On Friday Jan 15, Stockton University sold the Showboat Atlantic City Casino site for $23 million to Bart Blatstein’s Showboat Renaissance, LLC.
Stockton President Harvey Kesselman reported that ‘the money is in our account.’
Stockton can now shift their attention to developing a campus on the site of the old Atlantic City High School. Kesselman hopes to break ground on the Island Campus this spring.
Blatstein could use Showboat for a casino, timeshares, offices and/or hotel rooms. But first he’ll need to unwind those insane, dueling covenants. One says Showboat MUST be a casino, the other says Showboat CAN NOT be a casino. We kid you not.
The new Island Campus is part of a public-private development effort lead by ACDevco, the non-profit Atlantic City Development Corp. The campus will feature an academic building with on-site parking and housing for 500 students.
$70 million in tax credits will support the new campus. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) will chip in $17 million. Stockton will pony up $18 million for this critical piece of Atlantic City’s future.