Donald Trump’s former Atlantic City hotel and casino, Trump Plaza, was imploded Wednesday, February 17th.
The demolition took place around 9 a.m. ET with the help of about 3,000 sticks of dynamite, according to The New York Times. A nearby lot was reportedly charging people $10 to park their cars and watch the show.
Trump Plaza opened in 1984, the first of three casinos the former U.S. president would open in Atlantic City, followed by Trump Castle (later renamed the Trump Marina), and Trump Taj Mahal. For a brief period of time, the three casinos appeared to be a success, especially with A-list celebrities pouring in for boxing bouts and other events. Additionally, as NJ.com points out, Trump’s casinos provided thousands of jobs, with the Plaza alone employing about 6,100 workers.
But while Trump touted his success and basically claimed that he single-handedly revived the city, his properties were mired in bankruptcies and controversies. A Times report from 2016 stated that Trump’s casinos posted huge losses each year and that numerous contractors and other local businesses were left in the lurch as a result of the various bankruptcy proceedings.
“He had stiffed hundreds of local businesses and left them with financial claims that they would never recover,” Steven Perskie, a former New Jersey legislator, told NJ Advance Media in 2016. “He put the casinos through the bankruptcy proceedings and left town. And he left in a very different aura than he came.”
Since deserting Atlantic City, Trump saw all three of his casinos closed and bought by new owners. The Taj Mahal is now the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, and the Trump Marina is now the Golden Nugget. The Plaza, meanwhile, has stood vacant since 2014, purchased by billionaire Carl Icahn in 2016. One of the apparent reasons for its full demolition is that the building was declared an “imminent hazard,” because chunks of debris and metal kept falling off the facade.