No One Will Be Gambling at Trump Plaza Again Until At Least 2025
Trump Plaza in September 2014, its last month of operation. (Photo: Dan McQuade)
Trump Plaza won’t operate again as a casino for at least another 10 years — if ever.
Last month, we told you about a proposed deed restriction on Trump Plaza that would prevent it from being used as a casino for another 10 years. After more than 30 years in operation, the Trump Plaza closed on September 16th of last year.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, the closed casino’s parent company, sought the deed restriction in order to avoid a proposed PILOT program that would replace the casinos’ property taxes. Trump Entertainment has appealed its tax bills for 2014 and 2015, and believes it pay less in property taxes than it would under the new program. The PILOT law would apply to all properties that operated as casinos that operated in Atlantic City in 2014.
When it opened, Trump Plaza was the largest casino in Atlantic City. High-roller Akio Kashiwagi gambled $14 million an hour at the casino in 1990.
The casino couldn’t keep pace with rivals and was sold for a bargain-basement $20 million. Investor Carl Icahn, who holds the mortgage, wouldn’t approve the deal. Its 39-story tower now sits empty.
A buyer could pay Trump Entertainment Resorts a fee in order to release the deed restriction, the Associated Press reported. Trump CEO Robert Griffin wouldn’t say what the fee to release the deed restriction would be.
It’s unlikely anyone would want to use Trump Plaza as a casino anyway. Atlantic City mayor Don Guardian said earlier this year Trump Plaza would be demolished.