Revel Gets Money to Finish AC Casino

Revel Entertainment said Thursday that it has secured the final $1 billion-plus it needs to finish its half-built casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, a project that is widely considered the best chance for the nation's second-largest gambling market to recover from four years of plunging revenue.

The remaining $1.15 billion in financing was secured Thursday, and work on the stalled project will resume as quickly as possible, Kevin DeSanctis, Revel's CEO, told The Associated Press.

In what was surely an understatement, he described himself as “a little relieved.”

“We're extremely pleased to be moving forward,” DeSanctis said. “We think we will have a really positive impact on Atlantic City and South Jersey.”

Revel was begun in 2007, before the national recession hit and credit markets dried up. It ran out of money in January 2009 and halted work with just the exterior nearing completion.

Gov. Chris Christie has committed $261 million in state tax credits to help Revel once it's open.

It will open in the summer of 2012 with 1,100 hotel rooms, and is likely to be Atlantic City's last mega-resort for some time.

When fully operational, Revel will employ 5,500 people. It will generate about 2,000 construction jobs, providing a much-needed boost for the southern New Jersey economy.

But just as big is the psychological boost that completion of Revel will provide for Atlantic City.

Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley, the project's major backer, pulled out in April 2010, deciding it was better to take a nearly $1 billion loss on the project than see it through to completion.

Nothing about Revel has come easily. Six months before its developers ran out of money, and interior construction slammed to a halt, three key executives working on the project died in a plane crash in Minnesota.

The city's casino service workers union campaigned against a $350 million tax break the casino sought, fearing the new development could cause other casinos to close and throw its members out of work.

Even the wind has targeted Revel, toppling a construction crane off its roof. When welders were dismantling what was left of the crane, part of the building caught fire.

The ocean-themed casino is being built at the northern end of the Boardwalk, next to the Showboat Casino Hotel. Its gently sloping contours are designed to appear sculpted by ocean waves.