Atlantic City to demolish Trump Plaza Hotel

Trump Plaza, Donald Trump’s former Atlantic City casino, is seeing its last days as the Atlantic City municipal government and the current owner of the casino, Carl Icahn, has agreed to demolish the casino on January 29^th, 2021.

The casino was opened in 1984 and shut down in 2014. After six years of its closure, the casino is now in a debilitating condition. Large pieces of the façade from one of the hotel towers broke off and crashed on the ground earlier this year. The dilapidated structure is also facing the impacts of storms, which is causing an accumulation of fallen debris on the ground.

As per reports from the Associated Press, the municipal government of Atlantic City will, therefore, conduct an auction to solicit bids from December 17^th, 2020, through January 19^th, 2021. 

Top bidders would also be invited to participate in a live auction, and the winner among the bidders will acquire the right to press the button of the dynamite to blow off the crumbling structure of the casino. 

Funds raised as a result of this auction would be donated to a charitable organization called Boys & Girls Club. The Boys & Girls Club provides post-school programs, summer recreation, education, career-training programs to children and teens of Atlantic City. The mayor aims to raise a sum of $1 million from the auction.

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small said,

The AC Mayor also stated, “Not often does inner-city oceanfront land open up.” 

“We have one chance to get this right,” he believes.

What’s more interesting is that the current owner of the casino, Carl Icahn, also a friend of Donald Trump, agreed to this demolition to prevent accidents and damages due to falling debris. The Mayor of Atlantic City also mentioned that he is open to considering the prospect of building something more useful at the site of the casino, such as a family-themed park or tourist attraction after the demolition.

Donald Trump’s other two casinos in Atlantic City also experienced a similar fate. The Taj Mahal casino was shut down in 2016 and later relaunched as the Hard Rock casino while the Trump Marina, acquired by Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta became the Golden Nugget.