[toc]The owner of the reopened Showboat is expanding his footprint in Atlantic City with a series of purchases.
What the owner of the Showboat did
Multiple media reports indicated that Bart Blatstein — the owner of the Showboat resort — bought a number of properties in AC this week. That included two important parcels that had lied dormant: the Garden Pier and a lot between Showboat and the shuttered Revel resort.
Showboat reopened last year as just a resort, with no casino gambling.
More from the Press of AC:
With Friday’s deals, the Philadelphia-based developer has gained control of five waterfront properties since 2015. His purchases, he said, reflect his belief in Atlantic City’s “revival.”
Blatstein bought the former Boardwalk volleyball court on New Jersey Avenue for $3.8 million, Garden Pier for $1.5 million and 12 lots bordered by the Absecon Inlet, Oriental Avenue and Dewey Place for $660,000, city Planning and Development Director Elizabeth Terenik said.
Blatstein would not reveal any concrete plans for the properties, according to the Press of AC.
AC getting its money situation straightened out?
It’s been a good couple of weeks for AC on the money front.
On top of the deals negotiated with Blatstein, the state of New Jersey closed a deal between the city and the Borgata on a tax dispute. The result was the city owing $72 million to Borgata. That might not seem like a win on its face, that’s half the amount the city might have owed to the biggest resort casino in AC in the previously unresolved case.
The purchases by Blatstein are the latest pieces in a jigsaw puzzle as AC tries to extract itself from a fiscal mess during a state takeover of the city.
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The resurgent Showboat and South Inlet?
The Blatstein purchases are good news for the South Inlet part of AC, which could use it.
The Trump Taj Mahal closed in October; its owner, Carl Icahn, apparently wants to sell the shuttered property. We still don’t know what will happen with TEN Atlantic City, the resort planning to open inside the former Revel. A date for opening TEN over Presidents’ Day weekend came and went, with no activity.
The Showboat already classified its reopening as a “great success.” Blatstein’s purchase of surrounding properties is likely a harbinger of good things to come for that part of the AC boardwalk.