Charity auction to implode Trump casino is latest blunder in business’ long history

The conclusion to a very unusual charity auction was supposed to take place in Atlantic City on Tuesday.

News 12 Staff

Jan 21, 2021, 1:28 PM

Updated 1,203 days ago

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The conclusion to a very unusual charity auction was supposed to take place in Atlantic City on Tuesday.
The auction was for the chance to press the button for the implosion of the former Trump Plaza casino and hotel. But the event was called off due to safety concerns. It was the latest blunder in the troubled casino’s long history.
Bids for the auction went up to $175,000. The winner was only going to push a fake button, not start the actual implosion. But it turns out that it didn’t matter. Because it seems that no one in the city had run the auction plan by the casino’s current owner, Carl Icahn. Icahn called the whole thing off because of safety concerns.
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small says that Icahn will donate $175,000 himself.
The final flubs in the casino’s final days were not surprising to people who came to Atlantic City to see the casino bearing President Donald Trump’s name. It would be coming down on the last full day of his administration.
Roy Valencia says that he remembered 10 years ago when he worked at the casino delivering room service. He lost his investment in an employee stock program when the business went bankrupt.
“And everybody put in money, every week all the employees. And a few months later, it went into bankruptcy. Everybody lost everything,” Valencia says.
But he admits that he still kind of misses the place.
“It was nice, rooms in the penthouse. It’s sad to see it go down. It’s falling down. They wouldn’t take care of it. Might as well take it down. Build something new,” he says.
While the demolition work continues, the final implosion of the building will take place sometime next month.


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