The new owner of the former Revel casino and the utility company that shut off service to it have reached agreement on repowering the building for two weeks.
The agreement to allow fire detection and suppression systems to resume operating was reached Tuesday during a hearing between Glenn Straub and ACR Energy Partners. Straub will pay $262,500 for 2 megawatts of service to the building over two weeks.
"I determine that there is an agreement, that the terms of it have been spelled out in detail on the record and accepted," Judge Jerome Simandle said at the hearing, according to a transcript obtained by The Associated Press.
ACR lawyer Timothy Lowry told the AP the power could resume flowing as soon as Friday, assuming electricians are at the site to handle the transaction.
"If everything goes smoothly, we will be able to turn it on Friday," Lowry said.
Straub did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
Atlantic City is fining Straub $5,000 for each day that fire safety systems are not working. Electricity is also necessary to repower a red light at the top of the 710-foot-tall building to warn aircraft away from it at night or in bad weather.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Straub and ACR have been battling for months over whether the Florida developer would use it to power Revel or whether he would — or could — turn to a different supplier. ACR obtained a restraining order last week prohibiting Straub from hooking up temporary generating equipment to equipment the utility owns inside the casino.
A hearing scheduled for Monday to discuss making the temporary restraining order permanent has been postponed due to the agreement.
The judge also got both sides to agree to mediation of their efforts to try to work out a long-term deal to restore electric, heat and air conditioning and water service to the building. If power remains off for an extended period of time, mold damage is a concern.
And the fire department has warned that without water flowing through the pipes and electricity available to carry firefighters to the top of the 47-story building, fighting a fire there could be next to impossible.
Straub bought Revel on April 7 for $82 million out of bankruptcy court. ACR cut service to the building two days later in the absence of a contract with Straub for future service.
