Feb 21, 2008 2:30 pm US/Eastern
Mandalay Bay President To Head $5B MGM AC Project
MGM Atlantic City To Join City's Marina District; Hoping To Create 'Vegas' Appeal In N.J.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS/AP) ―
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The $5 billion MGM Grand Atlantic City is expected to join the city's Marina district in the first quarter of 2012.
AP
The president of the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas will oversee MGM Grand's massive $5 billion casino-hotel project in Atlantic City.
The company announced Thursday morning that Bill Hornbuckle, Mandalay's president and chief operating officer, also will serve in the same capacity for MGM Grand Atlantic City, a three-tower complex to be built on land next to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in the city's Marina district.
It is due to open in the first quarter of 2012.
"We are going to be taking what the Borgata has done in terms of recreating the Las Vegas experience, and take it to a whole different place," Hornbuckle said. "We want this to be compelling enough for you to get on a plane in Chicago and fly east instead of west."
A 25-year veteran of the gambling industry, Hornbuckle previously served as president and COO of MGM Mirage Europe, after spending three years as president and COO of MGM Grand Las Vegas.
He previously worked as president and COO for Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, as well as several other casinos.
MGM Grand Atlantic City will be the largest hotel and the largest casino in Atlantic City with 3,000 rooms. A groundbreaking is expected later this year.
The company has applied for state environmental permits, and Hornbuckle said MGM has received encouragement "from the mayor's office right up to the governor's office."
The project will include a spa suspended 50 floors in the air with panoramic ocean views, a concert arena, 150,000 square feet of convention and meeting space, a parking garage for about 11,000 cars, and "a couple dozen" restaurants, Hornbuckle said.
MGM is also a co-owner, with Boyd Gaming, of the Borgata -- a partnership that will continue even after MGM Grand Atlantic City is open, he added.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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