Mirage Resorts Inc. opens Atlantic City headquarters

The Mirage Center, a $3.5 million office complex built to house Mirage and subsidiaries New City Development Corp. and Atlantia Design, will serve as the company's local office throughout construction of Le Jardin, officials said.

Le Jardin, a $750 million project in Atlantic City's marina district, will consist of a 2,000-room Las Vegas-style resort. It will be connected to an adjacent 1,500-room casino hotel being developed jointly by Mirage Resorts and Boyd Gaming Corp.

"What we've done here speaks volumes about our commitment," said Richard Bronson, president of New City, which is Mirage's development arm. "We're here and we're moving full-speed ahead."

The casinos will be built on a 150-acre parcel that formerly housed a municipal dump.

Cleanup of the site is expected to begin next month, followed by the clearing of vegetation and preparation work for the footings and foundations for the Mirage casino, Bronson said.

The former landfill holds no environmental contamination that would delay the project, according to Bruce Goldman, vice president of New City Development.

"It's household and commercial waste. You've got a lot of construction debris. You've got a former landfill. So there's a lot of stuff in there. It can be encapsulated on the site," he said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection still must issue permits for the closing of the landfill. The approvals are expected next month, according to Goldman.

Construction of the buildings will begin next summer and conclude in 2002, Bronson said.

Meanwhile, Mirage is preparing to break ground on a $330 million tunnel linking the Atlantic City Expressway with the casino site. The tunnel, two-thirds of which is being financed by the state, will be owned by the South Jersey Transportation Authority once completed.

Nine homeowners on Horace J. Bryant Jr. Drive, whose properties stood in the way of the tunnel construction, have accepted $200,000 buyouts from Mirage and are to move out by Oct. 15.

The state still must issue a Coastal Area Facilities Review Act permit for the tunnel construction, according to Jim Berzok, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. The tunnel is to be completed by 2000, he said.

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