Curtis Bashaw and Cape Advisors Inc. owns The Chelsea, a luxury, boutique style hotel right off the Boardwalk. Bashaw believes a small gaming area on the fifth floor would make his hotel more appealing and would add to the dining and night club features of that property.
The NJ Senate, by a 39-0 vote, recently relaxed a 2011 law that allowed for two boutique casinos on the Boardwalk. No longer would these mini-casinos have to eventually expand from 200 to 500 hotel rooms. 200 rooms would be just fine. The new bill would scrap the harmful requirement that developers must build from scratch. The new legislation would also allow them to convert existing non-casino hotels to the so-called boutique hotel casinos.
Bashaw told The Press of Atlantic City last week that boutique casinos would give customers a more intimate alternative to the “giant, one-size” casino floors that have dominated the gambling industry since the 1970s.
Assemblymen Vince Mazzeo thinks boutique casinos work well with Atlantic City’s new redevelopment plans: create more attractions not totally focused on gaming.
Senator Jim Whelan at one time wanted gaming at The Chelsea, but then changed his mind. Whelan, along with other casinos, want boutique casino hotels be new construction with at least 500 rooms.
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