Video footage from NBC News showed dynamite taking down a former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino on Wednesday.
Former President Donald Trump severed relationships with the Atlantic City, New Jersey casino in 2009 following multiple bankruptcy filings, though his name remained on the building for a short time, according to The New York Times on Wednesday. The casino was permanently closed in 2014 and two years afterwards, billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn acquired the property.
Controlled Demolition Inc. placed around 3,000 pieces of dynamite at the site of the casino last week, which destroyed the 34-story building by strategically using the building’s own weight to bring it down, according to the NYT.
Despite its long history as an iconic part of Atlantic City, the hotel had begun to fall into disrepair and pieces of the exterior were beginning to fall apart, NBC News reported.
WATCH:
Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino imploded in Atlantic City, NJ.
Former President Trump cut ties with the casino in 2009 after a series of bankruptcy filings.https://t.co/MeQpmoGExN pic.twitter.com/GpocEJJJaB
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 17, 2021
Aaaaaand boom goes the dynamite…Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino imploded in Atlantic City, NJ pic.twitter.com/1mRUpJHyd6
— John Kruzel (@johnkruzel) February 17, 2021
“The way we put Trump Plaza and the city of Atlantic City on the map for the whole world was really incredible,” said Bernie Dillon, the casino’s event manager starting in 1984 until 1991, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. “Everyone from Hulk Hogan to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was the whole gamut of personalities.”
“One night before a Tyson 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 conversation: Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty,” Dillon continued. “It was a special time. I’m sorry to see it go.”
An auction for pressing the demolition button for the casino was planned to raise proceeds towards The Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City, according to a Jan. 19 NYT report. Icahn objected to the auction, which was later called off. (RELATED: ‘Willing To Explore Our Options’: Trump Organization Considers Selling DC Hotel)
Onlookers cheered as the building was demolished a bit after 9 a.m., according to the Wednesday NYT report. The plaza became the 10th casino in the city when it opened in 1984.
“It’s an end of a not-so-great era,” 50-year-old Jennifer Owen, said, according to the Wednesday NYT report. Owen had reportedly bid $575 towards a V.I.P. breakfast where one could see the detonation clearly.
The Trump Organization didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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