Taj to Stockton ‘You do not see a college on the Las Vegas strip’

The owners of Trump Taj Mahal have fired back in the battle over Stockton University’s seemingly dashed hopes of building a satellite campus at Atlantic City’s former Showboat casino.A day after Stockton’s president blasted the Taj — saying its ongoing dispute with Caesars Entertainment had all but derailed the university’s plans — the Taj’s parent company posted a letter of its own. Seeking to “set the record straight” on the issue, Trump Entertainment detailed the 1988 agreement at the heart of the dispute and said, “The facts are that our company does not think having a college next door to the Taj is good for our company.”

“Having kids under 21 who will attempt to gain entry to the casino and engage in activities reserved for those only 21 and older would create numerous problems we do not want and could damage the Taj’s ability to attract customers and regain its financial health,” the statement read.

“You do not see a college on the Las Vegas strip.”

RELATED: ‘Stabbed in the heart’: Stockton’s Showboat campus in jeopardy, university president says

Stockton had hoped to open its Island Campus at the shuttered hotel and gaming hall, following its $18 million purchase of the property from Caesars in December. But Herman Saatkamp, the university’s president, on Tuesday issued a statement saying the Galloway-based school had been “stabbed in the heart” by coming to realize that Taj and Caesars had not resolved the issue.

In response, Trump Entertainment on Wednesday detailed the 1988 agreement and explained its reasons for not stepping aside.

The statement said that in 1988 Showboat, Resorts and Taj all agreed to provide for a cluster of casinos at the north end of the boardwalk, on or near what was once a tract designated for urban renewal, “to create greater customer traffic for all three properties.” In a written accord, the operators agreed that Showboat would always be operated as a casino hotel and the three properties would be interconnected by skyways.

In December, Caesars asked the Taj to voluntarily waive the casino-hotel agreement to permit Stockton to acquire Showboat and convert it into a college campus, Trump Entertainment said. The operator said that because the Taj is in bankruptcy, “as a matter of our fiduciary responsibilities to our creditors,” it would not waive its right without bankruptcy court approval and “without receiving appropriate consideration.”

“We were not offered any consideration for this waiver,” the statement read. “This was over three months ago.

“Both Caesars and Stockton elected to proceed with the Showboat sale even though they were fully aware that we could not waive the casino/hotel covenant as they were asking.”

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