Casino Reinvestment Development Authority

The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority gave unanimous approval yesterday for its representatives to begin negotiations with the developers of a $520 million project expected to return Atlantic City's "Queen of Resorts" to her former grandeur. The Maryland-based Rouse Co., known nationally for projects such as the Gallery Market East in Philadelphia and the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, will work with the Doubletree Hotels Corp. and Caesars Boardwalk Regency Corp. on the city's ambitious "Gateway Project.

ATLANTIC CITY - Regional gambling competition has sapped the vitality of this resort, but the effort to restore it got green-lighted Tuesday when the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority approved boundaries for a new state-run tourism district. The CRDA's 17-member board voted, 14-1, with one abstention and one vacant seat, to approve the zone's boundaries. The lone "no" vote was cast by Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo T. Langford, who took issue with his powers and those of the City Council being usurped by the CRDA board under the state plan.

Willie Mays made a big hit yesterday at groundbreaking for the new Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City at Mediterranean and Pennsylvania Avenues. The new 15,000-square-foot building, to be paid for by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and Bally's Park Place, will serve more than 400 children in the Atlantic City area. At left, the authority's Ali Reynolds positions a child for a picture.

The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority is getting a New Jersey whiz-kid today to take over for Executive Director Andrew Jenkins, who is leaving to join the Rendell administration. Noel Eisenstat, 31, headed Atlantic City's Casino Reinvestment Development Authority from January 1988, until he lost his job last year in a political purge that followed a change in both the mayor's and governor's chairs. "We first heard about him when our transition team was looking at candidates for housing director," said David L. Cohen, Rendell's chief of staff.

After a decades-long absence, the internationally known diving horse act will return to the Steel Pier this summer as part of an overhaul approved for Atlantic City that received unanimous backing from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority at its board meeting Wednesday. The Steel Pier renovation is being funded by a loan from the CRDA, and its approval came minutes after the master plan - the guidelines - for the newly created Atlantic City Tourism District was passed, 14-0, by the CRDA board.

The Regency, Atlantic City's first major housing project to be built under the guidelines of the 1984 Casino Reinvestment and Development Act, opened officially yesterday. The 27-story luxury apartment complex is in the city's southeast inlet at Pacific and Connecticut Avenues, two blocks east of the Showboat Hotel & Casino. The Regency, funded by Caesars Atlantic City Hotel-Casino, consists of 192 two-bedroom apartments and eight two-bedroom townhouses with rents ranging from $650 to $2,000 a month.

The Camden County Civic and Conference Center, a proposed project that has dominated local politics for more than two years, may be nearing reality. County improvement authority officials this month could win a $24.2 million grant from the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to begin construction of the arena at Routes 73 and 130 in Pennsauken, now site of the landmark Pennsauken Mart. The $65 million project, which would include a 6,400-seat arena and an adjoining 40,000-square-foot conference center, has been touted as a venue for school tournaments, corporate conferences, and trade shows.

The U.S. Attorney's office has subpoenaed a wide range of documents from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority in connection with an unspecified grand jury investigation. The subpoena seeks the following from January 1990 to the present: all bank records, W-2 forms, contracts, meeting minutes, telephone and credit card records, travel and entertainment receipts, records of eminent domain acquisitions and the authority's administrative procedures. Authority officials say they don't know the target of the investigation and the subpoena, obtained by The Inquirer, offers no hints.

ATLANTIC CITY - The contents of a long hidden time capsule - found in the cornerstone of a recently demolished post office - were revealed this afternoon by officials from the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and local historians. Buried on April 4, 1936 - the same day headlines screamed that convicted Lindbergh baby kidnapper Bruno Hauptmann had been executed the day before - during the construction of the United States Post Office at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, then known as Illinois Avenue, the copper box contained several letters, an 1887 photograph the resort's first postman, and two newspapers.

The proposed South Jersey Civic and Conference Center received an expected $24.2 million boost yesterday, funding that officials say will move the project from concept to reality. The $65 million project is planned as a 6,400-seat arena, an adjacent 40,000-square-foot conference center, and a community ice rink. The project is to be built on the site of the landmark Pennsauken Mart, which would be razed to make way for the center. County officials said acquisition and demolition could take place in the next six months to a year.

OF ALL THE images in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy last October, two seemed to linger - that of the unmoored roller coaster in Seaside Heights, and the one of the blown-away section of Boardwalk in Atlantic City. While the former was a real victim of the rain and high winds, the latter was, in many ways, just an unfortunate circumstance. The fallout from a perfect storm, if you will. "It caused a lot of misinformation about the damage from the storm and we have spent the last months trying to recover from that," said John Palmieri, executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, overseer of the biggest swath of Shore tourism: the Atlantic City casino district.

ATLANTIC CITY - It seems a monumental task: Shrug off 34 years of marketing this place as Las Vegas with a boardwalk and rebrand it as world-class destination with a sudden emphasis on arts and culture. And do it fast, because the gambling thing - with tens of billions of dollars in casino infrastructure - doesn't cut it anymore. Say hello to John Palmieri and Liza Cartmell. He's the executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), and she's the head of the Atlantic City Alliance.

ATLANTIC CITY - State lawmakers are set to meet here Wednesday for a special hearing on the resort's uncertain future. Call it a mini-State of the State of Atlantic City. With gambling revenue continuing to tumble - as evidenced by the recent financial travails of the $2.4 billion Revel Casino - Atlantic City has to come up with another strategy to survive, and hopefully again thrive. The hearing called by the Assembly Tourism and Arts Committee will feature the state's heavy hitters in travel and tourism, and comes at a crucial time.

ATLANTIC CITY - The state's Assembly Tourism and Arts Committee meets here Wednesday for a special public hearing. Call it a mini-State of the State of Atlantic City. With gambling revenue continuing to tumble - as evidenced by the recent financial travails of the $2.4 billion Revel, Atlantic City has to come up with another strategy to survive, and hopefully again thrive. The hearing, which will feature the state's heavy hitters in travel and tourism, comes at a crucial time.

ATLANTIC CITY - If art can soothe and enlighten the masses, can it also change their perception of a city in need of a resurgence? The Atlantic City Alliance is betting that a light show on the facade of Boardwalk Hall, to debut after the 9:30 p.m. fireworks on the Fourth of July, will do just that. "Boardwalk Hall is Atlantic City," alliance president Liza Cartmell said last week as she played a video rendering of the 3D multimedia show at the nonprofit group's office.

ATLANTIC CITY - Unless the "Queen of Resorts" is clean and safe, visitors won't come back, and investors won't finance the projects needed to turn it into a world-class travel destination. That is the thinking behind a $6.1 million plan announced Monday that enlists 12 local, county, and state agencies and the casino industry to heighten security, expand the use of law enforcement technology, and target blight in Atlantic City. The "Clean & Safe" initiative is part of an aggressive plan announced in 2010 by the Christie administration to bolster New Jersey's gaming industry.

ATLANTIC CITY - A.C. Gateway L.L.C., which has proposed a "boutique" Hard Rock Hotel and Casino that would become the resort's first under a new state law, Wednesday asked the New Jersey Casino Control Commission for a six-month extension on completing its license application. The commission voted, 3-0, to grant the extension, with chair Linda Kassekert saying A.C. Gateway had "provided good cause" for it. Had the extension been denied, A.C. Gateway would have had to submit its application and a $1 million bond by Thursday to meet the commission's deadline.

ATLANTIC CITY - Long before animal-rights activists recently poured cold water on plans to revive the diving horse spectacle on the Steel Pier, animal acts were huge crowd pleasers along the city's famous Boardwalk. Beginning in the vaudeville era, myriad wacky acts were showcased on the resort's various entertainment piers, including waterskiing dog Rex, a family of boxing kangaroos, and boxing cats. Kangaroos boxed kangaroos (and the occasional human pugilist) and cats tangled with cats, with the animals wearing boxing gloves.

ATLANTIC CITY - The "diving horse" has been put out to pasture before its planned comeback. The owner of Atlantic City's Steel Pier said Tuesday he's dropping a plan to bring back the legendary stunt after animal-rights activists lodged fierce criticism. The act, which ran on the pier from the 1920s to the 1970s, featured a horse and a rider plunging into a 12-foot-deep tank from a platform 40 feet high. Anthony Catanoso, whose family owns the historic pier, said he's no longer interested in reviving the attraction, which had helped make the pier famous last century.

ATLANTIC CITY - The document that sets the strategic framework for this Shore resort's newly created tourism district was unanimously approved Wednesday by the board of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. The board, meeting at the Atlantic City Convention Center, voted 14-0 in favor of the plan, setting the stage for the district's implementation. Proponents say the state-run district's aim is to enhance the visitor experience and help broaden the array of offerings to make Atlantic City a world-class tourist destination that relies not only on gaming, but also on conventions, cultural attractions, entertainment, and retail and residential development.