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 re ...

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, owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts. 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 grandmothe ...

, 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 P ...

, 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. 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, and rebranded it as the Trump Regency, a hotel annex to the Plaza. Trump Plaza hosted the WrestleMania IV 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 var ...

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 program events. The casino was the scene of a notorious baccarat session in May 1990, in which the

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high roller Akio Kashiwagi 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 many major accolades, inclu ...

'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, 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 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 inst ...

. The plan was submitted as a prepackaged bankruptcy 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, 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 (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 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 ...

. 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 la ...

, senior lender for Trump Plaza's mortgage, declined to approve the sale for the proposed price.

Closure

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,

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, 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. 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 * Sarah's Cookies * Buffet (Various Names) *Room Service

Quick service

* Häagen-Dazs *

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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.

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