Golden Nugget Atlantic City takes over Trump casino hotel

Landry's Inc. has rebranded the casino as the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, a name change that became official with Monday's vote by the Casino Control Commission.

The giant “TRUMP” letters have been removed from the front of the casino, though the top and rear of the casino-hotel still bear Donald Trump's name. A temporary banner proclaiming the casino as the Golden Nugget could be put up as soon as Tuesday, a company spokeswoman said.

Tilman J. Fertitta, the owner of Houston-based Landry's, said he is prepared to pump US$150 million into the casino to revive it and make it competitive in Atlantic City's market.

“It's exciting to be in the nation's second-largest gaming market, and we're excited to get started on the renovation to let everyone see the changes we have coming,” Fertitta told The Associated Press.

“Everything's going to be different. We're touching every square foot. We're going to have lots of new restaurants and bars.”

Fertitta said he is interested in building a second hotel tower within the next few years to expand the Golden Nugget's 740-room inventory. He said during testimony before the commission that he would be open to working out a deal with MGM Resorts to buy a 14-acre tract of vacant land near the casino to develop, but said afterward he had misspoken, adding he has had no conversations with MGM about the land.

At the Golden Nugget, Landry's plans new bars and lounges, live entertainment, stores and updated rooms and suites. Attractions including the Rush Lounge and a gathering spot called After Hours, a new spa, poker room, race and keno room and a new H2O Pool and Lounge, which will introduce all-season hot tubs and fire pits. On Thursday, the company will open its Chart House restaurant inside the casino.

Fertitta said renovations will be completed by December, including a remake of the casino's boxy, institutional facade.

“It is not going to have that hospital look anymore,” he said. “It'll look like a totally different building. You will not recognize this property come December.”

Fertitta also said the casino will retain the overwhelming majority of the casino's work force of about 1,460, saying “only a very small number” will lose their jobs in the ownership transition. No one will be asked to take pay cuts, he added.

Landry's owns Golden Nugget casinos in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada. The Atlantic City casino becomes its third.

The deal brings the Golden Nugget brand back to Atlantic City, where it operated in a different building from 1980 to 1987.

The sale leaves Trump Entertainment Resorts, which emerged last summer from its third stint in bankruptcy court, with two Boardwalk casinos — its flagship trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and the older Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.

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