Thousands descended on Atlantic City on Wednesday as the Atlantic Builders Convention kicked off its first full day, drawing a crush of developers, vendors and service providers to a sprawling exhibit floor and a series of programs at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Show time: Atlantic Builders Convention set to begin with new venue, new energy as housing industry eyes tailwinds in 2024
The Atlantic Builders Convention will kick off this week at a new venue for the first time in five years, bringing a crowd of thousands to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. That comes with new excitement, but organizers say the buzz is about more than just a change of scenery. They also point to growing membership, growing engagement and a more diverse slate of exhibitors, along with signs of progress on key public policy initiatives to streamline new construction and improve housing affordability in New Jersey.
‘We’ve just scratched the surface:’ Morris sees continued investments in workforce, property as Hard Rock marks five years in Atlantic City
Five years in, the work has only just begun for the team behind the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. That’s according to Jack Morris, the real estate magnate and co-owner of the boardwalk resort, who said the partnership plans to continue the types of investments that have defined the property since it opened in 2018. That includes everything from renovated suites and a new high-end lounge overlooking the Atlantic Ocean to an ongoing focus on rehabilitating and employing former nonviolent offenders in the city.
Editor’s note: Mastering the middle
Even before I started covering commercial real estate full-time, I still came across development stories during my earlier days as a metro reporter in Central Jersey. One of those stories came when I was covering Bound Brook, a borough in Somerset County that had a tired downtown and a history of being battered by flooding from the Raritan River. But in early 2011, we learned that a developer named George Capodagli was interested in building the type of new apartments that were starting to crop up elsewhere in the state.
