In A.C., Trump World’s Fair still in trouble, even after closing

John Curran

Tuesday, May 2, 2000 | 5:30 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Snakebitten almost from the day it opened, a Boardwalk casino is still causing problems - seven months after closing its doors for good.

Falling glass panes from part of Trump World's Fair forced the closing of a two-block stretch of the Boardwalk on Sunday and Monday, angering nearby merchants. It was reopened Tuesday.

The city, meanwhile, is still struggling to handle difficult situations with the closing of the casino in October. The reduction of the property's assessment - from $220 million when it was open to $67 million now - plunged the city's budget into chaos, prompting plans for a tax increase.

"I don't believe in bad luck, but if any building has it, it's this one," said Michael Pollock, editor of a gaming industry newsletter.

Built as a Playboy casino by Hugh Hefner, the 21-story steel-and-glass tower was the first casino to be built from scratch after casinos were legalized here.

It had an inauspicious debut: Gawkers came to look at the cocktail servers in their sexy Playboy bunny outfits, crowding out gamblers. A year later, casino regulators denied Hefner a license, forcing him to sell out to partner Elsinore Corp.

As the Atlantis, the casino had another dubious first - the first New Jersey casino to file for bankruptcy.

Donald Trump's luck was no better. After buying the building for $63 million in 1989, he operated it only as a hotel until 1996, when he pumped $48 million into it and opened it as an addition to Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino.

But the layout of the awkward, three-tiered casino didn't work well for him, either. By the time Trump World's Fair closed in October, it was losing more than $10 million a year.

"The only good thing that can happen now is to knock the whole thing down," said city construction inspector Steve Frame.

That's exactly what's happening. But what can go wrong will go wrong. It already has.

A demolition company is tearing down the casino's six-story bus depot and ballroom annex and will, before year's end, knock down the 21-story tower, too.

Work crews preparing the building for demolition broke through its interior walls and broke the exterior glass panels. That, in turn, allowed wind inside the building, which has blown out panels - raining glass on the Boardwalk below - at least four times.

Bill Golas, owner of Food Court Express, a Boardwalk food outlet located next door to Trump World's Fair, said the closing of the Boardwalk has cost him thousands of dollars in business.

The only way to enter his restaurant is from the Boardwalk, and when it's closed, so is he.

"If I do three or four more weekends like this, I won't be able to stay in business," Golas said Monday.

Next door, American Souvenirs manager Yaqub Abro, said his business was suffering, too. "We can't have $100 days and stay open. It's not our fault but we're the ones in trouble because of it," he said of the falling glass.

They worry about the fallout once demolition begins on the World's Fair tower. "If they have trouble with this building, how are they going to get the big one down?" said Golas.

The city is trying to decide whether to cite the demolition contractor, which it has ordered to stop work several times, Frame said.

Trump spokeswoman Kim Butler declined comment on the building's latest problems.

Trump plans to build a new $750 million casino on the site.

"I'll be happy when the land is put back to its highest and best use," said city Business Administrator Andrew Mair. "If Trump comes through with his plans, it'll be a great thing for the town."