NEW YORK | The city of Atlantic City will auction the right to implode, with the press of a button, a former Donald Trump casino, closed since 2014, for the benefit of a charity.
The first property of the former real estate developer to open in this coastal New Jersey town in 1984, the Trump Plaza had been empty for six years and had little or no maintenance.
On several occasions, during storms, pieces of the facade fell on the seafront promenade, which runs alongside the establishment.
Since 2016, the two-building complex has belonged to investor Carl Icahn, who was one of the main creditors of Donald Trump’s subsidiary in Atlantic City.
In mid-June, in agreement with Carl Icahn, the mayor of the city, Marty Small, announced the demolition of the old casino, at the latest in February 2021, after having taken legal action, because he considered the installation dangerous for residents.
On Wednesday, the city councilor indicated that the right to press the button that will trigger the implosion, on January 29, was going to be auctioned, for the benefit of a youth association, the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City.
“Now is the time to turn a page and replace it with something else,” writes New Jersey-based auction house Bodnar’s Auction.
Carl Icahn did not say what to do with the land once the buildings were destroyed.
Donald Trump had already obtained, in 2014, that his name be withdrawn from the casino pediment, after having taken legal action, believing that the establishment was damaging the image of his group.
The US president has owned as many as four casinos in the gambling capital of the northeast coast. The Trump Plaza, but also the Trump World’s Fair, closed in 1999, the Trump Marina (formerly Trump’s Castle), sold by its creditors in 2011, and the Trump Taj Mahal, closed in 2016.
The subsidiary of Donald Trump’s group which managed its activities in Atlantic City, Trump Entertainment Resorts, filed for bankruptcy three times, in 2004, 2009 and 2014, weighed down by debt each time.