How Did Atlantic City’s Needle Exchange Open In A Business District?

Atlantic City’s syringe exchange program has operated for more than a decade from a downtown office building just a few blocks from the city’s casinos. Back when the South Jersey Aids Alliance started offering clean needles from the Oasis Drop-in Center in 2007, the site was in the Central Business District. We requested property records from the city and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which oversees planning in the district. The city’s most recent document for the property (posted below) shows it as having the present use “office building”. Neither CRDA or the city had any certificate of land use compliance on file for the property, at 32 S Tennessee Ave.

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Escalating The Surreality Stakes

It wasn’t the first time he’d threatened to pack his bags and abandon the Revel. In fact, it wasn’t even the first time he’d threatened to do so this month. But Glenn Straub, the mercurial owner of the $2.4 billion defunct casino at the northeast end of the Atlantic City boardwalk, stormed out of a land-use meeting early Thursday afternoon, amid unspecific accusations of blackmail, saying he would “shut down” the mega-resort, which he bought for pennies on the dollar in 2015, “forever.” Revel is the second-largest building in the state of New Jersey, and the largest god-damned casino hotel in Atlantic City history. It has been closed for more than two years.

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Straub, CRDA Target September For Former Revel Plan Approval

Glenn Straub, the developer who owns the Atlantic City property formerly known as the Revel casino, and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), are hoping to finish the approval process to reopen the site by the end of September, according to documents filed with CRDA on Wednesday. Straub has been complaining to local media about the drawn-out approval process, while CRDA, which governs planning in Atlantic City’s Tourism District, rejected the earlier application because of concerns about access to the site, since Straub wanted to locate a ropes course in the building’s former main entrance. A successful relaunch for the property is key for cash-strapped Atlantic City and, more widely, for Atlantic County. The Revel property is a top taxpayer and the $2.6 billion site has been a looming empty eyesore on the boardwalk since closing in September 2014. The application that Straub made on appeal includes concessions and suggested changes to the vehicle access to the property.

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