Trump no more: Marina becomes Golden Nugget AC
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — In Atlantic City, all that's golden is not Trump.
New Jersey casino regulators approved the sale of Trump Marina Hotel Casino on Monday to the owners of the Golden Nugget casinos in Nevada for $38 million — about a tenth of what the property was expected to fetch just three years ago.
Landry's Inc. has rebranded the casino as the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, a name change that became official with Monday's vote by the Casino Control Commission.
The giant "TRUMP" letters have been removed from the front of the casino, though the top and rear of the casino-hotel still bear Donald Trump's name. A temporary banner proclaiming the casino as the Golden Nugget could be put up as soon as Tuesday, a company spokeswoman said.
Tilman J. Fertitta, the owner of Houston-based Landry's Inc., said he is prepared to pump $150 million into the casino to revive it and make it competitive in Atlantic City's cutthroat market.
"It's exciting to be in the nation's second-largest gaming market, and we're excited to get started on the renovation to let everyone see the changes we have coming," Fertitta told The Associated Press. "Everything's going to be different. We're touching every square foot. We're going to have lots of new restaurants and bars."
Fertitta said he is interested in building a second hotel tower within the next few years to expand the Golden Nugget's 740-room inventory. He also said he would be open to working out a deal with MGM Resorts to buy a 14-acre tract of vacant land near the casino to develop.
At the Golden Nugget, Landry's plans new bars and lounges, live entertainment, stores and updated rooms and suites. Attractions including the Rush Lounge and a gathering spot called After Hours, a new spa, poker room, race and keno room and a new H2O Pool and Lounge, which will introduce all-season hot tubs and fire pits.
Landry's owns Golden Nugget casinos in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nev. The Atlantic City casino becomes its third.
The deal brings the Golden Nugget brand back to Atlantic City, where it operated in a different building from 1980 to 1987.
The sale leaves Trump Entertainment Resorts, which emerged last summer from its third stint in bankruptcy court, with two Boardwalk casinos — its flagship trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and the older Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.
Trump Marina is located in the city's marina district, next to the Frank Farley Marina, which is included in the sale, and two of the city's top-performing casinos — the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and Harrah's Resort Atlantic City.
Trump Entertainment has been trying to sell the Marina casino since May 2008, when it struck a deal with Coastal Marina LLC, run by former Donald Trump protege Richard Fields. Fields first agreed to pay $316 million. After the economy tanked, Trump and Coastal Marina agreed to a lower price of $270 million, but the deal fell apart in 2009 over disagreements about the physical condition of the casino.
Coastal claimed that summer that the Trump Marina needs at least $50 million in repairs. Things were so bad, Coastal Marina claimed in a lawsuit, the casino was putting plants under leaky windows and skylights to catch the drips when it rained rather than fix the leaks.
In addition to the Golden Nugget casinos, Landry's owns and runs more than 300 stores and restaurants including the Rainforest Cafe and Chart House chains. It also owns the Downtown Aquarium complexes in Houston and Denver, as well as the Kemah Boardwalk, a 50-acre, family-oriented themed entertainment destination outside Houston.