The former Revel Atlantic City casino has power again after a temporary deal was reached between building owner Glen Straub and the owners of the building’s power plant.
The deal ends a nearly three-week ordeal that left the 47-story Revel tower without electricity, water or an active fire suppression system. ACR Energy, which owns and operates the power plant built for Revel, turned power off at thee building on April 9 after it could not reach a deal with Straub.
This new deal, however, covers only two weeks and still leaves the future of Revel very much in doubt.
Straub said electricity was restored to the building early April 28 under a deal with ACR for power to re-energize the building’s fire detection and suppression systems. Atlantic City had been fining Straub $5,000 a day while the systems were inoperative.
The deal is reportedly for $262,500 for two weeks of power at the building.
Straub had hoped to re-power the building through portable generators, but New Jersey environmental officials said the generators brought in would cause too much air pollution. He also hoped he could connect the building to the power grid of the nearby Showboat casino, which he is also buying.
However, a judge blocked that move by issuing a restraining order prohibiting Straub from hooking any power system up to ACR’s equipment.
Straub also said that it is unlikely he will be able to re-open any part of the massive resort complex by Memorial Day, which had been his goal. But he did say he hopes at least part of the complex can be opened sometime this summer.
“There are a lot of things that go into a war,” Straub told the Associated Press. “Our war is getting this place up and running. We took over a property that was broken, that was shut down for nine months. We have to get everybody re-hired, government wants a permit for everything. We can do that, if nobody gets in the way.”
Straub also said he is unsure if any new incarnation of Revel—which will re-open under a different name—will include casino gambling.
“Are we going to have gambling here or not have gambling here?” he asked. “That’s a decision we still have to make. Gambling would be a sister to what we do here. It’s not going to be the main attraction. We came in here as a resort. We didn’t buy this to be a gambling place.
“There are slot machines here and poker tables there, ready to go,” he said. “We may just do those and not have Chinese baccarat and all those other card games.”
Still, there are a lot of obstacles in Straub’s path. He still has to settle on a permanent deal to provide power to the property. Also, he has to settle with the former tenants of the property—which operated successful restaurants and nightclubs—on new terms for their leases at the property.
Straub also would have to obtain a New Jersey casino license to operate a casino at the property. Straub had hoped to simply transfer revel’s previous casino license to his company, but state gaming regulators blocked that move and Straub has to obtain his own license. Technically, Straub isn’t even licensed to possess the gambling equipment now at the building, regulators said.
The state Division of Gaming Enforcement said that Straub and his Polo North Country Club Inc. have paid the state’s $100,000 application fee and they are working with them on the application.
Straub bought the Revel complex—which cost $2.4 billion to build—for $82 million after a long and complicated bankruptcy proceeding for the former casino. During that proceeding, the property seemed to be sold several times—including one other time to Straub for $94 million—but the deals kept being derailed due to the energy problems and other challenges.
ACR is seeking payment for back energy bills and construction of the power plant.
