Developer plans tower for Atlantic City resort

Tuesday, July 3, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- The new owners of Resorts Atlantic City may spend more money renovating the property than they did buying it.

Colony Capital LLC of Los Angeles, which bought the city's first casino in April for $140 million, will build a 30-story hotel tower beginning later this year and is considering a renovation of Steeplechase Pier -- across the Boardwalk from the casino -- that would add hotel suites, a swimming pool and a convertible atrium.

The 496-room hotel tower will cost about $125 million.

The pier project, which is still in the conceptual stage, will cost between $50 million and $100 million, said Thomas J. Barrack Jr., Colony's chairman.

"Our goal is to create another niche in the marketplace, and that niche in the marketplace is a return to what people's memories of what this place used to be or could be, which is softer, more elegant," Barrack told the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority board during a presentation.

The last owner of Resorts, Sun International Hotels of the Bahamas, announced a $150 million renovation plan it later scaled back to $50 million, but neither was completed.

Poor results prompted Sun to sell the property.