Revamped AC pier will have Monopoly theme

Linda A. Johnson

Thursday, June 27, 2002 | 9:50 a.m.

TRENTON, N.J. -- In a life-imitates-art twist, Atlantic City's Million Dollar Pier shopping mall will be transformed into an entertainment and retail complex with a "Monopoly" theme, based on the classic board game that features Atlantic City streets and landmarks.

Fittingly, the 900-foot-long pier will be renamed Park Place on the Boardwalk -- for its location in the center of the seashore resort's famous Boardwalk and for its owner, Park Place Entertainment Corp., the world's largest casino company. Boardwalk and Park Place are the most expensive Monopoly properties.

The 280,000-square-foot complex, scheduled to open in spring 2004, will have three huge glass atriums connected by three levels of retail space with about 60 shops and 10 restaurants, including some with live entertainment, and several spaces that recreate spots on the game board.

"I see an enormous future here because what we're going to do is ... create a reason for people to come here other than just gaming," Sheldon M. Gordon, chairman of developer Gordon Group Holdings, said.

The company pioneered the entertainment retail concept with The Forum Shops at Park Place's Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas.

Gordon, Gov. James E. McGreevey, other politicians and officials from Park Place Entertainment unveiled detailed plans for the complex Wednesday afternoon at a news conference on the beach.

The biggest atrium, at the pier's ocean end, will represent the game's Water Works. An hourly light and music show will feature holograms, dancing fountains, smoke, huge pipes, a water cannon spewing into the ocean and the Mr. Monopoly character telling the story of the whole contraption, a supposed wave-driven power generator supplying the whole city.

A second atrium will depict Marvin Gardens, with a three-level hanging flower garden around a bird-filled aviary. Another area will have a train station with a full-size locomotive, signs for the game's four railroads and a conductor directing visitors.

The whole complex will be linked by a skywalk over the Boardwalk to Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino, one of four connected casinos owned by Park Place Entertainment.

"We always thought that if we could redevelop (the pier) in a way that was entertaining ... that it would be a great draw for the town and obviously for our part of the Boardwalk," Tom Gallagher, Park Place president and chief executive, said.

The casino company is leasing the pier for 75 years to the Gordon Group, which is raising the expected $80 million the complex will cost. Another $33 million, supplied by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, will cover the cost of the skywalk, additional parking and other improvements.

The pier was the world's largest entertainment venue when it was built in 1906 for $1 million, the source of its original name. Over the years its attractions included a huge ballroom, roller skating rink, early Miss America pageants, a marble Italian villa, big band concerts by Glenn Miller and other stars, and finally an amusement pier.

It was last renovated in 1983, when it was turned it into an enclosed mall resembling an ocean liner called The Shops at Ocean One.