Blast from the past: Atlantic City considers casinos on piers

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:48 a.m.

Once the sites of dance marathons, vaudeville shows and diving horses, they have been bypassed in the city's casino renaissance. Now, city officials are considering a plan to put casinos on them, marrying the past to the future.

"The Boardwalk and the piers have never risen back to where they were in their glory days, and this is one way to make that happen," said city Planning Director Kenneth Platt.

The proposal, which would require amendments to city zoning laws, would allow up to 35 percent of a pier's square footage to be used for gambling and 15 percent above that for hotel space. The rest would have to be dedicated to recreational or retail use.

The casino space would have to be set back from the Boardwalk by 25 percent of the pier length. In addition, it would have to connected to a host casino across the Boardwalk by a pedestrian walkway.

The proposal, which passed the city Planning Board this week, will come before the City Council within a month.

"From a policy standpoint, it's potentially a big boost to the Boardwalk," said Michael Pollock, a former regulator who writes a newsletter about Atlantic City casinos.

"Historically, the piers were centerpieces of the economy. Allowing gambling isn't a panacea for rebuilding them, but if done properly, it might be the incentive needed to develop them," Pollock said.

"The piers were more than places to amuse the kiddies," wrote historian Vicki Gold Levi in her book "Atlantic City: 125 Years of Ocean Madness."

"They were some of the principal stages on which American show business developed, from minstrel shows to Broadway musicals, from vaudeville comedy to big bands, from the rise of the movies to riotous pop music. But they were ticky-tacky, and you always knew that because they had to be repainted every season, the day would come when they'd be left to decay."

Indeed, time and neglect have taken a toll.

Heinz Pier, once known as "Crystal Palace by the Sea," was destroyed by a hurricane in 1944 that also severely damaged the city-owned Garden Pier, which now has an art museum and a historical museum on what's left.

A 1988 fire wrecked Steeplechase Pier. Resorts Casino Hotel owns the rights to rebuild it.

Still standing are Steel Pier, an amusement pier across the Boardwalk from Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort; Central Pier, an amusement pier on the Boardwalk at Tennessee Avenue; and Ocean One Mall, the former Million Dollar Pier, which is located across the Boardwalk from Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino.

Caesars wants to spend $250 million to renovate Ocean One into a 270-room casino hotel addition with 45,000 square feet of casino space.

"If this gets passed within the next month or two, we would be ready to start actual construction within a year," Caesars President Mark Juliano told The Press of Atlantic City.

Trump spokesman Alan Marcus said Friday he knew of no immediate plans by Trump to put casino space on Steel Pier.

The city's action on casino piers will be watched closely - and not just by the casino companies. Levi said the piers should include family attractions and some historical element that educates people about the past.

"They should also commemorate the site they're on, visually and multimedia wise. There's only five piers. It's imperative that people understand this was the first place that had ocean amusement piers," she said.