Revel, the most expensive casino in the history of Atlantic City, will have its one-year anniversary of closing on Sept. 2, and there is still no end in sight to a dispute between current owner Glenn Straub and ACR Energy, which supplied power to the casino.
According to the Associated Press, the most recent court filing indicated that ACR Energy is in bad shape financially and may eventually fold. Straub doesn’t want to work with the power plant, because there is debt to be paid off from its construction. He wants to hand pick his own source of power for the complex.
Earlier this summer, Straub indicated he is willing to sell the property to get away from the lingering litigation with ACR Energy. New Jersey has required that the company still provide some power to the casino in order to keep the fire systems on.
Straub bought the casino for $82 million and has plans to convert it into a water park, after flirting with the idea of turning it into a university. Revel cost $2.4 billion to build.
According to the report, Straub is set to drop $36,000 to fix windows on the shuttered casino that have been damaged by seagulls. The casino is currently exposed to the elements, which has the energy company concerned.
“You folks have got some giant seagulls here — some of them look like they’re 60 pounds,” he told the Associated Press. “We find feathers and everything else underneath the windows, not to mention crabs that they drop from way up to smash them open and then eat.”
Atlantic City is trying to recover from a string of casino closings last year, which included Revel, and this fall there may be a serious shot in the arm for the gaming industry there if and when the state licenses Amaya Gaming, the parent company of PokerStars.
