It looks like the Revel Casino in Atlantic City joins the rest of the Atlantic City casino projects in being delayed due to the economy. News reports are coming out today stating that 400 construction workers were laid off and that all work on the interior of the project has stopped. Construction on the exterior will continue for the time being.

Apparently the project is having difficulty getting funding for its continued construction – an odd development since Revel is owned by a major financial firm (Morgan Stanley) and for the past few months they have been stating that construction is on schedule and everything will go as planned – leading to the belief that all funding is in place.

On a good note, there still are an estimated 700 employees still working ont he project – both office staff and actual construction workers, and the exterior of the project will continue. So we’ll probably continue to see the building rise from the ground, and then the glass facade be built, but anything inside except for safety measures will be put off for a later time.

They’ve also stated that the layoffs are temporary, so we might see construction commence again over the summer perhaps – but no matter what we will not see a summer opening in 2010, in fact they’ve stated that with this new construction plan construction for the project will continue well toward the end of 2010 – perhaps even beyond.

Something thats worth notign is Revel has always been publically stating that only one tower will be built – out of the two towers planned for the site, but after repeated visits to the site its clear that there are two distinct towers being built. Perhaps Revel was intending to build both towers, yet only finish the interior of one tower, or maybe they were just trying to suprise everyone by building both towers at the same time?

I’ll try to put some pictures of the project being constructed up shortly.

It’s been interesting watching Revel continue to be built while all other development in AC has stopped, it was a positive note in an otherwise dismal outlook.

andrew@alconic-inc.com