Trump Era in Atlantic City ends with dynamite blast
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It was not the biggest or the best implosion ever.
An auction for the right to detonate the dynamite to begin the implosion of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City fizzled.
Front-row seats to view Wednesday morning’s spectacle were sold on the cheap. Onlookers in cars hoping to witness the symbolic finale of the former president’s casino empire in the seaside resort city were charged $10 and herded into a lot most recently used as a pandemic-era food distribution site.
The implosion of what was once the premier gaming destination in Atlantic City came less than a month after its best-known former owner, Donald Trump, left the White House.
The tower came down shortly after 9 a.m. amid a cloud of dust and an eruption of cheers.
“It’s an end of a not-sogreat era,” said Jennifer Owen, 50, who bid $575 to win a seat at a VIP breakfast with a direct view of the implosion.
Trump Plaza was the first of three casinos that Trump owned before his gambling
businesses in Atlantic City cratered and went bankrupt for good, leaving a trail
of unpaid contractors and suppliers — and a bad taste for the Trump brand in this city.
First opened in 1984, Trump Plaza became Atlantic City’s 10th casino.
After a series of bankruptcy filings, Trump cut ties with the casino in 2009, even though his name briefly continued to adorn the building. Trump Plaza closed for good in 2014, and billionaire investor Carl Icahn acquired it out of bankruptcy in 2016.
Icahn’s plans for the property are unclear.
The Trump Plaza tower had been largely gutted. Demolition crews were at the site most of last week placing an estimated 3,000 pieces of dynamite that used the structure’s own weight to bring its 34 stories cascading gracefully to the ground.
To some, the spectacle was an opportunity to generate business in a city still struggling to regain its footing in the midst of the pandemic.
Mayor Marty Small, in a bid to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City, had attempted to auction off the right to push a button to implode the building, but Icahn scuttled that plan, citing safety concerns. Instead, Icahn donated the value of the highest bid, $175,000, to the club.