Trump’s Taj Mahal is closing next month

The Trump Taj Mahal is about to become the fifth Atlantic City casino to close its doors for good in 3 years.

Mr. Icahn pledged to invest $100 million into the Trump Taj Mahal to get it in shape to compete, but dialed down the investment after the company left bankruptcy-court supervision. “Unfortunately we’ve reached the point where we will have to close the Taj”, Tony Rodio, the president of Tropicana Entertainment, which runs the hotel, told ABC.

Atlantic City’s main casino workers union has been on strike against the Taj Mahal since July 1.

The New York billionaire went on to declare bankruptcy a further three times in connection with Atlantic City properties before finally pulling out of the Atlantic Ocean resort south of New York.

In a city he once dominated, Donald Trump’s name will disappear from another building by the end of this summer.

It is true the Atlantic City casinos are in danger if the two new, big casinos are opened in New Jersey.

Around 1,000 housekeepers, servers, cooks, and bellmen working at the hotel and casino complex (excluding workers at the casino itself) have been picketing it since July 1, seeking restoration of the health benefits and pension plans they gave up in 2014 when the resort’s bankruptcy proceedings were initiated.

The union’s objective is not to destroy the Trump Taj Mahal, as many of them have been employees since its opening in 1990. It has been nothing but the usual my-way-or-the-highway from Carl Icahn. Can you imagine what it is like to work in this city-to spend your days doing the backbreaking work of cleaning hotel rooms or walking all over the casino floor serving drinks in high heels-without health insurance? It was announced late on Wednesday that Trump Taj Mahal will be shuttered in September, right after the Labor Day weekend.

Bob McDevitt, president a labor union which represents about 1,100 workers at the casino, called the closure “petty” and an attempt to break their labor strike. Trump resigned as chairman following the company’s bankruptcy in 2009, though he maintained a 10 percent interest in the casino because it retained the name “Trump Taj Mahal”. Atlantic City’s high-end dining, variety of gambling sites, and top-notch entertainment have proved no match for most gamblers against “convenience gaming” that allowed them to save both time and money at casinos closer to home.

While Atlantic City has sought to diversify its economy, including through planned creation of a Stockton University campus, gambling remains a financial cornerstone.

An exact shutdown date for the Taj Mahal has not yet been set.

Union officials say 60-day warning notices for employees are required, estimating the earliest the casino would shut down would be in October.