The Steel Pier Amusement Park in Atlantic City is an Oceanside entertainment complex that features rides and games for people of all ages including the: Log Flume, Helicopter Tour, Ferris Wheel, Sling Shot Bungee, Tilt-A-Whirl, Big Truck, Bumper Cars, Crazy Mouse, Disco, Double Decker Carousel, Dragon Jets, Flip N Fly Trampolines, Wet Boats, Rocket, Climbing Wall Giant Slide, Grand Prix Go Karts, Jump Cycles, Kiddie Coaster, Kiddie Go-Karts and much more. The Steel Pier is located on the Atlantic Ocean across from the Trump Taj Mahal Casino and has been open for one hundred and six years! So we ask the question the Steel Pier Atlantic City, what's next? 106 years!
The popular wisdom around town was that Steel Pier’s long and glorious history would come to an end after this summer, capping a 106-year run for the spot that was once referred to as the "Showplace of the Nation". Frank Sinatra and none other than the Rolling Stones performed there back in its heyday. When Donald Trump announced last year that the pier would be "closed forever" in order to further his real estate interests (read: really expensive and exclusive condos and/or apartments a la Trump Tower), that seemed to signal that the proverbial other shoe had dropped. Whether or not the condos even happen is complete conjecture at this point…condos on a pier on the ocean side of the Boardwalk invite a mess of other questions such as parking availability, fire suppression, and how long it would take to get thru a CAFRA hearing.
Recently, speculation has returned regarding Steel Pier’s lifespan. The variable in all of this is the possible acquisition of Trump’s casinos (see previous post). Whenever Donald Trump uses the word "forever", you can bet on him changing his mind at least several times. This logic also applies to Trump when considering his use of the words "wife", "hair care", and "relationship with the USGA". I had to throw in a U.S. Open reference: not only is it timely since this year’s Open just wrapped up, but rumors have run around almost from the course’s opening in 2004 that The Donald wants to have the U.S. Open come to Trump National in Bedminster, NJ, which is an extremely convenient 12-minute drive from the USGA Headquarters in Far Hills. Trump National is hosting the 2009 U.S. Junior and Girls’ Junior championships for right now; the award of any more prolific of a championship by David Fay and Co. remains to be seen. FYI: The U.S. Open has its courses selected thru 2014.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Atlantic City, the Steel Pier remains open for this season and may indeed receive another stay of execution. The management of the pier (Atlantic Pier Amusements) has ties to Dennis Gomes, who is the public face behind a possible private purchase of the three Trump casinos. Reports surfaced in the last few weeks that Gomes is the operating partner of Manhattan-based JEMB Realty, whose portfolio includes the Galleria in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the Goldman Sachs headquarters in the Manhattan Financial District. JEMB has signed a confidentiality agreement with Trump, so you’ve got to think that there’s something going on between the parties. The exclusive agreement is said to expire tomorrow, June 19th. The public can only hope that if Gomes is the man, the aforementioned relationship with Atlantic Pier will spell a brighter future for the Steel Pier. Confidentiality in public enterprises turning private was shown to be essential way back in the mid-1980’s during the RJR-Nabisco debacle, immortalized in the book and movie Barbarians at the Gate. Dennis Gomes ran the Taj Mahal in the early 1990s before going over to Tropicana and being the driving force behind the creation of The Quarter at the Tropicana. Private equity firms love to bring in gaming executives with Atlantic City specific experience: see the hiring of Kevin DeSanctis at Revel Entertainment (developers of the land north of Showboat) and Fred Buro’s return to town at the Tropicana Casino via Columbia Sussex, both incidentally Trump empire alumni.
Were the demise of Steel Pier to unfortunately become a reality, we hope that it would come at the last possible moment before the pier’s contents would need to be displaced. Steel Pier really is the only game in town for long-term (more than an hour’s worth) of child entertainment, and removal of it may well make some family vacations get reconsidered away from here. Granted, Atlantic City is not the family-friendly capital of the region, but if the kids that have to accompany the parents can be entertained while a parent or legal-age sibling does some gambling, goes shopping, or grabs a bite, we’ll take that too.
Mike Holovacs, the AC Mole, is a concierge at one of the larger casino properties in town. Feel free to leave comments or questions.
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