Weekend Business Picking Up For Essl’s Dugout

By |

Essl’s Dugout on the Black Horse Pike has served five generations of families breakfast and lunch. The Dugout’s owner, Bob Essl, has seen the highs and lows of the Atlantic City area and believes the faded resort needs an image change to help it turn around. “For a resort to be as popular as it was and then to lose that….That image has been tarnished. They’ve got to bring that back,” Essl said. The positive news for his business is that weekends have been looking up.

More about: Business, Atlantic City, black horse pike, breakfast, business, commerce, essl's dugout, local business

State begins audit of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority

By |

The Office of the State Auditor has begun scrutinizing the books and records of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, an official told Route 40 on Tuesday. CRDA, an Atlantic City-based government agency responsible for investing casino taxes and other government funds for economic development, has spent $2 billion on state-wide projects since its 1984 inception but it has rarely been put under the microscope. A spokeswoman for CRDA declined to comment on the audit. Some of its biggest projects in the last few years have paid for casino expansions, including $15 million spent on the Borgata night club and private pool project last year and almost $19 million spent on Tropicana’s boardwalk “enhancement” in 2014. Adding to its influence in Atlantic City, CRDA has been tasked with land use regulation and enforcement in the Tourism District (which includes the casino areas) since 2011.

More about: Watchdog Journalism, casino reinvestment development authority, casinos, CRDA, economic development, Miss America Pageant, Office of the State Auditor, The Beach at South Inlet

You’re a sucker if you’re paying more than $1 for year-round AC parking

By |

A law firm is paying the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) just $1 a year for 10 sweet parking spaces in the Authority’s swanky gated lot in Atlantic City, according to a document released to Route 40 as part of a freedom-of-information request. The lot abuts Gordon’s Alley, an historic Atlantic City retail lane, where businesses and workers said they’ve been adversely affected by the lack of convenient parking. The agreement between CRDA and the law firm is ridiculous for a few reasons:

The other weekend, I rode the jitney and met people who live and work in Atlantic City (and pay their taxes) and who can’t afford to drive to work because the parking costs* in this crazy city are too high. Apparently, they’re just not working for the right companies. CRDA’s main source of revenue is from parking fees.

More about: Atlantic City, Watchdog Journalism, Atlantic City, casino reinvestment development authority, casinos, CRDA, dla piper, john palmieri

Toms River thrift snaps up Ocean City Home Bank

By |

OceanFirst Financial Corp, a Toms River-based bank, on Wednesday said it will buy the parent of Ocean City Home Bank for $145.6 million, building on OceanFirst’s South Jersey buying spree after it swallowed up Cape Bank earlier this year. The deal, which will likely close at the end of this year or in the first few months of 2017, will make OceanFirst Bank New Jersey’s No. 4 bank by deposits, according to a press release. The newly combined bank will have $4 billion in loans, $4 billion in deposits and 61 branches from Middletown to Cape May. It was not clear whether there would be branch closures or layoffs as a result of the deal.

More about: Business, Homepage Featured, acquisition, atlantic county, banks, business, cape bank, deal

Jitney downbeach: an experiment in public transport

By |

UPDATED: This story was updated August 25, 2016 to include comments from Ventnor Commissioner Lance Landgraf. To read the original piece, a roundup of live tweeting from a downbeach jitney trip, scroll down. A test-run to expand the Atlantic City jitney service downbeach to Ventnor and Margate earlier this summer was shut down after jitney drivers said there were too few passengers to make the route viable. It is possible, however, that the effort could be revived next year and Ventnor Commissioner Lance Landgraf said he would like to work with the Jitney Association to find ways to help it succeed for residents. “We would welcome it back and we would certainly sit down with them and try and make it better if we could,” Landgraf said in a phone interview.

More about: Atlantic City, Atlantic City, bus, jitney, margate, public transit, public transport, rebuilding atlantic city