The Atlantic City site that has housed an airport, a minor league baseball team and played host to numerous Thanksgiving Day rivalry games has been left vacant for years while city and state officials scratched their heads to determine its “highest and best use.” Finally, it has a new use: storage.
Atlantic City council last week signed a resolution to allow Steel Pier to park 10 trailers on Bader Field for three months, for 0.18 cents per square foot. It’s a temporary use, but it could be extended under the contract terms.
Bader Field was used as a bargaining chip in the state’s emergency loan to bail out Atlantic City, and the city’s failure to find a buyer for the land was one of the triggers for the state takeover a year ago. The future of the site is still unclear: the lawyers hired by the state to oversee the takeover have had multiple discussions about Bader Field but a buyer remains elusive.