CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) – The lights will stay on – for now – at Atlantic City’s former Revel Casino Hotel.
ACR Energy Partners had told Revel’s owners it would cut off service to the building at 5 p.m. Thursday over unpaid bills. But the company and the casino agreed Thursday morning to keep the power and water flowing until a hearing Feb. 11.
John Cunningham, a Revel attorney, said both sides are trying to reach a mediated solution to the issues dividing them. The power plant is Revel’s sole provider of electricity, heat and air conditioning, and water.
Debt from its construction – and who will pay for it – continues to be an issue. An inability to resolve the disagreement led Revel’s initial buyer, Canadian firm Brookfield Asset Management, to scrap the deal in November.
Cunningham said both sides agreed bankruptcy court Judge Gloria Burns would hold a hearing on the matter next week, “with the approval of ACR that they will not shut off the power to Revel until (the judge) has had that hearing, or there is a closing.”
“Our hope is we have a resolution, and we don’t even have to have a hearing,” Cunningham said.
Florida developer Glenn Straub is due to close on a $95.4 million purchase of the shuttered casino Monday – assuming a federal appeals court allows it to go forward. A hearing on that matter, in which former tenants of the casino are appealing the proposed sale, will be held Friday in Philadelphia.
In a court filing Thursday, IDEA Boardwalk, the company consisting of Revel tenants including its popular HQ nightclub, said the casino failed but its businesses were thriving.
“It is undisputed that although Revel’s casino and hotel operations did not succeed, IDEA’s ventures were successful and profitable, and the location of those venues in Atlantic City’s most prominent casino undeniably contributed to that success,” the company wrote.
IDEA Boardwalk wrote that its investments in the building are worth at least $16 million.
Straub has threatened to walk away from the sale if it is delayed much past Monday.
In the power plant dispute, Revel says a cutoff would violate a court order and has asked a judge to fine ACR $10 million, plus $1 million for each day it fails to provide service.
Mold growth, frozen pipes and difficulty fighting fires are just some of the problems a utility shutoff could cause at the building.
Stuart Brown, an attorney for ACR, said ample notice would be given before a potential shutoff “to make sure life, health and safety issues are provided for.”
___
Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
