A casino in Atlantic City is set to be demolished next month and city officials hope to turn the demolition event into a fundraiser, expecting to raise in excess of $1 million. That casino is Trump Plaza and the bidding winner will be able to push the button and blow it up.
“I wanted to use the demolition of this place to raise money for charity.”
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small
Demolition Fundraiser
The demolition of the gambling facility which closed in 2014 and since then entered into decay which made it cheaper to be demolished than rebuild, will become a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City. Demolition works on the property began earlier this year and what remained from the structure is set to be blown up January 29.
The bidding period is set to run from Thursday till January 19 and the club which provides after-school and summer recreational, educational and career-training programs for children and teens, hired the services of a professional auction company to manage the bidding, which will end in a live auction among all top bidders to determine the winner.
The casino which sits in a prime spot at the Atlantic City’s Boardwalk was opened by Donald Trump, a real-estate developer by that time, in 1984 and during its booming years hosted a number of high-caliber boxing matches, which the President had attended on a regular basis.
Trump’s Atlantic City History
Trump Plaza closed doors in 2014, alongside 3 other Atlantic City casinos which also shut down operations. After closing down, the gaming property sat idle for 6 years, leading to large pieces of its façade from one of the hotel towers to break lose and crash into the ground earlier this year. In another case, during a storm debris from the deteriorating structure fell onto the Boardwalk.
Trump’s second casino, Taj Mahal, also closed for good in 2016, but, unlike Trump Plaza was not left to the decay of time and is now operating as the Hard Rock casino. Trump Marina, the third casino Donald Trump used to own in Atlantic City, was sold to Texas billionaire and casino tycoon Tilman Fertitta in 2011 and has been rebranded as the Golden Nugget.
Once the Trump Plaza casino is gone, a land will open up, presenting an opportunity for something else to be built and Mayor Small said he was eager to discuss ideas with the land owner Carl Icahn, who took ownership of the company Trump left in 2009 out of bankruptcy court in 2016.
“Not often does inner-city oceanfront land open up. We have one chance to get this right.”
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small
Casino demolition in Atlantic City does not happen every day: the last one was in 2007 when the former Sands casino was torn down to open space for another casino complex which never appeared.