Showboat Hotel reopening its doors

Atlantic City will have nearly 900 hotel rooms back online once Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein's reopens the long-shuttered Showboat property.

The Philadelphia developer's Showboat Hotel on Friday will begin the first phase of the property's reopening with 852 hotel rooms and suites coming online, making it what the developer calls the largest non-casino hotel in New Jersey.

 

Managed by ACSB Hospitality, the hotel will include 1,100-square-foot oceanfront balcony suites – 38 of them, which will include 1.5 bathrooms, a living and dining area, a wet bar with fridge and jacuzzi tubs.

Showboat Hotel will also include two 1,900-square-foot oceanfront "super suites" that will feature the same amenities the balcony suites have plus a gas fireplace.

The hotel at 801 Boardwalk will offer a full-service bar called Worship Surf Bar on States Avenue; the Canal Street coffeehouse featuring coffee and pastries; and the Atlantic City Eatery that will serve all-American food and drink for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The developer acquired Showboat from Stockton University in October for $22 million.

"This is an exciting time for us; Tower Investments embraced this opportunity and hit the ground running to make the opening of this hotel happen in time for the prime summer tourist season,” Blatstein said in a statement.

“We are extremely proud of this hotel," he added. "The fact we are open for guests now and that we are creating hundreds of jobs in Atlantic City, all while delivering an unforgettable experience for our guests at this iconic destination.”

About 210 jobs were created and filled after a job fair was held last month. Positions included housekeepers, front desk agents, office managers, sales managers, general manager, among others.

Gaming experts said the decision was a good one for Atlantic City, particularly since it lost a significant amount of its hotel-room inventory when four casinos closed in 2014.

The closures of Revel, Atlantic Club, Showboat and Trump Plaza resulted in the loss of more than 4,300 hotel rooms, according to a report by Stockton University's Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality & Tourism.

Elsewhere in Atlantic City, roughly 1,000 of Trump Taj Mahal's workers continue their strike.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal