ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Fans of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort can take home a piece of the former casino before it’s gutted to make way for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Furniture, poker tables, grand pianos, art and even its famous chandeliers will be among the merchandise up for grabs at a liquidation sale that starts at 10 a.m. Thursday.
National Content Liquidators says the sale will continue until everything’s gone.
President Donald Trump opened the Taj Mahal in 1990, proclaiming it to be “the eighth wonder of the world.” But within a year it had filed for bankruptcy, crippled by choking debt. Trump cut most of his ties with Atlantic City in 2009, having lost control of the casino company he once owned in a bankruptcy.
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn shut the Taj Mahal down in October after a bitter strike with the casino’s main union, and he sold it to Hard Rock International in March for $50 million. That’s about 4 cents on the dollar from the $1.2 billion that Trump spent to open it.
A summer 2018 opening is planned for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
The sale is part of Hard Rock’s plan to do a complete makeover of the property that will erase all traces of the Taj Mahal’s Indian theme.
The Trump name has already been removed from the building.
