After closure announcement, what’s next for Revel’s glass tower?

After just two years in operation, the struggling casino Revel announced Tuesday that it will close the doors of its modern, glass tower on the Atlantic City waterfront on September 10th.

The announcement conjurs up the the prospect of having a glittering, empty shell at the end of the boardwalk. The company said it could not go forward with any of the bids received as part of a bankruptcy auction scheduled for Thursday. 

Nevertheless, Revel could still rise again, according to Israel Posner, who heads the Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton College, just outside Atlantic City.

“Two broad possibilities is a stock sale where a potential buyer would be buying the business,” he said.

Alternatively, Revel could change hands in an asset sale, where the buyers purchase the structure and the land it stands on, “and whatever opens next is really as a new business.”

The Associated Press reports that Revel told a bankruptcy judge today in its filing that the company is still in talks with interested parties. Revel is in its second bankruptcy, having failed to make inroads in a saturated Atlantic City gambling market.

The Atlantic Club, where gambling stopped in January is becoming a hotel.

When Resorts casino sold in 2010, the buyers actually bought the assets, but not the business itself. Posner explained this allowed them to craft a new image for the same building in the same location.

With Trump Plaza and Showboat casinos also slated to close this summer, Atlantic City could lose 6,000 jobs by the fall.