Glenn Straub and Polo North / REVEL recently released a statement on Monday, June 20. Straub believes his company is being held back from leasing 150,000 ft. of the property to a casino operator.Ultimately, the property would eventually be totally reopened for a variety of uses: casino, hotel, amusements, spa, resort, and nightclubs.
If reopened, the former REVEL property would bring employment to over 3000, many from Atlantic City and surrounding regions. It generate millions of dollars annually in taxes for the city, county and state.
The Straub press release continues: Instead of welcoming this prospect, New Jersey’s division of gaming enforcement has imposed a roadblock that is inappropriate and unnecessary. Despite Polo North only being a landlord, the division is requiring it to comply with the more extensive licensing standards imposed on casino operators as opposed to the less stringent standards imposed on vendors. This requirement is being imposed even though the proposed tenant will meet the licensing standards for casino portion of 6 million square-foot property.
Even the Press of Atlantic City contributes to this economy killing activity. Get a load of this headline and story…
Polo North’s application has been pending for months. It has paid over $100,000 for New Jersey’s licensing investigation.
Straub has hired some of the largest and most experienced casino law firms in New Jersey. They contend that the extensive licensing standard is not appropriate nor warranted. Despite this, New Jersey is pressing ahead to impose its costly, time-consuming and unnecessarily stringent licensing requirement on Polo North, even though it is only a landlord.
This is just one more example of New Jersey’s anti-business attitude. What is especially galling is that New Jersey is engaging in this conduct when it has imposed a strict time limit on Atlantic City putting its financial house in order.
NJ’s actions are making it impossible for Atlantic City to meet the state impose requirements of a balanced budget within 150 days thereby guaranteeing a takeover by the state.
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This all occurs when Atlantic County has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, and the region is suffering as unemployment rate well in excess of the rest of New Jersey.
If the former Revel were to reopen as contemplated, in a timely fashion, it would go a long way to cure the financial ills of Atlantic City and prevent a takeover by New Jersey.
It would lower the foreclosure and unemployment rates in the area, it would positively impact the tax rates of surrounding municipalities, and would stimulate South Jersey’s economic recovery because it would be a major source of jobs and tax revenues.
Neither the citizens of South Jersey ignore Polo will tolerate this latest example of abuse of power that not only prevents the economic recovery of South Jersey but also discourages others from investing in the area Polo will not hesitate to use legal remedies to right this wrong.