New Jersey Cracking Hard Rock

When Hard Rock International decided to invest half-a-billion dollars in Atlantic City there was some quid pro quo. Hard Rock CEO Jim Allen (l.) says promises from city, state and CRDA officials have gone by the wayside.

Hard Rock Atlantic City has made a dramatic impact on the casino market in the city. Now the second-highest revenue producer, the Hard Rock brings consistent high-quality entertainment to the city for the first time in almost a decade. Hard Rock Live (the Etess Arena) has played host to such superstars as Carrie Underwood, Pitbull, Maroon 5, Stone Temple Pilots, Blake Shelton, Counting Crows, Amy Shumer, Elvis Costello, Tim McGraw and many others. A secondary theater, Sound Waves, presents comedy and short-run shows, and the lobby bar has live music every day. And Hard Rock’s entertainment policy has forced the other casinos to keep pace by booking similar acts.

With more than $500 million invested in the Hard Rock Atlantic City, Hard Rock International CEO Jim Allen, a New Jersey native, is happy with the direction of the property

“We’re happy with where we are in our GGR (gross gaming revenue),” he says. “We certainly admire what MGM and Boyd have done in building the Borgata. We don’t have any goals of knocking them off the top of the mountain when it comes to GGR. Our focus now is to utilize the revenues that we’re generating to concentrate on margins and bringing the numbers to the bottom line.”

He’s not so happy with the state, the city or the CRDA.

“Candidly, we’re disappointed in Atlantic City,” he says. “There’s no other way to say it. I received so much criticism for putting half a billion dollars into this project. We didn’t go borrow that money. Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment wrote a check for $510 million in cash. There’s no debt on the facility. We do have minority partners who worked with us. There were all kinds of promises that Trenton and CRDA and the city made. And none of them were kept. I think Atlantic City is in worse shape today than it was two years ago. And that’s a shame.”

He’s particularly irked with the city.

“And now we have another mayor arrested,” he complains. “The parks that used to be green are now barren. There’s trash everywhere. Pacific Avenue has the identical problems it’s had for the past 30 years, and it’s only getting worse.”

But the state doesn’t get a pass from Allen, either.

“We’ve voiced our concerns to Sheila Oliver, the lieutenant Governor, as well as to Governor Murphy,” he explains. “Look. We’re bullish on Atlantic City but the state, city and CRDA don’t seem to be. We can’t have another mayor arrested. We can’t have all the corruption. We can’t have the trash. It’s a shame that they did not rise to the occasion with a company coming in and putting $500 million into that city.”

He’s happy that investment is finally coming into the center of town and says he’s happy about the development of the “Orange Loop,” but admits that more needs to be done.

“It’s a wonderful start,” he says. “I don’t want to criticize it in any way. And the new Stockton campus is great. But if it had been put in the center of town instead of the other end you would have seen some of the urban blight start to change. That could have been the catalyst to move development on both directions.”

Allen touts the changes in the entertainment scene and says he hopes it will change the way people think about Atlantic City.

“Atlantic City needs to focus on big name entertainment and creating excitement so the perception of Atlantic City changes,” he explains. “If you change the perception maybe the people who enjoy gaming are going to say ‘Maybe we’re not going to stay at our local casino in Pennsylvania or New York, maybe we’ll take an hour ride down to Atlantic City on this beautiful day.’ The more that is done in that area, the better off it will be.”