Showboat Atlantic City
| Showboat Atlantic City | |
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View of Showboat from the boardwalk
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| General information | |
| Location | Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Address | 801 Boardwalk |
| Opening | March 30, 1987 (as casino/hotel) July 8, 2016 (as hotel only) |
| Renovated | 2003, 2007 |
| Closed | August 31, 2014 (as casino/hotel) |
| Owner | Bart Blatstein |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 1,331 |
| Website | |
| showboathotelac |
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| Theme | Mardi Gras |
| Total gaming space | 127,978 sq ft (11,889.5 m2) |
| Casino type | Land-based |
The Showboat Atlantic City is a hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The hotel reopened July 8, 2016. It is now owned by developer Bart Blatstein.
On March 30, 1987, the Showboat Hotel, Casino and Bowling Center opened with a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) casino and a 60-lane bowling alley, The complex was built on land leased from Resorts International, just north of the under-construction Resorts Taj Mahal. The grand opening ceremony featured Bob Hope and Al Hirt.
The Showboat opened the city's first racebook in 1993, following the legalization in 1990 of casino simulcast wagering.
Steelman Partners completed a major renovation in 1995, creating a Mardi Gras theme.
In 1998, the property's parent company, Showboat, Inc., was purchased by Harrah's Entertainment, now Caesars Entertainment.
With the popularity of bowling on the decline, the bowling alley was closed in 2001, and the space was used for a new buffet and a coffee shop.
In May 2003, the Showboat added a 544-room, $90 million hotel tower called the Orleans Tower. In 2007, the hotel remodeled its original tower, the Bourbon Tower.
In the past decade, many improvements were made to the establishment, including a new hotel tower and a House of Blues on the boardwalk, along with a complete renovation of the boardwalk facade.
In June 2014, Caesars Entertainment announced the planned closure of the Showboat, even though the property was profitable. The move was made in an effort to stabilize Caesars's other Atlantic City casinos. After a buyer could not be found, the Showboat closed on August 31, 2014, at 4:00 PM. It employed 2,100 people, but 470 of them were immediately hired at other Caesars casinos. The shutdown came amid a wave of closures of Atlantic City properties, with four of the city's casinos closing in 2014.
On December 13, 2014, (later Stockton University) purchased the Showboat for $18 million, with plans to develop a full-service residential campus awarding undergraduate and graduate degrees and other professional training programs. The plan was derailed by legal issues, and Stockton sold the property to Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein for $23 million in January 2016.
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