal before it closed in October.
One of the first projects Leone will work on is the casino’s gaming floor. A big knock against the Revel’s gaming floor was that it was confusing and disoriented guests. Casino cages were hard to find and, in general, navigation was a mess.
The New Jersey Business Journal said Leone will create “new sight lines, pathways and new navigation routes.” Owner Glenn Straub’s development company had submitted an application to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement for a casino license.
Skepticism still exists about TEN opening
The TEN/Revel story dates back to 2014, when Straub bought the Revel out of bankruptcy for $82 million. Since then, the ambitious and sometimes quirky owner threw around plans for making the property a think tank and refugee center.
However this past June, he finally settled on reopening the property as a hotel. That never happened; a slew of various code and permit troubles brought the property’s development to a halt. Fire alarms, traffic patterns and landscaping proved too much for Straub’s patience.
At one point, he stormed out of a Casino Reinvestment Development Authority meeting, threatening to shut the project down because of “government, government, government.”
Straub’s antics make it easy to see why some remain skeptical that the glass behemoth will ever open. The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Amy S. Rosenberg said the idea of the TEN opening on time “seems at least plausible” in the wake of hiring a trio of vice presidents.
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TEN’s saga a symbol of A.C.’s recent history
In many ways, what’s happening at TEN is the perfect picture of Atlantic City’s tumultuous two years since the casino contraction of 2014. The gaudy property was open for two years before it went into bankruptcy and closed its doors, along with three other casinos.
Straub swooped in and bought the more-than-$2-billion property for less than $100 million, a steal considering he was buying a nearly new resort. While the Florida developer remained ambitious and optimistic about his plans for the building, red tape and competing ideals slowed the process down; local government and aggressive developers don’t always mix well.
Now on the brink of reopening, TEN will offer a variety of amenities focused on millennials and younger gen-Xers, a progressive approach that’s indicative of the AC resort and casino industry needing to adapt to survive.
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