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N.J.‘s Atlantic Club Bankruptcy Auction Continues for Second Day; Union Objects to Potential Sale
December 18, 2013
Dec. 18--A bankruptcy auction for the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel has extended into a second day after hours of bidding on Tuesday failed to produce a satisfactory buyer. Meanwhile UNITE HERE Local 54, the casino's largest union, has filed an objection to the sale, asserting that any buyer should be required to take on the union's collective bargaining agreement. Local 54 represents 750 of the casino's estimated 1,600 employees. "God only knows what's going to happen," Local 54 President Bob McDevitt said. Atlantic Club, owned by Resorts International Holdings, has proposed a sale free and clear of all liabilities, including the union co
Two Major Kansas City, Missouri Hotel Developments Moving Forward without Seeking Tax Incentives
December 17, 2013
Dec. 17--Ordinarily, the $46 million hotel planned by a Tennessee firm for the Crossroads Arts District would be considered a no-brainer for tax breaks from the city. It meets all the criteria developers cite for seeking tax-increment financing and/or property tax abatement incentives. To build its 10-story project northeast of 16th Street and Baltimore Avenue, Chartwell Hospitality will have to knock down an old car dealership, clean up the site and build a garage for 166 cars. These are classic infill development hassles, and those added costs are why other developers regularly say they need tax breaks to compete financially with proj
Soffer Family Buys Out Dubai’s 50% Share of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Florida
December 17, 2013
Dec. 17--The government of Dubai has sold back its 50 percent share of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach but will receive a significant bonus should Florida legalize resort casinos and give the oceanfront hotel a shot at gambling revenues. The deal leaves the Soffer family the owners of South Florida's largest resort after six years of having an investment arm of the Persian Gulf emirate as a partner. In 2007, Dubai's Nakheel Leisure paid $375 million for a 50 percent share of the resort at a time when Jeff Soffer, who spearheaded the Fontainebleau project, was facing a cash crunch as a $650 million renovation of the 1,504-room resort was c
Windsor-Aughtry’s Planned $17 Million 127-key Hotel Atop Roanoke, Virginia’s Market Garage Gets OK
December 17, 2013
Dec. 17--Calling it a "game-changer" for downtown Roanoke and the city at large, the Roanoke City Council unanimously approved a deal Monday night that will allow a builder to construct a $17 million 127-room hotel atop the city's Market Garage starting next year. The city will sell part of the six-story garage's first floor and the air rights -- a "box of air," city officials called it -- above the building to South Carolina-based hotel developer Windsor-Aughtry Co. for $800,000. The city will retain ownership of the garage itself. As part of the deal, the city will make two grants to the developer totaling a maximum of $2.2 million to
Carl Dranoff & SBE Entertainment to Build a $200 Million 149-room Hotel/Condo Tower in Philadelphia
December 17, 2013
Dec. 17--The developer Carl E. Dranoff is partnering with Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment Group to build a 47-story, mixed-use luxury boutique hotel and condominium tower at Broad and Spruce Streets, across from the Kimmel Center, for more than $200 million. The 422,838-square-foot SLS International, which Dranoff said would be Pennsylvania's "tallest structure built for residential use," is being designed by the architect A. Eugene Kohn, a Philadelphia native who is chairman of Kohn Pederson Fox in New York City. The tower will rise 562 feet -- 14 feet higher than the City Hall tower. Construction is expected to start next fall and
Groundbreaking Set this Week for 208-room Doubletree and Convention Center in Reading, PA
December 17, 2013
Dec. 17--Albert R. Boscov was excitedly making and receiving countless phone calls in his Exeter Township office Monday after getting word that the last of the financing for a downtown hotel and convention center was finally in place. He immediately began making plans to break ground Friday at 11:30 a.m. in the 700 block of Penn Street across from the Santander Arena. "It's been a long wait but we got it," Boscov said. The renowned retailer has been working on the block-long, four-star hotel, which will cost at least $56 million, since 2007. Construction of the 208-room Doubletree is expected to begin shortly. The hotel will open in the
5 Phrases That Should Never Be Used in the Customer Service Business
Steve DiGioia | December 16, 2013
by Steve DiGioia "Customer Service" is a term that too frequently is used as a catch-all for the experience received or given in today's business world. But what customer service is to me may be different from what it is to you and what you expect, or tolerate. It's strange that I mention tolerate since that is exactly what most of us have been doing when we are on the receiving-end of many service businesses. We wait in long lines because the business didn't schedule enough staff to work the cash registers. We search down aisle after aisle to find an employee so we can ask where something is or if they have a particular product in stor
Parents of Noisy Children Rank as Most Annoying Airline Passengers
December 16, 2013
Dec. 16--If you are a parent who lets your children scream and go nuts on a plane, congratulations -- you top the list of most annoying etiquette violators in the air. Parents who travel with loud children are considered more annoying than passengers who kick the in front of them and travelers with foul odors. Even fliers who take off their shoes and socks in the air-tight cabin are less offensive, according to a survey of 1,001 Americans by the travel website Expedia. Annoying children and their parents were ranked by 41% of those surveyed as the most annoying airplane etiquette violators. So it was no surprise that 49% of Americans su