The former municipal airport in Atlantic City was finally closed in 2006. Since that time, it hasn’t been used much. It hosted concerts of famous bands from time to time. For example, the legendary Metallica performed at this airport in summer of 2012. In 2016, a stage of the Global Rallycross Championship took place here. Yet, judging by recent numerous press reports, in 2023, the city and state authorities seriously want to finally decide Bader Field’s fate. Let’s look at what plans the authorities have for the airport territory.
📃 Projects on Bader Field reconstruction
Since 2020, dozens of Bader Field reconstruction projects have been offered. However, city and state officials constantly questioned their effectiveness. In addition, they wanted to choose the most efficient project that would best meet not only influential financial groups’ needs but also the people’s. Let’s look at what exactly they want to do with the municipal airport territory.
In January 2022, DEEM Enterprises LLC prepared a great Renaissance project for sports cars. It was estimated to cost about $2.7 billion. State officials asked Atlantic City authorities not to accept it.
In November 2022, Bart Blatstein, the notorious Philadelphia Developer and Tower Investments Inc. CEO, and Phil Murphy, the governor of New Jersey, agreed to finally select a developer for Bader Field reconstruction. In turn, together with Post Brothers, Philadelphia developer, Blatstein prepared a $3-billion project titled Casa Mara. The plan is to create a huge neighborhood, a so-called city within a city.
Based on this project, developers plan to create more than ten thousand housing units and over 400,000 sq. ft. of office units. Hence, the overall housing units in Atlantic City are planned to be increased by almost 50%. Additionally, Casa Mara would provide more than 43,000 jobs for the AC people. Moreover, Casa Mar will contain almost 20 acres of various public amenities, including trails and parks. The developers claim it should take almost 12 years to complete this project from scratch.
DEEM Enterprises LLC also created its brand-new concept regarding the future use of AC municipal airport territory. The developer offers a new Formula 1 track. It includes building hundreds of condos, hotels, restaurants, malls, and educational institutions around it. According to the DEEM Enterprises representative, Michael Binder, the Atlantic City Mayor, Hon. Marty Small, Sr., approved this project.
Overall, AC officials declared that this project would be great for the gambling industry development in Atlantic City. DEEM Enterprises’ idea entails that all roofs in new condominiums will be covered with powerful solar panels. Michael Binder thinks it means that rich Tesla owners will purchase new housing units. He says that this population group cares about the environment. They know how to earn a lot of money and will be happy to visit gambling houses in Atlantic City and spend much cash there. Rich people will also be regular spectators at Formula 1 races. In addition, they will lead a decent life, which will make the new neighborhood free from crime.
📌To sum up
As you can see, the city has many development plans for the Atlantic City Municipal Airport Bader Field. Hopefully, AC authorities and the state will make right decisions not only in their financial interests but also in the interests of all residents of Atlantic City. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the situation with the airport territory.