FEATURE ARTICLE, MARCH 2006

DAY AND NIGHTLIFE
The Pier at Caesars offers a new tourist destination for Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Dan Marcec

The atmosphere of Atlantic City, New Jersey, has been transforming over the past few years, as the development focus has shifted gears to a new demographic. Traditionally, the city offered not much more than gambling venues, lacking restaurants and entertainment outlets and boasting virtually no shopping opportunities. With the demand rising for retail/entertainment destinations in Atlantic City, Gordon Group Holdings saw an opportunity to develop The Pier at Caesars, which will provide approximately 310,000 square feet of food, beverage, entertainment and retail space when it opens in May. Situated basically at the middle of Atlantic City's boardwalk in front of Caesars, the project is in a prime location to make a significant impact on the local tourist market.

Gordon Group Holdings is developing The Pier at Caesars, a 310,000-square-foot retail/entertainment establishment that is aiding a transformation of the Atlantic City, New Jersey, boardwalk.

The Pier at Caesars breaks down into more than 100,000 square feet of food, beverage and entertainment offerings, including Rum Jungle, the development's largest entertainment tenant. Rum Jungle encompasses 16,000 square feet including an outdoor deck overlooking the ocean. In addition, the project features Buddakan and The Continental, two restaurants from Philadelphia restaurateur Steven Starr; Game On!, a high-end sports bar originally in Boston; Phillips, a Baltimore seafood restaurant that includes a sushi bar; and The Dubliner, an Irish Pub.

“One of the non-traditional tenants that occupies space within The Pier at Caesars is a 10,000-square-foot wedding chapel,” Gordon notes. “However, this is not a ‘quickie' wedding chapel, but it offers book-in-advance traditional banquets and weddings at a high level, all with a spectacular view of the Atlantic Ocean.”

The remaining 200,000 square feet of the project is composed of retail tenants, and 60,000 square feet of that is made up of tenants that offer what are considered luxury products. Luxury tenants include Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry, while more traditional mall tenants occupying space at The Pier at Caesars are Armani Exchange, Steve Madden, Brookstone, Quiksilver and Tommy Bahama. With space still available, Gordon Group — which is handling leasing for the project in addition to being its developer — is seeking tenants that don't locate in the everyday mall. With all but one of the restaurant spaces filled, the focus is to lease out the remainder of the retail space, which ideally will be tenants from upper-middle price points to luxury.

Another interesting feature located within the development is “The Show.” In conjunction with ThinkWell Productions out of Los Angeles, traditionally a theme park-type producer that does large-scale entertainment projects, Gordon Group is constructing a $5 million water, sound and light spectacular show situated at the end of the pier. Underneath a three-level atrium, the water both falls down from the ceiling and shoots up from the floor, synchronized to the light and sound. “The Show” runs approximately once an hour, and with a flexible theme that is not story-based, but more of an attraction to the senses, it can be modified for various holidays.

“The influence of The Pier at Caesars' design really is quite simple,” says Gordon. “The architecture is contemporary, but it really borrows from the boardwalk, which runs 3 miles down the beach. Since the boardwalk is the most famous icon in the city, we used a lot of its elements in the design, such as the sea grass and the sand dunes; we even used the actual boardwalk wood that runs outside on the entirety of two levels. You really get the feeling that you're at the beach 12 months a year, which is the effect we sought.”

Elkus/Manfredi Architects of Boston is designing the project, Rockwell Group has provided interior design, and Perini Construction is the general contractor. The entire project cost is approximately $190 million.

Gordon Group discovered the location in the mid-90s, due to a longstanding relationship with Caesars, yet the company did not go forward with the project because the market wasn't ready to support a retail/entertainment project of this magnitude. It ended up managing the existing development, Ocean One Mall, and now that the market is right for this type of project, Gordon Group tore down the existing property and began construction on what will soon be The Pier at Caesars.

“One of the most unique aspects of this project is that it really will be the only high-end shopping complex in the world that is situated over an ocean,” explains Gordon. “Thirty-six million tourists come to Atlantic City annually, and now they have a destination that provides something for everyone, from retail to restaurants to entertainment.”

The impact on the Atlantic City market is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of The Pier at Caesars. Gordon Group is pursuing construction of an aerial tramway that connects the end of the pier to the convention center, supporting a link between the convention business, the train station, the casino hotels and the restaurant entertainment all together. Ideally, the tramway would open approximately a year after The Pier at Caesars.

“Similar to when we built the Forum in Las Vegas, this project will help turn a one dimensional town into something greater,” Gordon says. “Bringing in retail and restaurants brings a new type of customer, couples and families start coming together, conventions start to pursue the market, and we really think it's going to launch Atlantic City into another dimension.”

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