Atlantic City bets on Wynn

Thursday, March 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The City Council voted 6-3 Wednesday to give the company a huge parcel of land on which the company plans a 2,000-room project.

"We're not going to disappoint you," said Mirage Chairman Steve Wynn, who told council members after the vote the project would trigger a "remarkable renaissance" and help the city fulfill the promise of casino gaming.

The hotel-casino, which will be called Beau Rivage, is to be built on part of a 178-acre marina district parcel that once housed a municipal dump and is still home to the city public works yard.

Under the measure approved by the city council, Mirage has 18 months in which to perform an environmental assessment evaluating how serious the contamination problem is on the site.

If the site proves developable, Mirage then would have six months to obtain the permits. Mirage officials plan a 1999 opening for the resort.

Wednesday's vote came after a stormy 3 1/2-hour meeting attended by more than 200 people who were as divided as the city council on whether the measure should be approved.

Council members Ernest Coursey, Lorenzo Langford and John Kelly voted against it, saying the land was worth too much money to give away and that Mirage could end up selling the part it does not use.

Critics of the measure, including Wynn rival Donald Trump and Bally Entertainment Corp. chairman Arthur Goldberg, have accused the city of giving away property it could sell.

The land is assessed at $118 million, but when the city sought bids on it several years ago, there were none. Last year, when the city sent out a request for proposals by developers, the only ones received were from Mirage and Trump, who proposed a $25 million golf resort in conjunction with Harrah's hotel-casino.

Trump, who has taken out newspaper advertisements criticizing the land deal, could not be reached for comment following Wednesday's vote. A man who answered the telephone at his New York office said Trump had gone home.

Mayor James Whelan, a reluctant mediator in an escalating feud between Trump and Wynn, has sided with Wynn. He said Mirage's proposal was by far the superior one and that Trump had his chance at obtaining the land.

"I don't see this as anything but an attempt to stall competition, which he has done before," said Council President Rosalind Norell-Nance.

Trump and others also have criticized plans for a publicly-funded $250 million road-and-tunnel project that would link the Atlantic City Expressway with the marina district and Mirage's hotel.

The state has yet to commit money for the tunnel.

In addition, nine homes in a stable city neighborhood stand in the way of the tunnel, and one of the owners told council members it would never be built.

"Stop in the courts or stop it with the people. We'll stop it," said Pierre Hollingsworth, a resident of Horace J. Bryant Drive, the street the tunnel would go underneath.