Michelle Brunetti Post
ATLANTIC CITY -- Almost two years after signing a memorandum of agreement with DEEM Enterprises to create a $3 billion "luxury car-centric" housing and retail development on Bader Field, the city and state have not moved forward to a final agreement.
DEEM principal and local attorney Dan Gallagher said Monday the city is requiring the group to get a letter of financial wherewithal regarding at least the first phase of the project, which has been estimated to cost about $750 million.
"We shopped around and got a multitude of offers from various entities who are looking to fund the whole project," Gallagher said. "We have a source and got the terms we wanted. We are now courting people looking to purchase equity in the project."
DEEM has not yet provided the letter to the city, he said, but plans to do so by the end of the year.
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"We will have the money in the bank not too long thereafter," Gallagher said. "We want to close with the city before the end of the first quarter of 2025."
Mayor Marty Small Sr. said Monday the city continues to work on making it happen.
"We're constantly in communication with DEEM," Small said. "There's been progress. It all comes down to dollars and cents. I want the residents of Atlantic City to get the best deal possible."
If the financial arrangements pass muster with the city and state, the company would then pay the city $100 million for the land, Gallagher said, and $15 million for the development of a recreation center.
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Small has been cautious about how soon the project will move forward in 2025, however.
"I'm at the point where I'll believe it when I see it," Small said.
At 140 acres, the historic airport site off Albany Avenue is now being used as a location for the Ernest Trans School of Trucking, for "land sailing" by afficionados of that sport, and for ethnic, music and food festivals.
When the state, city and DEEM signed the memorandum in March 2023, New Jersey officials said the memorandum gave the company six months to produce redevelopment plans and arrange financing, and for the state to analyze them.
The state retains control over Atlantic City under state law.
In July 2023, DEEM CEO Erick Feitshans said the company was working to line up $750 million in financing needed for the first phase of building. He said the state and city need to see that DEEM is able to finance the project.
"We're confident we can do it" within the six months, Feitshans said.
Then in late 2023, DEEM asked for and got an extension of its six-month agreement, of unknown duration.
Halfway through memorandum period, here's what DEEM has done on Bader Field
A little more than halfway into its six-month exclusivity period, the group trying to build a $3.2 billion car-centric development at Bader Field has paid $500,000 to Atlantic City, provided information to state agencies and city professionals, and begun soil tests and a traffic study, according to one of its principals.
Gallagher had said the wealthy investors funding the project couldn't be named until the company got the memorandum of understanding from the state, but they still haven't been named.
Plans call for a 2.4-mile auto racetrack for residents' use, along with residential and retail space, and potentially other development like a hotel.
In 2023, Small called the memorandum signing a "historic day" for the city, and one his administration and the state had been working toward for about two years.
"Our job is to ensure the fiscal stability of the city, and the redevelopment of Bader Field would result in a significant increase in ratables," Lisa Ryan, spokesperson for the state Department of Community Affairs, said in March 2023. "The department looks forward to seeing what this six-month due diligence period unveils."
Once the state and city felt DEEM had enough backing and strong enough plans, the next step was supposed to be the signing of a redevelopment agreement, and DEEM was to pay the city $115 million.
Gallagher has said the entire project could be completed in about five years. While the raceway and housing for those who own $1 million-plus high performance cars would be built first, the rest would follow quickly, he said.
Developer and Showboat Resort Atlantic City owner Bart Blatstein has proposed building thousands of housing units on Bader Field, and former state Sen. William Gormley has proposed turning Bader Field into a park that will help with flood mitigation and provide space for an urban farm.
Local DEEM partner Kevin Dixon, of Galloway Township's Dixon Associates Engineering, has said DEEM must not only clean up any contamination from the operation of the historic airport but also raise the site by 6 to 8 feet before construction can begin. Those two jobs will take about two years, Dixon has said.
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ATLANTIC CITY -- Mayor Marty Small Sr. signed a memorandum of understanding with DEEM Enterpr...
Dixon was the engineer for the building of the Surf Stadium, a baseball facility that opened in 1998 and has been shuttered since 2009, except for use by school teams. The stadium will be demolished if the DEEM project moves forward, as will the Atlantic City Skate Zone ice skating rink.
In March 2023, Small was asked what will happen if DEEM does not get a memorandum of understanding.
He said the land would revert to the city and the process would begin anew to decide what should be built there.
"This is a gambling town, and you have to take chances," Small said then. "However, citizens of Atlantic City have nothing to lose."
REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post
609-841-2895
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