Photo courtesy: Casino Reinvestment Development Authority
By Joshua Burd
A towering “PolerCoaster” rising 350 feet is on track to become one of Atlantic City’s newest attractions, following state approval Thursday of a $38.4 million tax incentive for the project.
Published reports say the developer, ACB Ownership LLC, is slated to begin construction next month, now that the Economic Development Authority has approved the incentive. The $138 million project will occupy the former Sands casino site along the Boardwalk and anchor a roughly 110,000-square-foot entertainment complex with other attractions, including a zip line, a skydiving simulator and what was described as an “extreme ninja course.”
What’s more, the EDA says the operator has struck a preliminary licensing agreement for the park with Hasbro Inc., the iconic toy, gaming and entertainment company behind brands such as Monopoly, Transformers and Nerf.
“The development of this site into an entertainment enterprise will support the transformation of Atlantic City into a family-oriented destination rather than solely a gaming destination,” Tim Lizura, president and chief operating officer of the EDA, wrote in a memo to board members. “The site is ideally located in an area that will attract a favorable amount of traffic.”
ACB Ownership’s plan for the roughly 1.32-acre site also includes event, retail and bar and restaurant space, according to the EDA memo. The PolerCoaster concept, developed by US Thrill Rides, calls for a vertical rollercoaster that twists around a tower and ends with a drop from about 350 feet to the bottom of the attraction.
There are currently three other PolerCoaster projects in various stages of planning within the U.S., including proposals in Orlando and Las Vegas, the EDA said. The Atlantic City property would be the only PolerCoaster of its kind in the Northeast.
The project is slated to open prior to Memorial Day 2019 and will be open on the weekends from March through May. The complex will be open on weekends from March through May and full-time from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
All told, it’s expected to create more than 400 construction jobs and 150 seasonal jobs on-site.
The EDA award follows months of due diligence going back to last summer. The incentive, made through the Economic and Redevelopment Growth grant program, calls for paying up to $38.4 million of the project costs in the form of tax reimbursements that begin after the project is completed and generating tax revenue. The refunds would be paid out over 20 years.
Construction would begin a decade after the implosion of the Sands casino on the property. Boardwalk Piers, a company jointly owned by Mitchell Meckles and Brian Popper, acquired the former casino site from Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. for just under $30 million, following Pinnacle’s purchase of the property for $270 million in 2006.
Meckles and Popper are also part of a group of real estate and hospitality entrepreneurs that make up ACB Ownership LLC, according to the EDA memo.
The authority also noted that US Thrill Rides has installed more than 300 different attractions in tourism destinations such as Universal, Six Flags, Paramount and the Mall of America.
