“The great dealmaker would rather burn the Trump Taj Mahal down just so he can control the ashes”, McDevitt said in a statement. While the Republican presidential candidate doesn’t own the hotel anymore, his current hard position in the election will be linked to this failure and voters will be reminded of his legacy in Atlantic City.
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The Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, will be closing down for good after Labor Day weekend, Politico reports.
In justifying the decision to close, Tony Rodio, president and CEO of Tropicana Entertainment, said the Taj is losing millions of dollars a month and that the owners have “fiduciary duties to their shareholders”.
The Trump Taj Mahal, which is wholly owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, said Wednesday that it will close its doors in October.
For more than a year before the picket lines went up, the relationship between union workers and the billionaire was marked by marches and protests in Atlantic City and NY, where Icahn Enterprises has its headquarters.
The casino-resort intends to file notices under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act with the state before “end of weekend”, Rodio said. Mr. Icahn said back then that he planned to invest $100 million in Trump Taj Mahal in order to bring back its former luster.
The news broke Wednesday afternoon nearly simultaneously with an announcement of a campaign backing a November referendum that will ask New Jersey voters statewide whether to approve a ballot question to allow two casino licenses in the northern part of the state – thereby ending Atlantic City’s 40-year monopoly in the Garden State.
Icahn became the owner of the Taj Mahal after taking the casino’s mounting debt. NY business magnate Carl Icahn purchased the struggling venue last spring.
The casino was opened 26 years ago by current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The strike is over the restoration of health insurance and pension benefits.
“How petty”, McDevitt said, calling Icahn, “…so one-dimensional.
The casino is run by Tropicana Entertainment. Icahn offered to restore health insurance to Taj Mahal workers, but at a level less than what workers at the city’s other seven casinos receive.
It is true the Atlantic City casinos are in danger if the two new, big casinos are opened in New Jersey. Trump had not been actively involved in the operation of the Trump Taj Mahal since 2009. At one point, the striking workers chanted: “If we don’t get it (a new contract), shut it down”.
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A judge officially terminated Trump’s financial interest in the Trump Taj Mahal in February after the beleaguered gambling haven emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Icahn was the main lender to Trump Entertainment Resorts, which shut down Trump Plaza in September 2014.
