A proposal to redevelop several lots near the former Atlantic Club Casino Hotel into townhouses recently took a step forward after the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority approved a site plan for the project.
Plans submitted to the state agency state that the applicant, New York-based firm Colosseo Atlantic City Inc., intends to create 76 new lots and develop 74 townhouses on South Montpelier, Boston, and Sovereign avenues, as well as Pacific and Atlantic avenues.
The entire project site spans 23 existing lots totaling 3.37 acres and consists mainly of empty parking lots that served the former casino. It is surrounded by a drug store and a bank on the north side, a motel and a parking lot on the east side, a parking garage on the west side, and the former Atlantic Club on the south side.
The project narrative submitted with the site plan application says that 26 units will span 20 feet by 40 feet and that 48 units will span 16 feet by 40 feet. Each unit will span four stories and include four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, three parking spaces, and a rooftop deck.
Given that the existing lots are located within three different zoning districts, the applicant was required to seek several use variances for the new lots. Colosseo Atlantic City was also required to obtain additional bulk variances for minimum lot area, depth, width, lot frontage, maximum building coverage, maximum impervious coverage, front yard setback, side yard setback, rear yard setback, and maximum height for the principal building. The project also required a variance for residential unit density per acre, as residential use is not permitted in the three zoning districts.
A technical review prepared by engineering consulting firm Environmental Resolutions Inc. says that the existing curb cuts and driveway aprons will be demolished and replaced with granite vertical curbs and concrete sidewalks. The report also notes that common access drives will be built off Montpelier, Sovereign, and Boston avenues. The project will also provide extensive landscaping improvements throughout the development and includes lots that are not owned by the applicant but rather by a limited liability firm based in Philadelphia – Endeavor AC.
While professionals working on behalf of the applicant said during the CRDA hearing held in March that the project is the second phase of a project the company commenced in 2023, the approval comes almost a year after it was reported that Colosseo Development Group listed the former Atlantic Club Casino Hotel for sale. The group asked for $55 million for the casino, according to a report in NJ.com, which links to a listing in CRExi.com. That listing says that the asking price is now $50 million and that the property has been on the market for more than 340 days as of May 27.
The report in NJ.com says the casino has been shuttered since Colosseo acquired it from Florida-based firm TJM Properties in 2014. That report came four months after it was reported that Colosseo had reached a deal with Hilton to operate part of the casino, which was slated for a makeover into a hotel and condominium complex.
Hilton operated the hotel at the former Atlantic Club until 2012, two years before the casino was shut down.
A report on Lite 96.9 WFPG says the hotel’s history began in the 1970s, when Steve Wynn acquired a motel at 3400 Pacific Avenue. He demolished the property to make way for what was then known as the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, which opened in 1980. The casino became the city’s top-earning casino in 1983, according to the report, and was sold in 1987 to Bally’s, which renamed it Bally’s Grand Hotel and Casino.
In 1996, Hilton acquired Bally’s and renamed the property the Atlantic City Hilton. By 2011, the hotel firm had ended its licensing agreement, and the Hilton name was removed. One year later, the casino was rebranded again as the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel. The hotel was then sold in 2014 to real estate firm TJM Properties, which listed the property two years later. Colosseo acquired it five years after that, in 2019.
