Prospective Revel Casino buyer wants a discount

Florida property tycoon Glenn Straub wants to pay $87 million for the Revel Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, built just two-and-a-half years ago at a cost of $2.4 billion…and as the only buyer on the scene at present it looks as if he may prosper from his tough bargaining stance.

Straub was one of the original bidders, offering $95.4 million when the Revel went on the auction block earlier this year. He lost to Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management, which bid $110 million but subsequently backed out of the deal, forfeiting an $11 million advance deposit (see previous report).

Now Straub is the only bidder….and he’s driving a hard bargain, claiming that the original auction was not run on a fair and honest basis, and he clearly intends to make the sellers pay for that. The property developer says in court documents filed just before Christmas Eve that he wants an $8 million discount.

He also wants Judge Gloria Burns to deduct a $3 million breakup fee he was originally promised because Revel is keeping Brookfield’s $11 million deposit.

The filing suggested that Revel should be put up for auction again and Straub should get his deposit back if the judge finds that “the auction process was deficient to the extent the auction significantly and adversely affected” Revel’s ability to receive the highest bid.

Straub’s filing says White and Case, the law firm running the sale, also represented Brookfield, and the firm was allowed to “dictate the terms” of the auction.

White and Case has not yet commented on the accusation of a conflict of interest.