Casino on the beach in 'holding pattern'
7th August, 2008
Pinnacle Entertainment currently owns land on the boardwalk in Atlantic City and plans to build a beach-themed mega casino, but the project has been put on hold until the credit markets improve and more capital can be generated
The new casino, once built, will be modelled after a beach house, which will take advantage of the casino’s location.
“We’re on the beach, and it’s a great distinguishing factor for our project versus some of the newer gaming facilities or projects in the region – Philly, Catskills, etc.” said Pauline Yoshihashi, Pinnacle spokeswoman.
However, this casino idea isn’t going to come about over night because of the current economic climate in the United States. The company has decided to slowly move toward their goal instead of jumping right into it. They’re waiting for the right moment.
“As a practical matter, in these capital markets, we can’t finance this think today anyway,” said Dan Lee, Pinnacle chairman. "We're kind of going into a little bit of a holding pattern while we spend small amounts of money on legal fees and stuff like that to try to inch toward a project that can be built as the capital markets recover."
Lee went on to say that he is watching the markets and looking for the right time to make this plan come to fruition. The casino isn’t going to pop up over night, but when the economic climate is right Pinnacle will make their move.
"We're watching it pretty carefully. There are a lot of moving pieces," Lee said. "You never get the full footprint that you want, so sometimes you just have to work around things. In terms of looking ahead, I wouldn't look for any meaningful land purchases additionally in Atlantic City."
