In Atlantic City, Caesars acquisition breaks Boardwalk land deadlock

The company plans to begin construction within a month on a $25 million expansion of its Wild Wild West Casino on a prime parcel of land that had gone undeveloped in a high-stakes game of Monopoly between the two former rivals.

The addition will include the installation of 300 new slot machines, retail outlets and restaurants. It will be completed by next fall, according to Wallace Barr, executive vice president of Park Place Entertainment.

"We've already been out there doing test borings and drawing building permits. We got all the long-lead items in place. Now, it's just a matter of starting," Barr said.

Park Place Entertainment's purchase of Caesars World Inc. from Starwood Hotels and Resorts Inc. will allow Park Place to develop the parcel at the corner of the Boardwalk and Arkansas Avenue.

The Park Place-owned parcel is separated from Bally's Park Place by the facade of the 70-year-old Warner Theater, which was owned by Caesars.

Caesars, which added a 25-story hotel tower in a $280 million expansion two years ago, was unable to build it fronting the Boardwalk because Park Place Entertainment would not sell the parcel.

Park Place Entertainment, in turn, was blocked from building on it because the theater stood between it and the Wild Wild West property.

Barr told The Press of Atlantic City the expansion will be completed by Labor Day. It will link Bally's Park Place with Caesars, marrying the city's most profitable and third-most profitable casinos under one roof.

Park Place, which was formerly Bally Entertainment Corp., is the world's largest casino company, with 29 properties worldwide under the Bally's, Hilton, Grand, Paris and Caesars brands.

In Atlantic City, it owns the Atlantic City Hilton, Bally's Park Place and, now, Caesars Atlantic City.

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