Trump Plaza was a
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
and
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
on the Boardwalk in
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497. , owned by
Trump Entertainment Resorts
Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. was a gambling and hospitality company. The company previously owned and operated the now-demolished Trump Plaza and Trump World's Fair (both in Atlantic City), the now-closed Trump Marina, Trump Casino & Hote ...
. Designed by architect Alan Lapidus, it operated from May 15, 1984 until September 16, 2014.
History
The beginning
The Trump Organization
The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. Around 250 of these entities use the Trump name. The organization was founded in 1927 by Donald Trump's paternal grandmother ...
, a company owned by real estate developer
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, began construction of the casino in June 1982.
Harrah's
Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...
, the gaming unit of
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...
, joined as a partner a month later. Trump would oversee the construction, while Harrah's would operate the property, referred to as Harrah's Boardwalk, after opening.
The property opened as Harrah's at Trump Plaza on May 14, 1984. The complex contained 614 rooms, seven restaurants, a health club, a 750-seat showroom and a casino, all on a narrow plot of land next to
Caesars Atlantic City
Caesars Atlantic City is a luxury hotel, casino, and spa resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Like Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, it has an ancient Roman and ancient Greek theme. Atlantic City's second casino, it opened in 1979 as the Boardwalk Re ...
. Five months after opening, the name was changed to simply Trump Plaza, to avoid confusion with
Harrah's Marina. Part of the reason for this is that Harrah's was commonly associated with and attracted low-rolling gamblers, but Trump had built 85
high-roller suites, which were rarely used.
The casino performed poorly, with pre-tax profits of just $144,000 in the first half of 1985.
[ ] The poor results exacerbated disagreements between Trump and Harrah's,
leading to Trump buying out Harrah's interest in the property for $70 million in May 1986.
In 1989, Trump paid $62 million to purchase the neighboring, unfinished
Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino
The Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino was a proposed hotel and casino that was to be built in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the late 1970s. Due to financial and legal difficulties, the hotel was never completed and a casino license was nev ...
, including a hotel tower that had formerly been a Holiday Inn, and a nearby parking lot.
Trump planned to expand the Plaza onto the Penthouse site.
Trump also spent $63 million to purchase the bankrupt
Atlantis Casino Hotel, separated from Trump Plaza by the
Atlantic City Convention Hall
Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, formerly known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is a multi-purpose arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Atlantic City in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, New Jersey. It was Atlantic City's pri ...
, and rebranded it as the Trump Regency, a hotel annex to the Plaza.
Trump Plaza hosted the
WrestleMania IV
WrestleMania IV was the fourth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on March 27, 1988, at the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atl ...
and
WrestleMania V
WrestleMania V was the fifth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on April 2, 1989, at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.The ven ...
events in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Although the
World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
billed the events as being held at Trump Plaza, in reality Trump was only the sponsor of both events, which were held at the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall. From 1985 to 1998, the hotel was also the onsite host of 19
professional boxing
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...
program events.
The casino was the scene of a notorious baccarat session in May 1990, in which the
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
high roller
Akio Kashiwagi
was a wealthy Tokyo-based real estate investor who was known for the large amounts of money he wagered at Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos.
Business background
Kashiwagi owned a home and office in Tokyo, out of which he ran the Kashiwagi Shoji ...
lost $10 million. The incident was later fictionalized in
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
's film ''
Casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
''.
Decline
Trump Plaza's revenues took a sharp decline in 1990, due to competition from its newly opened sister property, the
Trump Taj Mahal
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City (formerly Trump Taj Mahal) is a casino and hotel on the List of boardwalks in the United States#Atlantic City, Boardwalk, owned by Hard Rock Cafe, Hard Rock International, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. ...
, which was a mile away.
The casino narrowly averted default on a 1991 payment to bondholders by taking out a $25 million mortgage on its parking garage.
Trump then negotiated a
debt restructuring
Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continue ...
with the Plaza's creditors, under which their $250 million of debt would be exchanged for $200 million of bonds with a lower interest rate, plus $100 million of
preferred stock
Preferred stock (also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds) is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt ins ...
. The plan was submitted as a
prepackaged bankruptcy
Pre-packaged insolvency (a "pre-pack") is a kind of bankruptcy procedure, where a restructure plan is agreed in advance of a company declaring its insolvency. In the United States pre-packs are often used in a Chapter 11 filing. In the United King ...
in March 1992.
Construction of a $42-million expansion began in 1993.
The plan called for demolition of the unfinished Penthouse casino, the addition of 30,000 square feet of gaming space, and renovation of the former Holiday Inn building to become Trump Plaza's East Tower, with 361 hotel rooms.
The expansion was at the center of a major
eminent domain
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
court case, when Trump sought to obtain the property of
Vera Coking Vera Coking is a retired homeowner whose Atlantic City, New Jersey, boarding house was the focus of an eminent domain case involving Donald Trump.
History
In 1961, Coking and her husband bought the property at 127 South Columbia Place as a summert ...
, a retired homeowner whose house was adjacent to the Penthouse casino. Coking, represented by the
Institute for Justice
The Institute for Justice (IJ) is a libertarian non-profit public interest law firm in the United States. It has litigated ten cases before the United States Supreme Court dealing with eminent domain, interstate commerce, public financing for e ...
, was victorious, and plans to build a limousine parking lot were thwarted.
In 1995, Trump granted ownership of Trump Plaza to his new publicly traded company,
Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts
Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. was a gambling and hospitality company. The company previously owned and operated the now-demolished Trump Plaza and Trump World's Fair (both in Atlantic City), the now-closed Trump Marina, Trump Casino & Hote ...
(later Trump Entertainment Resorts). The company also acquired the Trump Regency hotel.
The East Tower opened in two phases, in October 1995 and February 1996. The expansion continued with the May 1996 opening of Trump World's Fair, a $48-million renovation of the Trump Regency with an added casino, connected to Trump Plaza by a
loggia
In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...
across the Atlantic City Convention Hall.
On May 24, 2011, Trump Entertainment Resorts announced that a decision would be made within two months to either sell the casino or to renovate and expand it, possibly with a joint venture partner. In February 2013, the company proposed to sell the property for $20 million to the
Meruelo Group
Alex Meruelo (born March 27, 1964) is a Cuban-American billionaire who holds business interests in banking, real estate, media, restaurants, food, casinos, and professional sports. He is the owner of Meruelo Group, as well as Meruelo Media, whic ...
, a California-based company whose businesses include the
Grand Sierra Resort
Grand Sierra Resort (formerly MGM Grand Reno, Bally's Reno and Reno Hilton) is a hotel and casino located approximately three miles east of Downtown Reno, Nevada. The hotel has 1,990 guest rooms and suites, 12 restaurants, including Charlie Palmer ...
in
Reno
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...
. Meruelo planned to make significant investments in the property and rename it. The deal fell through when
Carl Icahn
Carl Celian Icahn (; born February 16, 1936) is an American financier. He is the founder and controlling shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a public company and diversified conglomerate holding company based in Sunny Isles Beach. Icahn takes l ...
, senior lender for Trump Plaza's mortgage, declined to approve the sale for the proposed price.
Closure
![Former Trump Plaza, Atlantic City](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Former_Trump_Plaza%2C_Atlantic_City.jpg)
On July 12, 2014, it was reported that the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino would close on September 16, 2014, if a buyer was not found, putting an estimated 1,000 employees out of work. In early August 2014, Donald Trump filed a lawsuit requesting his name be removed from the facility, because it had fallen into disrepair, in violation of the licensing agreement for his name.
Trump Plaza closed permanently on September 16, 2014.
This was the fourth Atlantic City casino to close in 2014, after the
Atlantic Club,
Showboat
A showboat, or show boat, was a floating theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, to bring culture and entertainment to the inhabitants of river frontiers. Showboats were a ...
, and
Revel. The closure left approximately 1,300 employees out of work.
Demolition
The building was set to be demolished in the spring of 2018, except for the East Tower and the parking garage. However, on May 29, 2018, the demolition plans had been delayed until at least the following fall due to funding disputes. On December 14, 2018, another demolition deadline passed. Carl Icahn bought the deed to the land Trump Plaza sits on, and terminated the complicated lease on the land that drove potential buyers out in late December 2018.
On June 11, 2020, Mayor
Marty Small Sr.
Marty Small Sr. (born March 25, 1974) is an American politician who is the current mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was elected 8-0 by a vote of the Atlantic City city council after the previous mayor Frank Gilliam resigned upon pleading ...
announced that Icahn has submitted plans for the hotel towers to be imploded, as they were considered a danger to public safety because of falling debris. Most of Trump Plaza in Atlantic City was slated to be demolished on January 29, 2021.
Atlantic City planned to auction off the right to press the button detonating the explosives, with the proceeds to benefit the
Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City. The auction was cancelled after lawyers for IEP AC Plaza LLC, a subsidiary company of Icahn Enterprises which owns the building, said they were unaware of the fundraiser and demanded it be stopped. The Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was imploded on February 17, 2021.
Hotel
Trump Plaza had 906 hotel rooms, and offered five room styles for guests to choose from. There were also several amenities provided to hotel guests, such as a pool and a fitness center.
Rooms and suites
* Deluxe room: A regular hotel room. Accustomed by two queen-size beds, or one king-side bed.
* Ocean View suite: The same luxuries as the regular hotel room but with a view of the Ocean.
* Executive suite: A suite with two bedrooms and a living area as well as the kitchen.
* Contemporary suite: A suite with three bedrooms and a living area as well as the kitchen.
* Penthouse suite: A five bedroom suite with a marble/gold chandelier. Two living rooms, a kitchen, pool-area on the deck, and a statue of Donald John Trump in the foyer.
Amenities
* Indoor pool
* Spa
* Salon
* Fitness center
Casino
Trump Plaza contained of gaming space and featured standard casino games such as slot machines, video poker, blackjack, poker, craps, roulette, baccarat, and others.
Dining
Trump Plaza had several dining options from which patrons could choose.
Fine dining
* Max's Steakhouse
* Roberto's Ristorante
Casual dining
* 24 Central Cafe
* China Cafe
* Evo
* Liquid Bar
*
Rainforest Cafe
Rainforest Cafe is a jungle-themed restaurant chain owned by Landry's, Inc., of Houston. It was founded by Steven Schussler. The first location opened in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, on February 3, 1994. By 1997, the chain co ...
* Sarah's Cookies
* Buffet (Various Names)
*Room Service
Quick service
*
Häagen-Dazs
Häagen-Dazs ( , ) is an American ice cream brand, established by Reuben and Rose Mattus in The Bronx, New York, in 1960. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, the company opened its first retail store in Brooklyn, Ne ...
*
Nathan's Famous
Nathan's Famous, Inc. is an American company that operates a chain of fast food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of the Bro ...
*
Sbarro
Sbarro, LLC is an American pizzeria chain that specializes in New York-style pizza sold by the slice and other Italian-American cuisine. In 2011, the company was ranked 15th in foreign sales among U.S.-based quick-serve and fast-casual compan ...
*
Starbucks Coffee
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain.
As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 cou ...
*
Auntie Anne's
Auntie Anne's is an American franchised chain of pretzel shops founded by Anne F. Beiler and her husband, Jonas, in 1988. Auntie Anne's serves products such as pretzels, dips, and beverages. They also offer Pretzels & More Homemade Baking Mix f ...
Bars and nightclubs
Trump Plaza contained one nightclub, Liquid Bar and Jezebel's, as well as a seasonal bar on the beach named The Beach Bar at Trump Plaza.
Shopping
There were a few shopping options for those wishing to shop at Trump Plaza.
Stores
* Landau Jewelers
* Front Page Gift Shop
* Floral services
Events
Sports
Boxing and mixed martial arts matches were held at the casino.
See also
*
Gambling in New Jersey
Gambling in New Jersey includes casino gambling in Atlantic City, the New Jersey Lottery, horse racing, off-track betting, charity gambling, amusement games, and social gambling. New Jersey's gambling laws are among the least restrictive in the ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Atlantic City
The following is a list of the tallest buildings in Atlantic City.
Casino hotels dominate the skyline and are interspersed with residential highrises. Prior to their construction following the legalization of gambling in the 1970s grand hote ...
References
External links
Emporis Page
{{Trump businesses
Defunct casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Casino hotels
Donald Trump real estate
Boxing venues in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Mixed martial arts venues in New Jersey
Resorts in New Jersey
Skyscraper hotels in Atlantic City, New Jersey
1984 establishments in New Jersey
Hotels disestablished in 2014
2014 disestablishments in New Jersey
Hotels established in 1984
Hotel buildings completed in 1984
American companies disestablished in 2014
Buildings and structures demolished in 2021
Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion
Former skyscrapers
Demolished hotels in New Jersey