Showboat Atlantic City Subdivision Approved, But Casino Odds Remain Long

Posted on: November 21, 2019, 02:00h.

Last updated on: November 20, 2019, 03:43h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Showboat Atlantic City has been granted approval by the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to divide its Boardwalk property into new lots of record.

Showboat Atlantic City casino — The area where the beach volleyball courts are located at the Showboat Atlantic City have been approved to become a new, individual lot. (Image: WMKG)

Last month, Showboat owner Bart Blatstein filed a subdivision request with the CRDA for approval. The petition explained, “The subdivision is sought in order to accomplish future conveying and financing of improvements.”

The CRDA, which is in charge of considering and approving zoning and land-use matters in the Tourism District, had no hesitations in signing off on the new parcels.

There are numerous reasons for rezoning a property. Desautel Law, a legal firm that specializes in municipal and regulatory zoning, explains that a property owner seeking rezoning is “often times trying to change the intention of what that land was originally used for.”

“There can be a range of reasons behind the want or need to redefine the property, but in most recorded cases, owners decide to rezone property for residential purposes (usually changing a commercial property from one zone to another for future business use),” the law firm said.

Showboat Casino?

The last slot machine or table game bet placed inside the Showboat came on August 31, 2014. That was the date parent company Caesars Entertainment shuttered the resort in an effort to reduce competition with its other Atlantic City casinos.

The Showboat was sold to Stockton University (then “college”) in late 2014 for $18 million. The school planned to turn the building into student housing. But billionaire Carl Icahn, who at the time owned the neighboring Taj Mahal, successfully used a legal covenant dating back to 1988 that says the property can only be used as a “first-class casino resort.”

Stockton sold the Showboat to Blatstein in January 2016 for $23 million. The property reopened as a non-gaming hotel that summer.

A Philadelphia-based real estate developer, Blatstein owns both residential and commercial properties, but no casinos. He’s stated in recent months that he’s mulling an effort to bring gambling back to the resort that first opened in 1987.

In March, Blatstein gained a “certificate of compliance” from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (CCC). That is essentially the first step in obtaining a gaming license in Atlantic City.

Dirty Deeds

The 1988 covenant was reached jointly by Showboat, Taj, and Resorts. The arrangement was terminated in 2016 after Icahn agreed to allow Blatstein to operate the property as a hotel.

However, there’s a deed restriction on the Showboat that is much more critical. When Caesars sold the resort, it placed a restriction preventing it from reopening as a casino. Deed restrictions travel with the land, and are difficult to have removed.

The Bloom Sluggett law firm in Michigan explains, “Once a deed restriction is properly recorded, it remains in the ‘chain of title’ for the property involved forever (or until the time limit specified in the deed restriction), regardless of whether or not later deeds to the property mention or reference the deed restriction.”

“In some cases, deed restrictions can lie dormant and unknown for years regarding one or more properties, but could potentially still be enforceable,” the legal experts added.

The primary area in question is what is to become of Showboat’s fifth parcel. The 3.1-acre outdoor plot is currently filled with beach volleyball courts. Blatstein has floated the idea of building a standalone casino there to potentially avoid the casino deed restriction.

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Gary D Bulicki November 26, 2019

All the casinos should relocate out somewhere along the bay out of run down scary inner city.The whole inner city is very depressing run down loaded with low life scumbags drug addicts,not a place where I feel at ease walking around alone during daylight hours and totally forget the dark.I'm from Philadelphia born and raise not afraid of much.In Philly they close down center city when it starts to get dark for a very good reason its called crime.Too many places,nooks,crannies,allies,between buildings and yes even in sewers,I joke.No joke you learn to look over your shoulder become street smart or else. Living in the major cities of this grand country of ours.But even a well trained veteran city dude has to keep a very keen eye when walking in the center city area either alone or with a couple of friends.Stay alert focused and try not to laugh when you see a tourist with a very expensive camera taking pictures of our city of brotherly love.You better take those pictures real fast,hold on to your camera real tight and get the heck "Out of Dodge city"before the sun sets.Tourists should always be aware that there not in La La land or the Wizard of Oz land with the munchkins and monkeys flying around singing about the wonderful land of Oz.New York city used to be as scary until they placed a police officer every 50 feet or so ha ha.Now I feel safe but Filthadelphia,I'm permitted to call it that because I'm from Philly I know this,but you are not allowed to dare use this name or for that matter even have a right to call this city of ours Philly,don't ask why you just don't.Ok I'll tell you why because you'll probably,most likely get punched in your face.Why,because we love our city,unless you were born and raised here you could not never ever understand why.Now back to A.C.Myself,my friends and anybody from Philly I've ever known has had anything not even close to say anything good about Atlantic city.We in Philly love to go to the shore,just about any shore Ocean city,Wildwood,Cape May,Avalon,even all the Deleware beaches all good.Every once in a great while we would get really mixed up,confused,in a very scary frame of mind someone in the gang or crowd if your more at ease with that word would shout out "Let's go to Atlantic crazy ass City"We'd all looked at each other crazy like and say no thanks OK why not,we know its not good but were bad,not afraid of anything that means because we're from Philly right?Yeah right lets go to crappy scary place where its sort of like our center city but on a much much stranger freaky scale.Atlantic city was like New York city to me they were scary when I was a teenager.Scary when I became an Adult,scary when I became a family man.Today as a 65 year old grandparent,very street smart would not for one second or any amount of money take my grand children to Atlantic always frantic city day or night.So in conclusion,Atlantic city casino owners get just a little street smart huh?"Get out of Dodge city"before the sun sets on all of your sorry asses.