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Stockton University President Herman J. Saatkamp Jr. stands in front of the Campus Center at the Galloway Township campus on Wednesday, March 12, 2015. (Don E. Woods | South Jersey Times)
((Don E. Woods | South Jersey Tim)
Efforts to bring a residential offshoot campus of Stockton University to Atlantic City "have reached a stalemate," said the school's president Tuesday.
The school "tried to establish a full campus in Atlantic City six times during my tenure as president and got kicked in the teeth each time," said Stockton University President Herman Saatkamp in a written statement.
"This time, we were stabbed in the heart."
Stockton purchased the Showboat property for $18 million in December but Saatkamp says Trump Taj Mahal is holding up the project, citing a 1988 deal that says the parcel can only be used for "a first-class casino-hotel."
Caesars Entertainment - who had operated Showboat - was to remedy the issue, according to Saatkamp "and we were led to believe that happened" but now the unresolved "covenant" has stalled the state school's "Island Campus" plans.
"Stockton University and, I believe, Atlantic City are caught in the middle of two corporations," said Saatkamp.
Saatkamp said he is working with lawmakers in Atlantic City to establish a redevelopment zone in the city where the Galloway Township-based school can expand clear of the red tape.
However, if the the hurdles posed by Trump Entertainment, according to Saatkamp, cannot be overcome, the school would be forced to sell the property.
"If we are not able to sell soon, we will close as much of the building as possible and reduce the number of employees on our payroll that we hired to tend to the Island Campus, and unfortunately, the building will set empty," said Saatkamp.
The school had planned to re-open the hotel portion of the resort and begin renovating the casino floor to house classrooms and student services but the financial impact of the stall would be too costly, said Saatkamp.
"We cannot afford to just hold this building with no incoming revenues while the two casinos play their own gamesmanship.
"I still hope this will turn around," he said.
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