Atlantic City Mayor Hopes To Raise More Than $1 Million Imploding Former Trump Plaza Hotel And Casino
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS/AP) -- The mayor of Atlantic City is turning next month's implosion of the former Trump Plaza hotel and casino into a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club. Mayor Marty Small says he hopes to raise more than $1 million with the stunt.
President Donald Trump opened the casino in 1984.
It closed in 2014 and has fallen into a state of disrepair.
It will be dynamited on Jan. 29.
Trump cut most ties with Atlantic City in 2009 aside from a 10% fee for the use of his name on what were then three casinos in the city. That stake was extinguished when billionaire Carl Icahn took ownership of the company out of bankruptcy court in February 2016.
Trump Plaza has sat empty for six years and has been deteriorating. Earlier this year, large pieces of the facade broke loose from one of the hotel towers and came crashing to the ground. In one storm, additional debris fell from the structure onto the Boardwalk.
Icahn, who owns the former Trump Plaza building, and has agreed to the demolition. Small said he is eager to discuss potential uses for the land with Icahn once the casino is gone, including some sort of family attraction.
"Not often does inner-city oceanfront land open up," the mayor said. "We have one chance to get this right."
The last casino implosion in Atlantic City was in October 2007 when the former Sands casino was dynamited to make way for a new casino-hotel project that ultimately was never built.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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