Generator trucks arrive at powerless Revel casino site

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Three portable generator trucks arrived Tuesday at the site of Atlantic City's former Revel casino, which has been without utility service since last week.

Florida developer Glenn Straub said two main generator trucks and a backup unit should be fully connected within two days.

"They're here and we're hooking them up now," he said. "But it's raining, and they don't like to play around with 27,000 volts when it's raining. The cables are the size of your thighs."

Straub bought the shuttered $2.4 billion casino a week ago for $82 million out of bankruptcy court, but the power plant that is its sole source of utility service cut it off two days later -- Thursday -- because the two parties could not agree on a contract for future service to the building.

That led the city to impose fines of $5,000 per day on Straub for not having operational fire prevention and suppression systems.

The Atlantic City Fire Department warned in February that without water flowing through the building's pipes and electricity to get firefighters to upper floors, firefighting efforts at the 47-story building would be next to impossible. At 710 feet, Revel is the second-tallest building in New Jersey, behind only the 781-foot-tall Goldman Sachs offices in Jersey City.

A lawsuit between Straub and ACR Energy Partners over the power standoff has been transferred to federal court. The utility company said it cut off Revel after Straub refused to pay for service from the date he took it over.

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on a request by ACR for a restraining order barring Straub from using or trying to connect with any of the company's equipment at the power plant. The utility says any attempt by Straub to do so is "likely to cause serious human injury or death."

The utility also wants the court to order Straub to buy the power plant "at fair market value."

Straub is considering tapping into the power grid through the Showboat, another shuttered former casino next door to Revel that he bought April 3. But the portable trucks should be enough to power the entire Revel complex in the meantime, Straub said. That would include enough electricity for the former HQ nightclub to reopen, he added.

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