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.
Hard Rock CEO Allen hopes new hotel, casino will strike a different tone in Atlantic City
The new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will open June 28, with a model that aims to set a new standard in Atlantic City. For one thing, the resort will have an added emphasis on entertainment, leveraging Hard Rock’s own vast network of performers to help program the venue and bolster other nongaming revenue streams such as meeting business and hotel stays. But its owners have sought to be different from past generations of New Jersey casinos in another way, focusing on community outreach that they say will continue well past the grand opening.
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.
Home state advantage: Morris, Jingoli discuss plans in Atlantic City, partnership with Hard Rock
Jack Morris and Joe Jingoli, whose families have partnered with Hard Rock International to acquire the former Trump Taj Mahal, bring decades of experience in New Jersey real estate and a level of hands-on, local expertise that an outside investor simply wouldn’t have.
Combined with the resources and the pedigree of a global brand like Hard Rock, Morris and Jingoli feel strongly that their plans for Atlantic City will be the catalyst that is often promised but not as frequently delivered. And they say it’s about more than simply reopening a casino.
Atlantic City 3.0: Riding high from new investment, the iconic resort town is charting a new future
For a place that has been promised a comeback in recent years — only to see it never materialize — experts say Atlantic City is in uncharted yet promising territory that could help usher in a long-awaited recovery. Land prices are at their lowest in decades, local and regional developers with proven track records are investing in the city and the first credible nongaming project in years is under construction, with the potential to bring thousands of students and professionals to the Boardwalk as soon as next year.