Developer Bart Blatstein has a track record in Atlantic City. He bought the former Showboat casino and has operated it as a semi-successful hotel and also an apartment building, the latter with a waiting list.
Earlier, he bought the Pier Shops at Caesars on the Boardwalk and changed the name to the Playground, with a vision for a music venue. But it flopped immediately and later he sold it back to Caesars at a loss.
Blatstein then bought AC’s famed oceanfront Garden Pier, the former site of the city’s history and art museum. Several failed projects there its future is yet to be determined.
His purchase of the Showboat, adjacent to Garden Pier, was accomplished about a sale to Stockton University fell through because of deed restrictions.
Finally, Blatstein made a big splash with his plans for a 100,000-square-foot year-round water park adjacent to Showboat. The project broke ground this month but given his spotty track record in Atlantic City, questions remain.
“What we do is transformational development,” Blatstein said at the groundbreaking. “We put in place a plan to patiently bring it about.”
The question is whether the groundbreaking was a publicity stunt to keep the idea afloat or the real beginning of the project. What is known, according to the Press of Atlantic City, is that Blatstein doesn’t yet have the funds for the water park.
The money part is supposed to fall into place with the sale of up to $97 million in tax-exempt municipal bonds to pay for the $100 million project. The Atlantic County Improvement Authority will oversee the sale.
“My understanding is they are going out to market within the next couple of weeks,” said authority Executive Director John Lamey at a recent board meeting. Specifically, to Citigroup. There has been no comment on what will happen should the bonds not sell. Janney Montgomery failed to sell them before Citigroup stepped in.
No worries. Blatstein took a similar path when his company transformed the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia from a down-and-out area into a popular place for clubs, restaurants and housing that attracted a young clientele.
The water park, which he plans to open in time for summer 2023, will have a zipline, an inside boardwalk and a 10,000-square-foot, adults-only zone with pedicures and manicures, drinks, and a place to escape the kids, according to Blatstein.
“We have a much larger plan,” Blatstein said of the overall area surrounding the Showboat. “Look for a lot of announcements in 2022.”
But he wouldn’t specify exactly what he hopes to build on Garden Pier.
“I can’t talk about the plans there, it would be premature,” he said.
In the newsletter, Liberty and Prosperity, Atlantic City attorney Seth Grossman questioned if taxpayers would be on the hook should the project never get off the ground even if the money is raised. Officials with the ACIA and the Atlantic County Commissioners who approved the loan claim the bonds have no risk for taxpayers. A warning confirming that taxpayers won’t guarantee the investment may not prove to be true, Grossman wrote.
During the past 50 years, taxpayers were almost always forced to bail out state and county “contract” and “revenue” bonds when projects failed.
Last summer, the ACIA switched underwriters from Janney Montgomery Scott to sell the revenue bonds. When Janney failed to find investors, the authority brought on Citigroup. Blatstein said Janney would still be part of the transaction. His lawyer, Jeffrey Winitsky, said a new underwriter would “give the transaction a fresh perspective and marketing effort.”
