Atlantic City: Mayoral upheaval, new MGM Grand
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Amid mayoral upheaval in Atlantic City, MGM Mirage announced Wednesday that it plans to build an up to $5 billion casino complex. With the recent MGM Grand Detroit barely open, MGM seems to be on a quest to take over the US in Grand fashion.
Landed on 72 acres right next door to the Borgata, which MGM owns in a 50-50 split with Boyd Gaming, the casino behemoth will have the largest casino floor in the state of New Jersey, three distinctly different hotel towers, a 500,000 square foot “shopping experience,” and much more that you’d expect from the Vegas star, including a state-of-the-art convention center.
Since MGM’s Borgata investment has proved that Atlantic City is desperate for new and flashy casinos and accommodations, other casinos are remodeling in a race to catch up. With the MGM Grand Atlantic City aiming for opening in 2012 — the first step in the following few years will be to receive Coastal Area Facility Review Act approval — Donald Trump and his competitors in the second largest land gaming market will have to keep moving fast.
Meanwhile, the elected mayor of Atlantic City, Robert Levy, first vanished into a psychiatric/addiction treatment facility for two weeks, reappeared only to resign following an apology for lying about being a member of the Green Berets, and was replaced by now-former-council-president interim mayor William “Speedy” Marsh, who owes $363,000 to the city. “Speedy” plans to pay it off as soon as he figures out this mayor thing, including the issue of whether or not he will run for permanent office.
“I absolutely will pay it back,” he told The Associated Press this past Thursday, his second full day in office. “I’m not going to duck it. We’re just asking for it to be suspended until this little mayoral thing works itself out.”
The new mayor plans to meet with the Casino Association of New Jersey on Monday.
