The rumors regarding the sale of the former Revel Casino Hotel can finally be put to rest as the Atlantic City casino has reportedly been sold to Colorado developer Bruce Deifik’s group, ACOWRE LLC, for $200 million.
According to the Press of Atlantic City, Deifik, who is also president and CEO of Denver-headquartered Integrated Properties Inc., plans to re-brand the shuttered Boardwalk property as the Ocean Resort Casino and expects to re-open it this summer.
Built in 2012 at a cost of $2.4 billion, Revel Casino Hotel Atlantic City struggled to fill its 1,399 rooms and was closed in September of 2014 after filing for the second round of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections. Seven months later, in April 2015, Florida developer Glenn Straub’s Polo North Country Club Inc. purchased the 6-million-square-foot-plus facility for $82 million and soon thereafter announced plans to reopen the property under the name TEN Atlantic City.
However, after numerous issues including the property’s bars and restaurants lacking liquor licenses, and the need to obtain a casino license, mandatory mercantile license, etc., Straub’s repeated assurances that the casino would open, never did come to pass.
The opening of the Ocean Resort Casino will reportedly coincide with the reopening of another shuttered casino in New Jersey’s iconic Boardwalk city, the former Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino rebranded as the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.
According to the Press of Atlantic City, when reopened the Boardwalk property will include 138,000 square feet of gaming space featuring 2,200 slot machines, 100 table games and if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns a federal sports betting ban, plans for a “best in market” sports book.
Ocean Resort Casino will also reportedly maintain the 165,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, in addition to the 5,700 seat concert hall with room for possible future expansion.
Deifik said, “Atlantic City is coming back with a vengeance and with the groundwork for the legalization of sports betting, we foresee a great opportunity to bring a state of the art sports book to a city which caters to a large and diverse sports market,” as reported by the Press of Atlantic City.