Giant Seagulls are Destroying Revel Casino Windows

The Revel casino has had a very troubled history since opening in April 2012, and it isn’t getting any easier with the latest problem including giant seagulls smashing the windows.

Glenn Straub, who recently bought Revel through a bankruptcy auction, said that these are “the biggest seagulls I’ve ever seen” and they routinely smash into the glass-covered building.

In particular, three windows are missing from the former casino and it will take $36,000 to fix them all.

“You folks have got some giant seagulls here – some of them look like they’re 60 pounds,” Straub told ABC News. “We find feathers and everything else underneath the windows, not to mention crabs that they drop from way up to smash them open and then eat.”

Revel officially closed on September 2nd and has been vacant ever since. The casino was eventually sold to Straub last summer for $82 million through a bankruptcy auction. Since that time, Straub has done some legal sparring with the casino’s energy supplier, ACR Energy, over the hefty $3 million monthly power bill that they pay.

A bank claims that ACR Energy has defaulted on its loans and is in danger of going out of business. So they need to recoup their money from Straub if they want to stay open.

After buying the casino resort, Straub didn’t want to continue the previous business relationship between Revel and ACR because he doesn’t believe he should help pay off construction costs for ACR’s new plant.

The state of New Jersey mandated that ACR keep supplying power to the casino to keep its fire safety systems going, which has led to the huge legal battle between Straub and Revel.

Meanwhile, ACR lawyer Timothy Lowry is worried about the broken windows and warned that they could cause further problems if not fixed right away.

“Our concern obviously is the lack of air conditioning and the unequal pressure resulting from the unconditioned space,” said Lowry. “The disparity in atmospheric pressure can actually cause windows to pop out and rain down, and the last thing we need is another Plywood Palace,” a reference to how 133 windows in Boston’s John Hancock Building fell out and shattered in the streets below.

Straub wants to put his own heating generators in Revel by November and make way for solar power atop the casino building. Once the power upgrades are finished, he will build an indoor water park inside Revel, while deciding if he also wants to allow gambling on the premise.