“Restructure! Restructure! Restructure! That’s all he ever does because that’s all he can do!” That was a friend of mine, speaking in exasperation of Donald Trump. 
However, today the remark could be updated to refer to Gary Loveman. The CEO of Caesars Entertainment has kicked off another round of debt-structure talks and, if Bloomberg News is right, a prepackaged bankruptcy may be on the table. The discussions are swathed in confidentiality agreements, so it’s not clear what Loveman means when he talks about creating “a path toward a sustainable capital structure.” (Perhaps he should have thought about that before he put the company $25 billion in debt.)
Bondholders in discussions with Caesars include ubiquitous Brigade Capital Management, former partner in an abortive Boston casino bid. Reports Bloomberg, “Agreement from both the company’s bondholders and owners of its bank loans, who have a higher ranking in a bankruptcy, would be necessary to back a more sweeping restructuring plan and avoid a prolonged reorganization in court if other efforts fail, the people said. Without a buy-in from those creditors, the company would have trouble securing enough allies to quickly emerge from a bankruptcy.”
* MGM Resorts International dispensed with all the usual pre-construction formalities as it began work on its National Harbor casino in Maryland. Already 
the foundations have been laid and 300,000 cubic yards of dirt have been displaced, to make room for the $925 million hotel-casino. According to company spokesman Gordon Absher, given the project’s timeline, ceremonial groundbreakings were a luxury MGM couldn’t afford: “We are so focused on getting this open in 2016 that . . . we just got started.” Remember, MGM started preparing the site before its project got official approval.
Construction will start with the parking garage, followed by the hotel and the conservatory area. The 4,000 jobs being created by MGM National Harbor include no fewer than 200 architects (!), although the construction force is small at this point. In addition to 140 table games and 3,600 slots, the property will have a predictable menu of amenities: “several celebrity chef-driven restaurants, small boutique-style shops of high-end retailers and a concert theater.”
* Having bid on Revel out of “sheer boredom,” developer Glenn Straub seems to be setting himself up for failure with his plans for the defunct megaresort. Never 
mind filling the existing hotel tower: Straub wants to build the planned, but never executed, second tower and make it a campus for “some of the smartest people in the world … The university’s going to go in. It’s going to be for geniuses.”
Tinkering with Revel like a toddler with a new toy, Straub’s a real lulu: His ideas range from the plausible (an underground passageway for the winter months) to crazy talk about high-speed trains and ferries. Does he have any idea how much those things cost, let alone how difficult they are to get through governmental red tape? For someone whose reputation is that of “a hard-charging bargain-hunter,” Straub’s notions for Revel are anything but cheap. And if he wants to keep the casino at Revel active, he’s going to have to buy some new slots: International Game Technology is repossessing its inventory, which secures a $3.6 million debt.
Saying that Atlantic City needs “someone like a dad” to lead it (geez, I wonder who he has in mind?), Straub made it clear he’d pursue other properties if the Revel buy doesn’t go through. When it comes to being Atlantic City’s would-be rescuer, Straub has some distinguished company.
Straub is delusional. Atlantic City needs to upgrade their utilities before any further construction can happen. AND, according to the mayor, they don’t have the money to do that.