Pinnacles Plans For The Sands

Pinnacle plan: Fill 18 acres with Borgata-like grandeur

By ELAINE ROSE Staff Writer, (609) 272-7215

Published: Thursday, September 7, 2006

ATLANTIC CITY — When the Sands Casino Hotel closes its doors in early November, it will be the end of a 26-year run for what is now the resort%26#39;s smallest gaming hall. When a new facility opens on the site about five years from now, it will be one of the city%26#39;s largest.

Pinnacle Entertainment announced Tuesday it had purchased the Sands from Carl Icahn%26#39;s Atlantic Coast Entertainment Holdings for about $250 million and will close the existing casino to build a first-class resort on an 18-acre site fronting the Boardwalk. Company officials promise a facility in the same league as the Borgata Hotel Casino %26amp; Spa.

So how do you grow from smallest to a major player in five years? Not by building up, but by building out.

Icahn%26#39;s partners bought the 7.7-acre site of the former Traymore Hotel in May, in a multi-property deal with Harrah%26#39;s Entertainment. The site is now a row of Boardwalk stores between Indiana and Kentucky Avenues, renovated in 2003, with a parking lot behind it. Those shops will be demolished in about two years.

Added to the current Sands property, that gives Pinnacle about 18 contiguous acres to work with, company officials said.

Like most of its competitors in the midtown district, the new casino will have a parking garage on the bay side of Pacific Avenue, Susan Ney Thompson, chief operating officer of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, said Wednesday.

The CRDA has reached an agreement to take over the site of the post office at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Pacific Avenue to use as parking for the Sands, Thompson said. Two apartment buildings, one boarded up and one still occupied, on Martin Luther King Boulevard also would be torn down.

The plan includes widening Martin Luther King Boulevard about 40 feet, taking all the land from the post-office side, Thompson said.

This will not take place for some time, as the post office has two years to relocate to new quarters, Thompson said.

The agreement was reached with the Sands%26#39; current owner, Thompson said.

“We have not yet held any discussions with Pinnacle,” she said.

Also in question are three small businesses on the corner of Martin Luther King and Pacific Avenue, including the Poseidon Bar and Grill, a pawn shop and a check-cashing agency.

If Pinnacle wants to include that site in their development plans, they will have to negotiate directly with the owners of those properties, Thompson said.

Pinnacle officials said they plan to start construction on the new resort in mid-2008. Some people have questioned why they have to close the Sands so soon, putting about 2,100 people out of work.

Sorry, but that is the owners%26#39; decision, said Daniel Heneghan, spokesman for the state Casino Control Commission.

“Everyone is concerned about the welfare of the employees,” but as a private business, the Sands%26#39; owners can do what they think best for the company, Heneghan said.

Part of the commission%26#39;s role is to make sure casinos are financially stable so they can, among other things, pay their employees, Heneghan said. But it can%26#39;t mandate the companies%26#39; practices.

“If a casino operator wants to close its doors, it is a private business. It is entitled to do that,” Heneghan said. “If it chooses to close to make way for something that%26#39;s going to be much larger and employ many more people, that%26#39;s a business decision it can make.”

Pinnacles Plans For The Sands

I am seeking the price per acre that was paid....I tried to figure it out, but ran out of fingers and it is a 2-tiered deal. I read some article online that gave the amount per acre, but of course cannot find it again. If anyone else read this or can figure out the price per acre, please post it.

Pinnacles Plans For The Sands

In the range of 14 million per acre.

Siganos Plaza will also be going.

http://www.siganosplaza.com/

George Siganos, president of Siganos Management, said the Siganos Plaza, which fronts the Sands property along the Boardwalk, will probably only stay open for another two years or so.

Siganos, who owns four of the stores in the plaza and subleases the others in the block he renovated in 2003, said the property is included in the Pinnacle deal.

“We%26#39;ll lose some money to take the stores down. Somebody%26#39;s going to lose their business, but after all these years, the time has come to fix up Atlantic City,” Siganos said.

Just out of curiosity.........................

Does anyone know which casinos Pinnacle currently operates in Las Vegas or elsewhere???

Thanks.

Check out their website here:

http://www.pnkinc.com/

Great info Term

Checked out the website . It should be interesting to see what the other corporations do with their properties .

I know TRUMP is in the process of renovating . Wondering if Harrahs will take care of Bally%26#39;s, Showboat , Claridge etc

thanks for doing the math for the per acreage.

in response to another post, the rumor mill says that the Showboat is widening their property to New Jersey Avenue [currently stops half a block shy of NJ ave] and this widening will go all the way from boardwalk to Pacific Avenue.

A very informative article with Q %26amp; A%26#39;s with Pinnacles CEO.

courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article…

I definately want to be in AC when they implode The Sands.

I seen it done for a few casinos in Vegas televised on TV and it was quite impressive to watch.

Terminator... If you are sitting on the Bally%26#39;s sundeck, you may be in for a ride from the force of the implosion. Can you say, ';Diving Canuck';? LOL

Pinnacle could put in a McDonald%26#39;s, and it would be a better, more attractive building than the Sands. But I don%26#39;t think we will be eating Big Macs at the former site of the Traymore! LOL

I can%26#39;t wait to see what ends up there. I also can%26#39;t wait to see if indeed the Hard Rock comes to fruition.... so much that is promising is still to come.