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What is the Trump Plaza implosion in Atlantic City?
DONALD Trump's once immaculate Atlantic City hotel and casino was demolished on Wednesday, February 17.
The former president's Trump Plaza opened in May 1984, however 30 years later the skyscraper shut its doors to the public in September 2014 as it plummeted into a financial hole.
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What is the Trump plaza implosion in Atlantic City?
the morning of February 17, almost seven years after the casino shut it's doors.
In the past, the Trump Plaza was a bustling casino with 32 stories, being only the tenth of its kind built in Atlantic City and costing an estimated $210million in 1984.
However, as time passed Trump Plaza became the lowest-performing casino in the city and was over $500million in debt by the 1990s.
Trump Plaza casino has fallen into such disrepair that chucks of the building began peeling off and crashing to the ground.
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The once crown jewel of former President will be gone after February 17, clearing the way for a prime development opportunity on the middle of the Boardwalk.
What did event manager Bernie Dillon say about Trump Plaza?
Bernie Dillion, the events manager at Trump Plaza from 1984 to 1991, recalled the A-list celebrities that walked through the doors.
"The way we put Trump Plaza and the city of Atlantic City on the map for the whole world was really incredible," Dillion told .
"Everyone from to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was the whole gamut of personalities.
"One night before a [Mike] fight I stopped dead in my tracks and looked about four rows in as the place was filling up, and there were two guys leaning in close and having a private conversations: Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty," Dillion recalled.
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“It was like that a lot: You had and Sean Penn walking in, Barbra Streisand and Don Johnson, would be there, [Winfrey] sitting with Donald ringside.
“It was a special time. I’m sorry to see it go.”
Trump cut ties with the casino in 2009, after a series of bankruptcy filings.
However, he received a 10 percent fee for the use of his name on three of the city's casinos at the time.
In 2016, Icahn Enterprises bought the Trump properties out of bankruptcy court.
What will replace Trump Plaza after the implosion?
Atlantic City mayor Marty Small has not announced what he plans on doing with the property.
“Now that all the hoopla is done, we have to clean up eight stories worth of debris, but I’m not concerned about that. I’m concerned about the rebuild," Small's said at a press conference on February 11.
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According to the , the redevelopment of the property could include casinos, multi-family high-rise, hotels, amusement uses, movie theater, retail, services, restaurants, bars, parks, educational uses institutional and government.
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“We are working with Carl Icahn to bring in exciting development,” Small said.
“We don’t own the land or control it. We get one shot. Center city, oceanfront doesn’t become available very often.”
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