AC Tropicana begins expansion

John Curran

Wednesday, April 24, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- With jackhammers, backhoes and cranes, Tropicana Casino & Resort has begun construction on a controversial $225 million expansion that will add a parking garage, a retail village and a 502-room hotel tower to the casino hotel.

Named "The Quarter," the development will include a 2,400-space garage and a 200,000-square-foot shopping area, all on a 3 1/2-acre parcel bordered by Atlantic, Pacific, Iowa and Brighton avenues.

Work began Monday, with a milling machine stripping the asphalt paving off the site, which was formerly used for surface parking. Crews used jackhammers to dismantle stanchions, while a crane hoisted concrete barriers into place on Iowa Avenue, eliminating street parking on one side.

Construction will take about two years, with a projected opening date of March 1, 2004, said Joe Cole, spokesman for parent company Aztar Corp.

A groundbreaking ceremony is to be held next week.

"The Quarter will provide something really fun to do other than gamble in an imaginative and visually stimulating environment with high-quality dining and entertainment venues, as well as substantial shopping," Cole said.

The start of work was unwelcome news at Brighton Towers, a condominium complex whose 172 residents sued to stop the project, which will rise up between Brighton Towers and Pacific Avenue.

A judge upheld the city Zoning Board's approval of the project last month, but the condominium association's suit is still alive.

Attorney Glenn Zeitz, who represents the residents, declined comment on the project Monday, as did Cole.

"It's going to block out the sunlight, and we'll have a lot of noise and the smell of buses," said one resident, who asked not to be named. "You can't stop progress, I guess. And you can't stop city officials."

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