Unlike many of the city's casinos, which isolate patrons inside windowless spaces, Revel - set to open in May - takes every opportunity to remind visitors that they are steps from the ocean. The two-plus acres of rooftop pools, cabanas, gardens, and cafes; the restaurants, lounges, hotel rooms, and even the casino - all are designed to showcase Revel's beachfront location at the Boardwalk and New Jersey Avenue.
But to do that, there needs to be a beach - one that won't wash away in a nor'easter.
In an unprecedented partnership with government agencies that restore and enhance the coastline, Revel has committed its own funds to preserving its most valuable design element.
In 2003, four years before the groundbreaking for the resort, federal and state officials launched a $68 million rebuilding of Atlantic City's eroding 2.5-mile shoreline. The project was completed over the summer.
In front of the casino, where the beach was less than 100 feet wide at low tide, there is now a 350-foot expanse of sand. A visitor would never know that, at high tide, water used to wash under the Boardwalk, completely covering the strand.
When Hurricane Irene struck, the refurbished beach held up well against the roiling sea and heavy wind, Andersen said.
In conjunction with the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the casino is helping to finance several innovations it hopes will preserve the agencies' work.
The company hired Ian Jerome of Jerome Associates, an Absecon, N.J., environmental consulting firm, to team up with the government agencies and with marine-sciences experts from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Andersen would not disclose how much money Revel had put into the partnership.
