Atlantic City officials are looking at a host of ideas to help the struggling resort and make it more than a casino city.
So how about making Atlantic City a college town?
Atlantic City Mayor Donald Guardian recently confirmed that a much-talked-about plan by the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey to buy a closed resort casino for the site of a satellite campus is still underway.
The college is looking at acquiring either the former Atlantic Club casino or the closed Showboat casino, Guardian said.
“They were looking for a new campus for 10,000 students, and we were able to convince them that Atlantic City is the location,” Guardian said at a recent business forum. “So in the next couple of weeks, you’ll see they’re either going to end up with the Atlantic Club, which means all the property in that section of town will become the college district, or they’re going to end up with Showboat, in which case the Southeast Inlet is going to become a district. They’re looking at 10,000 students, four undergraduate schools, four graduate schools.”
College officials have previously said they are interested in developing an Atlantic City campus, but provided few details. The college had, however, made an unsuccessful bid on the Atlantic Club before it was eventually sold to a Florida Real Estate Company for $13.5 million earlier this year.
The college released a statement saying that officials are still pursuing their options in the city, but no firm plans have been set. Guardian, however, said he feels the college is “very close” to making a deal.
The addition of 10,000 students to the daily business of the city could be a huge boon to the resort’s housing and business sectors, Guardian said.
Such a move would more than double Stockton’s current enrollment of 8,500 students at its main Galloway Township campus.
Showboat and the Atlantic Club are among four casinos that have closed this year in the resort.
Guardian also said two other groups—one based in New Jersey and the other in China—are also interested in buying the two closed casinos. Both parties want to transform the properties into non-casino entertainment complexes.
