Straub Buys Revel for $82 Million

Glenn Straub has finally signed a deal to buy Atlantic City’s Revel Casino for $82m. After tormented months of legal proceedings, owners of the property have restructured a deal to sell the property to the Florida billionaire for a price about $13m less than his original offer in September.

Straub’s lawyer, Stuart Moskovitz, announced that the deal will be closed by March 31 and Glenn explained that a large part of the building will probably be operational by summer. Despite his previous comments on plans for the property where he stated that a gaming facility may not be included in the project, he announced that the establishment will be reopened as a casino.

Straub intends to invest nearly $100 million to renovate the former Revel, explaining that some of the building facilities will be relocated in order to make the hotel lobby more accessible. He revealed some details about his plans for the project that include a large medical/spa facility and an expansion of the exterior area of the building. A casino may not be the heart of the property due to Straub's plans to focus on non-gaming attractions that would revitalize Atlantic City, which saw four of its 12 casinos close last year.

After the Revel resort shut down on September 2, Straub’s Polo North Country Club made a bid that was later outbid by Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management. In November, the deal with Brookfield died due to a debt from the construction of Revel’s power plant so Straub’s bid became the lone remaining offer for the Revel.

Despite him being the only bidder for the Revel, the legal proceedings were very complicated due to ACR threats to cut off the electricity. Also, the former tenants were trying to take control over the leased space in the Boardwalk complex. Glenn missed a deadline on February 9th to close the deal because he didn't know whether he would be forced to honor the leases of those tenants.

Straub hopes that at least part of the building will be operational by summer but he still needs the bankruptcy court to approve the deal. He has worked miracles with failing properties so Atlantic City has very little reason to be worried about the future of the new and improved resort. The new name of the property is still unknown but it has been revealed that it won’t be called Revel.