Revel project financing spells hope for Atlantic City

Trade publication Global Gaming Business reported on its Web site last night that the stalled Revel Entertainment hotel-casino in Atlantic City reached an agreement to provide the balance of the money needed to complete the project.

Once built, Revel would be the first new casino on the Boardwalk since the Trump Taj Mahal opened in 1991 and the city’s first new resort since Borgata opened in the city’s marina region in 2003.

According to Revel, China State Construction Engineering Corp. has signed a $1.7 billion agreement with the construction firm Tishman and Revel to help build the resort. The entire budget is expected to be $2.5 billion, according to Union Gaming Group principal Bill Lerner.

Revel will include almost 2,000 rooms, non-gaming amenities, restaurants, several pools and spas, and a 100,000 square foot casino. The property expects to employ at least 4,000 people.

In a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, China State Construction said the project would be completed in July 2011.

Revel Chief Executive Officer Kevin DeSanctis told Global Gaming Business that he was confident the property would be profitable.

Lerner told investors the Revel project could jump-start sagging Atlantic City, which has been impacted by the recession and competition from new and expanding gambling markets in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and West Virginia.

“New investment in Atlantic City, such as Revel, which builds on Borgata’s reinvention in Atlantic City, could help stimulate incremental penetration in a deep mid-Atlantic region,” Lerner said.