BY SUZETTE PARMLEY
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Atlantic City, NJ, MARCH 31, 2008 - Not to be outdone by two other competitors that are opening gleaming hotel towers here, the final steel beam will be hoisted into the Trump Taj Mahal's new $255 million tower today.
On hand for the traditional topping off ceremony will be Donald J. Trump and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, who joined Trump Entertainment Resort Inc.'s board of directors last year, and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.
The tower marks the first major addition to the Taj Mahal, Trump's flagship casino here, since the gambling palace opened on April 2, 1990.
With a $1 billion pricetag, the Taj Mahal was then the most expensive casino ever built in Atlantic City. Trump Entertainment also owns and operates Trump Plaza and Trump Marina casinos here.
The new Taj tower, slated for a late summer opening, will offer 786 rooms and is expected to give the casino a boost. Year-to-date revenue ended February 2008, showed the casino's total revenue was down 3.5 percent from the previous year, according to data from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.
Earlier this month, Harrah's Marina debuted its $387 million, 45-story Waterfront Tower that added 960 rooms to its inventory.
In June, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Atlantic City's top grossing casino, will unveil the 800-room, Water Club tower. The $400 million hotel will feature five pools, luxury lofts, upscale retail shops and restaurants, and no place to gamble.
Combined, the three towers will add over 2,500 hotel rooms to the Atlantic City market, which is racing to become an overnight destination amid new slots competition from Pennsylvania and New York.
|
