Revel Casino’s Sale to Florida Developer Can Proceed, Says Judge

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Revel Casino’s Sale to Florida Developer Can Proceed, Says Judge

A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by the restaurants, night clubs and other tenants of Atlantic City, N.J.’s Revel Casino Hotel to temporarily halt the sale of the boardwalk property to a Florida developer.

Judge Jerome B. Simandle of the U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J., upheld an earlier decision by a bankruptcy judge to approve the $95.4 million sale to developer Glenn Straub free from any obligation to honor the so-called amenity tenants’ existing leases and other rights.

The tenants, unhappy with the terms of the sale, had asked Judge Simandle to temporarily suspend the deal while they pursued an appeal.

“Such concerns would not sufficiently outweigh the far more prevalent interest in facilitating the success of bankruptcy proceedings and enabling such proceedings to reach finality,” the judge said in court papers.

Stuart J. Moskovitz, an attorney representing Mr. Straub, had said Mr. Straub would consider walking away from the deal if the appeal were allowed to proceed, even if it meant losing a $10 million deposit.

“This now gives my client the opportunity to put in motion what he set out to do: Begin the turnaround of Atlantic City, which, as we all know, is currently on a severe downward spiral,” Mr. Moskovitz said in an email Thursday.

A lawyer for the tenants couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

A similar appeal from the operator of Revel’s custom-built power plant, ACR Energy Partners LLC, was also dismissed Wednesday by Judge Simandle.

The plant is located next to the resort and is Revel’s only source of both electricity and hot water. Revel, in turn, is ACR’s only customer, and the two rely on each other to stay in business.

Costly payments related to the construction and operation of the power plant have been a major sticking point throughout Revel’s bankruptcy, causing an earlier deal to sell Revel to a Canadian private-equity firm to fall through.

Revels’ monthly payments to ACR total more than $3 million, according to estimates in court papers.

Stuart Brown, an attorney representing ACR, said the company is in the process of negotiating a new contract with Polo North Country Club Inc., Mr. Straub’s investment vehicle.

“We expect that the negotiations will result in a mutually agreeable business relation with Polo North,” he said.

Built at a cost of $2.4 billion and opened in 2012, Revel shut down in September, putting thousands out of work. In total, four of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos closed last year. And a fifth, the endangered Trump Taj Mahal, has remained open only after receiving a $20 million lifeline from billionaire Carl Icahn .

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