I can’t seem to find it, but supposedly there was a little old lady who refused to sell her house in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the casino built around her house — quite literally around her house. The story goes that she has even turned down Donald Trump — I’m not finding anything —. The Trump Plaza casino is more compact and easier to navigate than other Atlantic City casinos. Beyond the casino, this landmark Atlantic City hotel has a range of entertainment and nightlife options including Jezebel's and the Liquid Bar. During the summer months, the Beach Bar is a trendy spot for food, drinks, and live music on the ocean. In 1993, Donald Trump bought several lots around his Atlantic City casino and hotel, intending to build a parking lot designed for limousines. Coking, who had lived in her house at that time for 32 years, refused to sell. As a result, the city condemned her house, using the power of eminent domain. The Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was completed; grass was put down on one side of Vera’s property and parking lots operate on the other sides. The only part of the project left is razing Vera’s house and two other buildings on the block. The final project included a new casino (even though Trump’s original plan did not.).
A new Ted Cruz ad attacks Donald Trump for the time Trump 'colluded with Atlantic City insiders to bulldoze the home of an elderly widow for a limousine parking lot at his casino.' Jun 12, 2016 How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions. With $220 million in financing to build the project, to pay him a $24 million construction management fee. Dec 22, 2017 Trump turned Mar-a-Lago into a private club in 1995 and built a 20,000-square-foot ballroom with $7 million in gold leaf. He commandeered a.
Vera Coking is a retired homeowner whose Atlantic City, New Jersey, boarding house was the focus of an eminent domain case involving Donald Trump.
History[edit]
Coking house at 127 S Columbia Pl, between the steel framework of the planned Penthouse Casino; photographed by Jack Boucher for Historic American Buildings Survey, c.1991
In 1961, Coking and her husband bought the property at 127 South Columbia Place as a summertime retreat for $20,000.[1]
In the 1970s, Penthouse magazine publisher Bob Guccione offered Coking $1 million ($3.5 million in 2018)[2] for her property in order to build the Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino. She declined the offer, and Guccione started construction of the hotel-casino in 1978 around the Coking house, but ran out of money in 1980 and construction stopped. The steel framework structure was finally torn down in 1993.[3]
In 1993, Donald Trump bought several lots around his Atlantic City casino and hotel, intending to build a parking lot designed for limousines.[4] Coking, who had lived in her house at that time for 32 years, refused to sell. As a result, the city condemned her house, using the power of eminent domain. She was offered $251,000,[5] a quarter of what she was offered by Guccione 10 years earlier.
With the assistance of the Institute for Justice, Coking fought the local authorities and eventually prevailed.[6]Superior Court Judge Richard Williams ruled that because there were 'no limits' on what Trump could do with the property, the plan to take Coking's property did not meet the test of law. But Williams' ruling did not reject the practice of using eminent domain to take private property from one individual and transferring it to another, which would eventually be upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in Kelo v. City of New London.
Two other properties that prevailed against eminent domain eventually did sell: Sabatini's restaurant received $2.1 million and a pawnshop sold for $1.6 million. Their lots became part of a large lawn flanking a taxi stand for Trump's casino.[1][7] Coking remained in her house until 2010, when she moved to a retirement home in the San Francisco Bay Area near her daughter and grandchildren.
Property records show that on June 2, 2010, Coking transferred ownership of the house to her daughter, who put it on the market in 2011 with an initial asking price of $5 million.[1][8] By September 2013 the price had been reduced to $1 million.[9]
The property was finally sold for $583,000 in an auction on July 31, 2014.[10] The buyer was Carl Icahn, who held the debt on Trump Entertainment, owner of Trump Plaza. He subsequently demolished the house on November 19, 2014.[11] Neither the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority nor the owners of Trump Plaza expressed any interest in the auction.[1]
The adjacent Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, the property for which Trump wanted Coking's property to begin with, closed in September 2014, due to lack of business.[12]
See also[edit]
- Other real-estate holdouts:
- Edith Macefield, Seattle
- Figo House, Oregon
- Michael Forbes, Scotland
- Wu Ping, southwest China
References[edit]
- ^ abcdMatt A.V. Chaban (July 21, 2014). 'A Homeowner’s Refusal to Cash Out in a Gambling Town Proves Costly'. The New York Times. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- ^'Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator'. Bureau of Labor Statistics.Missing or empty
|url=
(help) - ^'Public Power, Private Gain: The Abuse of Eminent Domain'. Institute for Justice. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
- ^' IN BRIEF; Follow-Ups: Judge Rejects Property Seizure'. The New York Times, July 26, 1998. Accessed December 5, 2007.
- ^Nelson, I. Rose (1998). 'Court Condemns Casino Condemnations'. The Gambling and the Law. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
- ^Herszenhorn, David M. (July 21, 1998). 'Widowed Homeowner Foils Trump in Atlantic City', The New York Times. Accessed December 5, 2007.
- ^'Penthouse Casino.jpg'. The Press of Atlantic City. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
- ^Wittkowski, Donald (August 28, 2011). 'Empty Atlantic City boarding home near casinos selling for $5 million'. The Press of Atlantic City. Accessed August 28, 2011.
- ^Cohen, Lauren (September 24, 2013). 'Asking price drops on house Vera Coking refused to sell to Trump'. The Press of Atlantic City.
- ^Wittkowski, Donald (16 February 2016). 'Coveted by developers, Atlantic City rooming house finally falls to wreckers'. The Press of Atlantic City. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
- ^NBC10 Philadelphia (November 20, 2014). 'Atlantic City House of Woman Who Heldout Against Donald Trump Comes Down'. NBC10 (Philadelphia). Retrieved 16 February 2014
- ^'Thousands out of work in Atlantic City as big casinos shut doors'. Atlantic City News. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vera_Coking&oldid=916703366'
JACKSON, TN -- Christians from across the nation and Canada have come to Tennessee with many Christian outreach groups, such as Habitat for Humanity, to reconstruct houses that were destroyed during the May 4 tornadoes.
Maggie Hunt, whose house was destroyed by the tornado, is receiving help from the Christian organizations.
The Mountain Grand Casino is located in Deadwood, South Dakota, in the North of the Black Hills National Forest. South dakota casino background.
'I feel good about the work they're doing,' Hunt said. 'I didn't know that there was that much help in the world. I'm not able to do it myself.'
This week, the Care-a-vanners, a Christian group that travels around the country in recreational vehicles and builds houses, will be building homes in Jackson, TN.
'Our main goal is to eliminate substandard housing throughout the world,' said Paul Shiveley, a build team leader with the Care-a-vanners. 'We want to eliminate poverty housing one house at a time.' Shiveley and his wife Charlene have helped build around 12 houses across the U.S.
He also added that working on the houses and helping others is part of the Christian spirit.
John Zook, a volunteer with the Mennonite Disaster Service from Lancaster, Pa., said he came to Jackson with a purpose - to help those in need.
'We're just here to give people a lift,' Zook said. 'We're Christians, and the way we look at it is our purpose in life is to help each other.'
Trump Casino Built Around Home In Ac
The Disaster Response Services branch of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is also in Jackson helping those who lost a home to the tornadoes. CRWRC will be working through out the summer in Jackson.
Joyce Visser, a construction supervisor for the CRWRC group, said the members are working in response to what Jesus has called them to do.
'It's a very rewarding experience to help to get the people back into their home,' Visser said. 'They've been through so much, we want to let God's light shine through us to them. I think it's a commandment of God - love your neighbor as yourself. It doesn't matter where they are. Jesus taught us that - to serve others.'
Many Christian volunteers came to Jackson without knowing each other. But after working together building houses, they say they form a big family under Christ.
Trump Around Video
'You come in as a stranger and become one family,' she said.