Oct 10, 2007 10:37 am US/Eastern
MGM Unveils Plans For Massive A.C. Resort, Casino
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) ―
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MGM Mirage is betting their chips on a brand new mega casino and resort in Atlantic City.
AP
MGM Mirage announced Wednesday that it plans to build a mega-casino resort worth up to $5 billion that will dwarf anything Atlantic City has seen before.
The project, which will be called MGM Grand Atlantic City, will cost between $4.5 billion and $5 billion, not including the land value and associated costs, the company said in a statement.
It will be built on a 72-acre site at Renaissance Pointe that the casino operator owns, next to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which MGM co-owns with Boyd Gaming.
"Our company has carefully considered the possibilities for our landholdings in Atlantic City," said Terry Lanni, MGM's chairman and CEO. "We believe the success at Borgata demonstrates the eagerness for further evolution of the nation's second-largest gaming market. We will continue to raise the bar, and by doing so, hope to re-energize the city's resort offerings and attract a new market of affluent East Coast customers."
The project will consist of three hotel towers with a a total of more than 3,000 rooms and suites.
It will offer the largest casino floor in Atlantic City, with 5,000 slot machines, 200 table games and a large poker room, a 1,500-seat theater, as well as restaurants, nightclubs, a spa, 500,000 square feet of retail space, and a convention center.
The project is the latest and largest manifestation of a trend toward offering visitors more to do in Atlantic City than just gamble.
The city's 11 casinos have invested billions of dollars to attract more upscale visitors who are drawn by entertainment, dining and shopping options as opposed to day-trip gamblers who ride a bus into the city, play for a few hours, then go home.
"It's a very exciting project that is another step in Atlantic City's evolution to a full-scale destination resort, which is critical given the competition we currently face," said Joe Corbo, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey.
Atlantic City's casinos are being hurt this year by slots parlors in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York which are siphoning off gamblers that were once Atlantic City's exclusive domain.
MGM plans to build on approximately 60 acres of the site, setting 12 aside for future development, which may include a residential component. That is the same model the Borgata used when it opened in 2003; it is currently building a second hotel tower called The Water Club, which is expected to open before next summer.
Ground breaking is expected next year, with an anticipated opening in 2012.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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