What to know
- A spot on the Atlantic City boardwalk, where movie stars, athletes and rock stars used to party and a future president honed his instincts for bravado and exaggeration was reduced on Wednesday morning to a steaming pile of rubble.
- The former Trump Plaza casino imploded after falling into such degradation that pieces of the building began to come off and fall to the floor.
- And the demolition of the former president Donald Trump’s casino jewel of the former empire paves the way for an excellent development opportunity in the middle of the boardwalk, where the Plaza used to advertise itself as “the centerpiece of Atlantic City”.
A spot on the Atlantic City boardwalk, where movie stars, athletes and rock stars used to party and a future president honed his instincts for bravado and exaggeration was reduced on Wednesday morning to a steaming pile of rubble.
The former Trump Plaza casino imploded after falling into such degradation that pieces of the building began to come off and fall to the floor.
And the demolition of the former jewel of former President Donald Trump’s casino empire will pave the way for an excellent development opportunity in the middle of the boardwalk, where the Plaza used to advertise itself as “the centerpiece of Atlantic City”.
“The way we put Trump Plaza and the city of Atlantic City on the map for everyone was really incredible,” said Bernie Dillon, the casino’s event manager from 1984 to 1991. “Everyone, from Hulk Hogan to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was the full range of personalities. The night before a Tyson fight, I suddenly stopped and looked around for four rows while the place was filling up, and there were two guys approaching and having a private conversation: Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty.
“It was really like that: you had Madonna and Sean Penn coming in, Barbra Streisand and Don Johnson, Muhammad Ali would be there, Oprah sitting next to Donald’s ring,” he recalled. “It was a special moment. I’m sorry to see this go. “
Demolition crews placed explosives at strategic points along the building’s support structures designed to topple their legs, knocking the building down on itself, with the debris falling slightly in a north-northeast direction, said fire chief Scott Evans.
“It will collapse like a deck of cards,” he said.
Although the former president built it, the building is now owned by a different billionaire, Carl Icahn, who acquired the remaining two Trump casinos in 2016 after the last of his many bankruptcies.
Mayor Marty Small proposed using the demolition to raise funds for the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City, and started an auction for the right to push the button that would bring down the structure.
But Icahn – a donor and former special economic adviser to Trump – objected to issues of safety and responsibility and caused the auction house to suspend bids. Icahn said he would replace the $ 175,000 that had already been tendered with his own money.
Opened in 1984, when Trump was a real estate developer in his pre-political days, Trump Plaza was for a time the most successful casino in Atlantic City. It was the place to be when mega-events, like a Mike Tyson boxing match or a Rolling Stones show, took place next door, at Boardwalk Hall.
We are just a week away from what may be the biggest winter event in Atlantic City, New Jersey; the implosion of the former Trump Plaza Casino Hotel. The event is expected to attract many people who wish to see the property listed. Ted Greenberg, from NBC10, shows us where people will be and cannot be.
Ron Gatewood, a food and beverage worker at Trump Plaza from 1986 until its closure in 2014, brought food and drinks to stars like Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross and Barry White in their hotel rooms.
“They were very realistic people,” recalls Gatewood. “They never made you feel less. They gave very good tips. Well, some do, anyway. “
The casino even had a cameo in the movie “Ocean’s Eleven”. When George Clooney and Brad Pitt recruited the character of actor Bernie Mac to help with a robbery at a Las Vegas casino, they pulled him out of Trump Plaza, where he was a drug dealer.
Bob McDevitt, president of the main casino workers’ union, said the place exuded glamor and excitement when it opened.
“When there was a Tyson fight, it was like New Year’s Eve across the city, huge traffic jams,” he said.
But things started to go sour for Trump Plaza when Donald Trump opened up neighboring Trump Taj Mahal in 1990, with overwhelming debts that led the company to dump most of its resources – and money – into the shiny new hotel and casino.
“The moment the Taj Mahal opened, a decline began for the Plaza,” said McDevitt. “To ensure the success of the Taj Mahal, they sent all the big punters from Trump Plaza and Trump’s Castle to Taj, and really didn’t invest much in the Plaza.”
Trump Taj Mahal, one of the casinos acquired by Icahn, has since reopened under new ownership as Hard Rock.
Trump Plaza was the last of four Atlantic City casinos to close in 2014, victims of a supersaturated casino market in New Jersey City and the greater Northeast. There were 12 casinos in early 2014; now there are nine.
When it closed, Trump Plaza was the worst-performing casino in Atlantic City, receiving as much money from players in eight and a half months as market leader Borgata every two weeks.