“Music capital of Northeast” predicted
Atlantic City and New Jersey officials gathered with Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein last week for a press conference celebrating one of the first pieces of good news for the seaside resort in many months, when Blatstein unveiled his plans to transform his recently purchased Pier Shops at Caesars mall into a live entertainment and dining venue he promised will launch a new era for the beleaguered Boardwalk.
With renowned casino resort architect Paul Steelman at his side, Blatstein announced that the Pier Shops facility will be reborn by Christmas as “The Playground,” a dining and entertainment center with 14 live music venues at its heart, which he promised will make Atlantic City the “music capital of the Northeast.”
Blatstein said the vision to be created by his Tower Investments development firm and Steelman’s firm, Las Vegas-based Steelman Partners, will offer a concentration of live music that will recreate the vibe of Beale Street in Memphis, Sixth Street in Austin or Music City in Nashville. “We want them all to be mentioned in the same breath,” Steelman said.
Blatstein, who recently lost his bid to create the Provence as Philadelphia’s second casino, held up his past successes in Philadelphia—particularly his transformation of the Northern Liberties neighborhood from a blighted area into a hip center of dining and entertainment—as well as the participation of Steelman in making the guarantee of success. “With Paul here by my side, this place can’t fail; it won’t fail,” he said. “I don’t want to want it to sound oysters here, but I have never failed in my career. I have never not picked an area that has not turned around. This is going to be the greatest success of my career.
“It will be the No. 1 tourist attraction in Atlantic City—I guarantee it. It can’t fail.”
The four-story Pier Shops at Caesars mall, which Blatstein called “poorly designed,” will be completely renovated to create 500,000 square-foot retail complex. At its heart will be the live music venues on the first floor of the building, to be known as “T Street” (T for Tower). The plan includes six themed music clubson the first floor, featuring young acts in virtually every music and entertainment genre, including country, rock, jazz, folk, rhythm and blues, and comedy. The water fountains in the rear of the first floor will be removed and the space will be rechristened as “39 N” (a reference to its location on the 39th Parallel), which will feature a state-of-the-art stage, lighting and sound. The space will accommodate larger national and regional touring acts with a space capable of handling 2,000-plus guests.
The spot for young people to “pre-game” on the first floor will be the centrally located “Monkey Bar,” a high-tech bar that features open bar and ocean/beach views on two sides, the idea being to provide a spot to lounge before taking in the live music.
There also will be a large beachfront concert venue on the north side of the pier that will feature national touring acts year-round; a private, over-21 beach club with a pool, cantilevered at the end of the pier.
The second floor will feature “Bart Bowl,” a large bowling alley that also will feature an array of live music, food and drink. The third floor will feature a massive sports-viewing facility called “The Varsity Club”that will be a dream for fantasy sports enthusiasts and feature huge television screens with continuous live sports programming and updated player statistics in all major sports. The fourth floor will undergo renovations to the private event and meeting facility, which will expand to take advantage of unused exterior space.
“Young people with disposable incomes who are looking for a single-point destination for a long night of fun—that’s our target audience,” Blatstein said. “Here at The Playground, they can shop, dine and relax to the music or sports they choose. How cool will it be to bounce back and forth between all these great music and sports clubs under the same roof? We’re going to create a place where people will want to hang, a place to see and be seen.”
The T Street music clubs will be completed and open by Memorial Day, he said, with the second and third floors to be complete by Christmas. The Beach Club is slated for a summer 2016 opening.
The Playground will be the third attraction in the modern era for what was originally the Applegate Pier and became famous as the Million Dollar Pier. The pier was first transformed into Ocean One Mall, originally intended for upscale shoppers, who ultimately failed to make the facility a success. The Pier Shops at Caesars had more success, but only for around half the tenants.
Caesars Entertainment, which owns the land, had sued to prevent a takeover of the facility by Blatstein, who bought the mall last year for $2.7 million. Caesars complained in court that Blatstein’s Tower Investments was acting as landlords of the complex although Caesars owned the pier. The two parties settled all their differences last month, and Blatstein even needled Caesars Atlantic City President Kevin Ortzman, seated in the first row at the press event, about the dispute, saying he and Ortzman “went from barely speaking to speaking four/five times a day, calling each other Kev and Bart.”
Officials including state Senate President Steve Sweeney and Congressman Frank LoBiondo praised the project, and Blatstein, for bringing the first positive news in some time to Atlantic City. They also praised Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian, who hosted the event, for his enthusiasm and positive outlook about the prospects for the resort, even in the face of last year’s closure of four casino properties.
“This is what Tower Investments is all about…when everyone else is running out, we run in,” said Blatstein. “I know and love this town. When I was a kid, my family summered in Atlantic City and I have so many fond memories of this place… Yes, the old gal’s gone through a rough patch of late and looks a little worse for wear, but her beauty is still there. It just needs to be re-imagined, reborn, and that’s where Tower comes into play.”
We want to be known not as a casino town, but as the world’s playground,” said Guardian. “Everyone needs to come down to Atlantic City right now and see what Bart has brought to the Jersey Shore. For someone of his stature to stake his reputation on the comeback of Atlantic City shows just how committed he is and we are to making Atlantic City the No. 1 destination to live, work, and play on the East Coast.”
