Wellington real estate developer Glenn Straub says his casino investment in Atlantic City will succeed where Donald Trump’s failed because Trump’s investment was too leveraged, Forbes magazine reported.
“He borrowed too much money. We’re debt-free. We never buy anything we can’t pay cash for,” Straub told Forbes in a wide-ranging interview, which spanned his plan for the Revel Atlantic City resort and his opinions on Trump.
Straub, owner of the Palm Beach Polo Golf and Country Club in Wellington, told the magazine that Trump “thinks, eats and sleeps business. He’s one of the smartest people I know. … He’s been bankrupt, there were times he didn’t make money. I take my hat off to him. He works his ass off.”
Straub also told Forbes he would vote for Trump in the presidential election, predicting that he will moderate his views on various issues: “He’s going to mellow.”
In April 2014, Straub won approval from a bankruptcy judge to pay only $82 million for Revel Atlantic City, the 47-story, 6.3 million-square-foot hotel and casino after it opened and closed in 2014. Revel cost $2.4 billion to build.
Straub’s $500 million plan to reinvigorate the Revel property include the addition of year-round recreational attractions, including equestrian facilities.
He told Forbes it will be “a recreation-based facility along with casinos” featuring indoor water parks and an arena with seating for 5,000. [Forbes] — Mike Seemuth