Revel To Remain A Casino Hotel Says New Owners
October 2, 2014 1:41 pmIt looks like Atlantic City may have one more casino than it expected by the end of this year, after a representative speaking on behalf of new owner Brookfield Asset Management said it plans to reopen the huge Boardwalk property as a casino hotel.
On Wednesday, the auction for the $2.4 billion property was finally won by the Canadian asset management company for $110 million, trumping a $95.4 million bid earlier made by Florida developer Glenn Straub. Brookfield Asset Management already owns casinos in Las Vegas and The Bahamas and following its successful purchase of Revel, Andrew Willis, a spokesman for Brookfield Asset Management, said:
“With our ownership of the Hard Rock in Las Vegas and the Atlantis Paradise Island in Bahamas, we have expertise underwriting and operating these types of multi-faceted assets. We anticipate material synergies between these three high-quality properties.”
Before a formal sale is eventually finalized approval must first be granted by a federal judge at a hearing scheduled for October 7th, although in the meantime South Florida real estate developer Glenn Straub seems set to contest the results claiming Revel’s attorneys broke the rules of the auction. According to Straub, Brookfield placed a caveat on its final bid demanding a better offer by 6am or else its offer would be withdrawn, apparently leaving Straub with no recourse to experts because of the time of day. Consequently, Straub said he would request that Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gloria Burns declare him the new owner, stating:
“We’re going to object on Tuesday in front of the court. You can’t put a condition on the bid; they changed the procedures. How do I get any accountants? How do I get anybody to review it? I will not bid again with this kind of crapshoot. They have to abide by procedures.”
Despite Sraub’s protestations, however, Revel’s debtors seemed pleased with the auction’s outcome, with Michael D. Sirota, a lawyer for Revel’s unsecured creditors, stating that the 47-story beachfront tower’s sale to Brookfield “produced the best result possible.”