A two-month campaign to sell Atlantic City's former airport property to help pay down the city's massive debt burden yielded two bids that came in at a third of the minimum asking price.
The bidding process that closed Aug. 4 brought in two bids for Bader Field at a high of $50 million, according to city officials. The Atlantic City Council set a minimum bid of $153 million for the 143 acres, but Mayor Donald Guardian said the bids are still being considered.
"When considering bids of such important sites for the City, monetary considerations are not the sole deciding factor," said Guardian in a statement. "The proposed use of the land must account for the planning goals and long term economic viability of the City."
Atlantic City declined an $800 million offer from Penn National Gaming for the Bader Field site in 2008, hoping to receive better offers that never materialized. Bader Field, which opened in 1910 and was considered the nation's first municipal airport, stopped commercial airline service in 1990 before it was permanently closed in 2006. A portion of the airport's property was utilized to build a minor league baseball stadium for the Atlantic City Surf, which discontinued operations in 2009.
Atlantic City also has been trying to unload 11 acres of city-owned land on Riverside Drive and received a high bid of $5.2 million for the property. Max Spann Real Estate & Auction Co. has been handling the bidding process and emphasized there has been "extensive interest" in both properties from groups in Florida, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
"The interest expressed is terrific signal that the marketplace is sensing a bright future and promising investment opportunity for the City," Bob Dann, Max Spann's executive vice president and chief operations officer, said in a statement.
Atlantic City is facing an early November deadline to deliver an acceptable five-year financial turnaround plan to avoid a state intervention that would empower New Jersey's Local Finance Board to alter debt and municipal contracts. The city has $240 million in bond debt and owes $170 million in tax refunds to the Borgata Casino Hotel & Spa.
