People's impressions of Atlantic City's Revel Casino were a lot more consistent than the revenues at the failed gaming resort. Everyone seemed to agree; it's a beautiful building, but not very user-friendly.

Paul Steelman agrees with that assessment, but he thinks those issues can be addressed and corrected fairly easily.

Steelman's opinion matters. The Longport native, who got his start designing Atlantic City's original Golden Nugget for Steve Wynn, has gone on to be one of the world's most respected casino architects, designing 3,000 casinos in 20 countries.

Steelman is also partnering with developer Bart Blatstein to buy the Pier Shops at Caesars for $2.5 million.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Harold Brubaker spoke with Steelman last week about what it will take to fix Revel.

There is one important component of Steelman's plan to make the new Revel, or whatever it will be called, a highly successful business, that lies outside the casino walls.

First, here's what Steelman thinks needs to be fixed inside Revel:

- Uncomplicate access to the gaming floor.  Steelman isn't concerned with revel's gaming  being on an upper floor, saying some of the world's most successful casinos have their gaming on upper floors. But ease of access is another question. " You can't get into your hotel elevator and press a button that says 'casino'.  It's a button that says 'lobby'.  That's a problem - you have to fix that," Steelman said. "Those elevator shafts, I guarantee you, go down to the casino."

- Open Revel's front walls to the boardwalk. Steelman suggests putting in a food court or something related to the boardwalk.

- Bypassing "the escalator of terror", as one gaming analyst has called the series of escalators that lead from the casino's valet entrance to the hotel lobby on the 11th floor.  Steelman proposes moving the main drop-off point for cars into the garage.

He points out that any of those fixes would have to be weighed against the cost of completing the15 floors of moth-balled hotel space.

But the aspect of the architect's appraisal for what it will take to make the reopened  casino most successful is what caught my attention.  The improvement isn't in the casino at all, but the city around it.

Here again from the Inquirer article, is Paul Steelman's opinion. "It can be successful. If any of the Las Vegas guys took it over and operated it, it could be a success in a minor sort of way."

But for Revel to be a major success, it needs a vibrant city surrounding it. "It's got to sit in a great neighborhood," Steelman said.

If you've paid any attention to the condition of the neighborhood surrounding the casino now, you know that will be a much bigger job than the changes needed inside the casino.

 

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