Casino news source: Newsday - http://www.newsday.com
Meet Atlantic City's next big player
By WAYNE PARRY | Associated Press Writer
April 20, 2008
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - He once oversaw New Jersey's efforts to invest money from casinos into statewide development projects, and restored magnificent Victorian structures in Cape May into tourist icons while preserving their historic integrity.
Now Curtis Bashaw is on the verge of becoming a major player in Atlantic City.
He and a former casino executive are planning a new mega-casino at the south end of the Boardwalk at a cost of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
But first, Bashaw is gutting two old Boardwalk motels and rebuilding them as an ultra-luxury hotel called the Chelsea. He hopes the project will help power a wave of high-quality, non-gambling hotels in Atlantic City.
Bashaw is making a declaration of faith in the city's future at a time when gambling revenues are down, and credit is practically nonexistent, making the big plans of several casino developers look iffy.
"Atlantic City is going back to its roots as a resort," Bashaw said. "It was a resort town 100 years before it was a gambling destination. I think the next wave is here, and we're excited to be a part of it."
His plans for the Chelsea bucking trends that have prevailed for three decades in Atlantic City, where huge casinos feasted on the quarters fed to their slot machines by flocks of bus-riding senior citizens who returned home after a few hours' diversion.
Now, the emphasis is on non-gambling attractions including restaurants featuring celebrity chefs, spas and top-ticket entertainment. The idea is to draw people to the casinos who have no interest in gambling.
Bashaw and business partner Craig Wood are taking the concept a step further with the Chelsea, the first non-gambling boutique hotel to open on the Boardwalk since the early 1960s.
While it won't be Atlantic City's only non-gambling hotel, it will be one of the ritziest and most expensive. The 330-room, $105 million project involves gutting two old motels, the Howard Johnson's and the Holiday Inn, and melding them into one hotel with a '50s and '60s retro theme. Rooms will run from $275 a night to $1,500 for what Bashaw terms "the rock star suite."
In June, the Water Club, a $400 million, 800-room non-gambling hotel is due to open next to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. Bashaw and Borgata management are talking about ways to explore "synergies" between the two properties and the similar clientele they are likely to attract, Bashaw said.
And a similar project called "Prasada" is planned on the Boardwalk at Kentucky Avenue. Developer Christopher DiGeorge wants to open a 200-room non-gambling hotel by 2010 or 2011.
Bashaw's 20-story Chelsea will have two pools (one of them saltwater) and a spa, and two eateries managed by noted restaurateur Stephen Starr. A grand opening ceremony is planned for July 18.
Bashaw, 47, was executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority from 2003 to 2005, and has been redeveloping properties in Cape May and New York for years. His best-known restorations include Congress Hall and the Virginia Hotel in Cape May.
"I grew up in south Jersey and I spent every summer of my life at the Jersey shore," he said. "We settled in Cape May, and my career started there with renovating some of the old buildings where I worked as a kid. So there's a real sand-in-the-shoes attachment to the Jersey shore that has definitely stayed with me.
"Coming up from Cape May in the summer and listening to my grandmother decry the decline of Atlantic City, it's fun to be part of the rebirth of the town," he added.
While his hotel plan eschews gambling, Bashaw and Wallace Barr, the former Caesars CEO and gambling industry titan, plan to build a casino at the southern end of the Boardwalk at the foot of Route 40.
They've been buying land for the past several years, and now have a 14-acre site big enough for a 1,500 to 2,000-room hotel-casino, with the ability to add 800 more rooms in a second phase. The price is expected to be what other mega-casinos are going for right now in Atlantic City: between $1.5 billion to $2 billion, Bashaw said.
He's not worried about competition from the likes of Pinnacle Entertainment and Revel Entertainment, both of which are planning similar casino-hotel projects on the Boardwalk, and MGM Grand, which plans a mammoth development in the marina district.
"The critical mass of Pinnacle and Revel and MGM and our project coming into play is the rising tide lifts all boats theory," Bashaw said. "We're not fighting against them; there's plenty of room for all of us here."
There's no name or theme yet for the development, which is still a few years away. But Bashaw has lined up the real estate and applied for key state and local permits.
An avid reader and world traveler, Bashaw recently bought 60 acres of farmland in West Cape May, where he's literally putting down new roots.
"I just got a new Holland tractor and I'm a weekend warrior out there," he said. "I like gardening a lot. There's something very tactile about getting your hands in the soil and planning how the garden is going to be and watching it grow and materialize. Not that it's totally comparable to real estate development, but it's nice to see tangible fruits of your labor." |
|
World Casino Directory 
Gambling Forums 
