After tiptoeing into Atlantic City, N.J., through the joint
venture Borgata casino, MGM Mirage announced plans to raise the stakes in the
struggling East Coast gambling mecca by building a $5 billion, 72-acre resort
next to the Borgata.
The complex reportedly will resemble MGM Mirage's CityCenter
project in Las Vegas with three hotel towers with over 3,000 rooms, the city's
largest casino with 5,000 slot machines, 200 tables, a theater and 500,000
square feet of retail, restaurant and nightclubs. Additionally, reports
indicate that MGM Mirage will set aside 12 acres for future development
— perhaps for residential or timeshares. Upon receiving
government approval, MGM Mirage is expected to start groundbreaking next year,
and hopes to open by 2012.
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Despite facing competition from new slots parlors in
Pennsylvania and New York, and full-fledged Native American-operated casinos
in Connecticut, development in Atlantic City is heating up. Next week,
Pinnacle Gaming is expected to implode the Sands to begin groundbreaking on
its 18-acre oceanfront Las Vegas-style resort. Also, Morgan Stanley is
expected to begin building a 20-acre resort near Showboat. Not only are both
expected to open ahead of the MGM Mirage project, but both will be on the
Boardwalk, AC's closest thing to the Vegas Strip.
Interest in building megaresorts in AC began with MGM Mirage and
Boyd Gaming's JV, the Borgata, which opened in 2003 in the city's Marina
district. Unlike most of the older hotels on the Boardwalk, Borgata not only
focuses on table games, giving it an edge against Philadelphia, but also
features a half dozen celebrity chef restaurants and multiple nightclubs. Its
arrival led to a massive renovation of Caesars, which along with the Borgata,
are the only casinos not struggling in the face of regional competition.
— Matthew Wurtzel
See
story from MarketWatch
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story from TheStreet.com
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story from BloggingStocks
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earlier story about the state of Atlantic City casinos from Dealscape
