After opening just two years ago, the 1,898-room Revel casino-resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, plans to close no later than September 10.
The US$2.4 billion casino-resort was hoped to revitalize Atlantic City, but it did not turnaround the city’s seven-year decline in casino revenue, as the destination was hurt by the recession and the opening of casinos in Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland. The hotel’s performance was also hampered by Superstorm Sandy and it filed for bankruptcy for the first time in March 2013.
The hotel employs 3,140 people. The casino-resort’s owner, Revel AC, will go to auction later this week. The news comes as Atlantic City is seeing a string of casino-resort shutter, including the 1,404-room Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino and the 1,329-room Showboat Atlantic City.
The development of Revel was hampered by the financial crisis — its original backer, Morgan Stanley, walked away from the project in 2009 after construction had started and accepted a US$932 million loss. However, Revel was later able to obtain financing for the project via a consortium of lenders led by J.P. Morgan Chase.
