Sands Atlantic City
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Sands Atlantic City was a
casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...
and
hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...
that operated from August 13, 1980 until November 11, 2006 in
Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...
,
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
. It was formerly known as the Brighton Hotel & Casino. It consisted of a 21-story hotel tower with 532 rooms and a 5-story
podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...
housing the casino, restaurants, shops, and various other amenities. It was adjacent to The Claridge Hotel and its parking garage was adjacent to the Madison Hotel.


History


Construction and opening

The first Brighton Hotel (originally named the Brighton Cottage) was opened in 1876 on the site that would eventually become the Sands. It was demolished in 1959. The Brighton Hotel & Casino was built at a cost of $70 million by Greate Bay Casino Corporation, controlled by two local businessmen, Eugene Gatti and Arthur Kania. It opened on August 13, 1980. The Brighton was the fourth property to open following the 1977 legalization of casinos in Atlantic City, and the first to be built from the ground up, rather than as a renovation of an existing hotel. The developers hoped that the Brighton's quiet atmosphere and small size, about half that of the city's other casino hotels, would prove attractive to
high roller A high roller, also referred to as a whale or cheetah, is a gambler who consistently wagers large amounts of money. High rollers often receive lavish " comps" from casinos to entice them onto the gambling floors, such as free private jet transfe ...
s. Early marketing featured Bert Parks as a spokesman, and the slogan "Brighton Up". After less than a month in operation, Holiday Inns agreed to buy the Brighton for $121 million in cash and stock plus assumption of the property's $37 million mortgage. Holiday Inns pulled out of the deal a month later. As the Brighton headed into its first winter, the city's low season, it faced severe cash flow problems, with lower monthly revenue than all its competitors.


Pratt era (1981–1998)

The Brighton was rescued in the first months of 1981 by $10 million in financing from Inns of the Americas (a Dallas-based hotel operator, owned by the Pratt brothers) and financiers Burton and Richard Koffman. Inns of the Americas and the Koffmans went on to buy a 60 percent interest in the Brighton from Gatti and Kania for $30 million in May 1981. Inns of the Americas had recently bought the Sands Hotel on the
Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...
, and immediately renamed the Atlantic City property under the well-known Sands name. The property soon became profitable under its new ownership. The Pratts soon sold the Sands in Las Vegas back to its previous owner, but the Atlantic City property retained the Sands name under a licensing agreement, despite no longer having any affiliation with its namesake. In 1982, arcade game manufacturer Williams Electronics began an effort to take over the Sands, buying Gatti and Kania's shares, and agreeing to buy the Koffmans' shares. A
white knight A white knight is a mythological figure and literary stock character. They are portrayed alongside a black knight as diametric opposites. A white knight usually represents a heroic warrior fighting against evil, with the role in medieval literatu ...
soon appeared, in the form of Drew National Corp., a New York-based conglomerate, which agreed to buy the Koffmans' interest. The deal foundered when Drew's major shareholders, Robert Bass and his brothers, refused to make financial disclosures required by the gaming licensing process.Part 2
A restructuring was eventually completed in 1985, with the Sands wholly owned by Pratt Hotel Corporation, which in turn was 52%-owned by Pratt's former shareholders, 35% by the Southmark Corporation of Texas, and 10% by Drew's shareholders. At its peak, the Sands headlined top entertainers, such as
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
,
Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...
,
Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...
,
Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, ...
,
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
,
Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedie ...
,
Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...
, and
Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...
, among others. However, Sands was soon eclipsed by newer Atlantic City casinos and, at the time of its closing, had become the smallest of the city's 12 casinos. The Sands joined with the neighboring Claridge Hotel and Casino to build an elevated moving sidewalk, opened in 1988, to bring visitors from the boardwalk to the two properties. Pratt Hotel announced plans in 1987 to build a sister property called the Sands Boardwalk at the site of the unfinished Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino, while the existing property would be renamed as the Sands Park. Later reports had the new property's name as the Hollywood Hotel and Casino, or the Sands Hollywood. The plan was scrapped when Penthouse instead sold the site to
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
in March 1989. The Sands took over the long vacant Jefferson Hotel, adjacent to its parking garage, in 1989, to be converted into administrative offices. In the early 1990s, as legalized gambling spread to new states, the Pratts established Hollywood Casino Corp. (HWCC) to develop new casinos under the Hollywood Casino name. At the time of its
initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...
in 1993, HWCC owned an 80 percent stake in Pratt Hotel. A second-floor gaming area was opened in 1994, with a ribbon-cutting by Governor Christie Whitman. The extra , including a new racebook, gave the Sands the fourth largest casino in Atlantic City. The Sands announced a new plan in 1994 to rebrand itself as a Hollywood Casino within two years. A video store was opened at the property, along with the film-themed "Epic Buffet", decorated with props from classic movies. The rebranding was never completed. As the Sands's high debt load and poor cash flow dragged down its parent company, HWCC decided in 1996 to divest itself of the property. At year's end, all of HWCC's stock in Pratt Hotel was distributed to HWCC shareholders, and Pratt Hotel was renamed as Greate Bay Casino Corporation.


Bankruptcy and Icahn era (1998–2006)

In 1998, the Sands filed for
bankruptcy protection Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
. While in bankruptcy, it was not required to make its $25 million in annual payments to bondholders, freeing up cash for a minor expansion. The Sands spent $10 million to buy the adjacent Midtown-Bala Hotel, which had separated it from Pacific Avenue, the main thoroughfare running parallel to the boardwalk. The Midtown-Bala was demolished to make way for a new entryway and porte-cochere, which were unveiled in June 2000.
Park Place Entertainment Park Place Entertainment, later named Caesars Entertainment, Inc., was a casino company based in Paradise, Nevada. For a time it was the largest casino operator in the world. It was formed in 1998 as a corporate spin-off of the gaming division of ...
and financier
Carl Icahn Carl Celian Icahn (; born February 16, 1936) is an American businessman and investor. He is the founder and controlling shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a public company and diversified conglomerate holding company based in Sunny Isles Beach, ...
put forth competing plans to take over and reorganize the company. Icahn's plan was selected by the bankruptcy court, and the business was reorganized in September 2000 as the publicly traded GB Holdings Inc., with Icahn owning a 65 percent share. The Claridge also filed for bankruptcy in August 1999, and Icahn fought to gain control of it as well, hoping to combine its operations with those of the Sands, but Park Place instead won ownership of the Claridge and merged it into Bally's. Icahn later transferred most of the interest in the Sands to another of his companies, American Real Estate Partners, sending GB Holdings into bankruptcy in September 2005. The Sands took over the adjacent historic Madison Hotel in 2000 under a lease agreement. By adding the Madison's units to its room count, the Sands was allowed to expand its casino floor by . The Sands spent $25 million on a renovation of the Madison, completed in 2005, turning the hotel's 230 rooms into 126 suites. In May 2006, American Real Estate Partners purchased the vacant former site of the Traymore Hotel from Harrah's Entertainment for $61 million. The Traymore site separated the Sands from the boardwalk, which had always hampered the Sands's ability to expand, and reduced its attractiveness to potential buyers. Icahn indicated that he might use the Traymore site for an expansion of the Sands, or might bundle it together with the Sands for sale. In September 2006,
Pinnacle Entertainment Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. was an American gambling and hospitality company. It was acquired by Penn National Gaming in 2018. At the time of acquisition, it operated sixteen casino properties, located in Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mis ...
agreed to buy the Sands and the Traymore site for a total of $250 million, with plans to close and demolish the Sands, and build a larger casino. The Sands closed on November 11, 2006, and the sale to Pinnacle was completed days later. The building was imploded at 9:37 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on October 18, 2007; the first-ever casino-hotel implosion on the East Coast. It was accompanied by a fireworks show and numerous parties along the boardwalk. Coincidentally, Sands was demolished less than 24 hours after the death of the last surviving member of the
Rat Pack The Rat Pack was an informal group of singers that, in its second iteration, ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business friends, s ...
, comedian
Joey Bishop Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007), known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a Talk ...
. The parking garage for the property was imploded separately on April 3, 2008 with little to no fanfare. Sands Atlantic City was the last casino in North America to bear the famous Sands moniker until the new Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem opened on May 22, 2009. Pinnacle canceled its planned casino in 2010, and sold the land in 2013 for $29.5 million to a group of local developers who planned to build a casino or family entertainment attraction.


Facilities

As of 1999, the Sands's buildings had of floor space on of land, with facilities including: * a casino with 2,025 slot machines and 99 table games * a racebook * a 20-story tower with 532 hotel rooms, including deluxe "Plaza Club" rooms on the 17th through 19th floors * an 850-seat showroom * a two-story food court with eleven vendors * a spa and salon in the top two floors of the tower * an eleven-story parking garage with 1,738 spaces * administrative offices housed in the nine-story Jefferson Hotel building * a five-bay bus terminal * the People Mover, an elevated moving sidewalk, connecting the Sands and the Claridge to the boardwalk


Events

Boxing matches were held at the casino.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sands Casino Hotel Demolished hotels in New Jersey Casinos completed in 1980 Hotel buildings completed in 1980 Hotels established in 1980 1980 establishments in New Jersey 2006 disestablishments in New Jersey Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion Boxing venues in Atlantic City, New Jersey Skyscraper hotels in Atlantic City, New Jersey Buildings and structures demolished in 2007 Former skyscrapers Defunct casino hotels in Atlantic City, New Jersey