 |
| The Pier Shops at Caesars in Atlantic City. |
Bart Blatstein on Wednesday laid out plans for The
Playground, his vision for Atlantic City’s Pier Shops at Caesars.
The Philadelphia developer unveiled his ambitious plans
during a press conference for the 500,000-square-foot retail center at 1
Atlantic Ocean Ave., which will include a 2,000-seat concert hall, a bowling
alley and event space.
The development will include Bart Bowl, 39N Concert Hall,
Varsity Club Sports Bar, Monkey Bar and an attraction called T-Street,
according to the Press of Atlantic City.
"I promise you this will become the No. 1 tourist
attraction in Atlantic City," Blatstein said at the press conference.
"This is not going to fail; this is going to be one of the greatest
successes of my career."
More than 500 new jobs will be generated for Blatstein's
redevelopment of the Pier Shops. It will be on top of the 400 people Pier Shops
already employs.
Blatstein was joined at the event by partner Paul
Steelman, a Las Vegas-based architect, Caesars Atlantic City Vice President
Kevin Ortzman, U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, N.J. State Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney,
and Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian.
Blatstein’s Tower Investments completed the purchase of
the Pier Shops from real estate investment firm CBRE for about $2.7 million in
November. The structure was originally valued at $200 million.
The Pier Shops is one of several of Blatstein’s planned
projects in Atlantic City.
“I look at myself as somebody that’s going to be part of
the future renaissance of Atlantic City,” he told the Philadelphia Business
Journal in an interview earlier this year. “I’ll take anybody’s bets all day
long. I’ll guarantee you, it’ll come back.”
Blatstein’s plans for the Pier Shops hit a stumbling
block in February when Caesars — who said it owned the property — filed a civil
action against the developer and Tower Investments.
Blatstein and Caesars have since then settled the matter.
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
No comments:
Post a Comment