Atlantic City has an important decision to make: how to sell the last big piece of casino-developable land (at least until the zoning is changed). Right now, the Casino Redevelopment Agency is planning to take bids on the 140-acre tract at Bader Field, but Penn National wants to do an end-run around the process by hitting “BUY IT NOW” for $800 million. From the AC Press:
Penn’s plan could result in as many as 5,000 or 6,000 casino hotel rooms being built, Miller said. Penn also would finance roadway improvements to the Route 40 corridor to improve access to the site and alleviate flooding in the surrounding neighborhoods of Chelsea Heights.
“This means more money for the city, the property will be built sooner, there will be more jobs, more improvements and Chelsea Heights will be safer,” Miller said.
One opponent of the proposed deal, Thomas D. Carver, executive director of the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, doubted that Penn would be able to fulfill its promises. He said Penn would pocket much of the money by subdividing the land and bringing in other developers.
“They have been peddling this stupid deal for a long time. They came to us and we told them to get lost,” Carver said of Penns talks with the CRDA.
Carver, whose agency has proposed a different plan for selling off and redeveloping Bader Field, said the city would lose millions of dollars if it rejects the CRDAs proposal in favor of the Penn deal.
“They would be selling Bader Field for a pittance. They would leave millions and millions of dollars on the table,” Carver said. “If I thought this was the best deal for the city, I would tell them to jump at it. But its not the best deal.”
But the mayor and several City Council members say the CRDA deal strips the city of its control of the redevelopment of Bader Field and offers just half of the tax relief that Penn is proposing in its first year of payment.
Penn National makes offer for Bader Field
Tom Carver is pretty frank about the sale, calling it a “stupid deal.” Since I’ve got Plan 9 on the brain (after posting about it yesterday), play this video, jumping ahead to about the 3:15 mark:
“This is a big piece of land…what if we buy it for $800 million and split it up ourselves?”
“You see? You see? Your styupid minds! Styupid! Styupid!”
If casino hearings went like that, this would be a lot more fun.
Actually, I think that’s exactly how the Columbia Sussex relicensing hearing went.
If you want my opinion, I think Carver is pretty close to the mark. Selling Bader Field shouldn’t be a one-time cash grab for the city–it should be the centerpiece of a planned development process.