Ground broken for first AC casino in 10 years

John Curran

Friday, Sept. 22, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- It's no mirage: The first new casino here in more than 10 years is under construction.

Boyd Gaming Corp. officials held ceremonies Thursday night for the Borgata, a 2,010-room mega-resort in the marina district that will take three years to build.

"We've moved 800,000 cubic yards of dirt here already," said Robert Boughner, CEO of the Borgata. "It would be disingenuous to call this a groundbreaking."

About 400 casino officials, community leaders and guests attended a lavish invitation-only soiree under a tent at the site. Among them was Gov. Christie Whitman, who said she was relieved to finally see some development in Atlantic City's marina district.

The $1 billion project represents the first ripple of a long-awaited "second wave" of casino development that was promised in 1996, when Mirage Resorts Inc., MGM Grand Inc. and Boyd Gaming all announced plans to build Las Vegas-style casino resorts.

All but Las Vegas-based Boyd's project, a joint venture with MGM MIRAGE, however, have crapped out. MGM Grand acquired Mirage Resorts this year to form Las Vegas-based MGM MIRAGE.

MGM MIRAGE, may still forge ahead with Mirage's planned Le Jardin casino. But for now, the Borgata looks like the only sure thing.

When completed, the 40-story tower will be Atlantic City's biggest casino hotel and the first new one to open since Trump Taj Mahal in 1990.

Boyd Gaming President Donald Snyder said Thursday the company is even more bullish on Atlantic City than it was four years ago.

"When you look at the steady growth of this market in the face of tremendous competition from Connecticut and other places, it speaks to the resiliency of it," he said.

Situated on a 30-acre site near Trump Marina and Harrah's Atlantic City, it will also be the first to benefit from the $330 million Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector, a 2.2-mile road-and-tunnel link between the foot of the Atlantic City Expressway and the marina district.

City officials are grateful to finally have something to show for the controversy surrounding the tunnel project and the other on-again, off-again projects.

"At one point, it looked like there might be two or three major mega-resorts being built at the same time," said Mayor James Whelan.

"We would've welcomed that. But now, they'll be better spaced, which isn't the worst thing in the world either. The construction workers in this area are happy about it stretching over eight years instead of having to import labor from everywhere on the East Coast, which is what they would have had to do if everybody built at once."

Boyd Gaming owns or operates 11 casinos in Nevada, Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana and Louisiana.