PhillyDeals: PhillyDeals: Airport sale could hurt A.C. redevelopment

Defying the weak market for property of all kinds, Atlantic City hopes to raise $1 billion by selling its old airport,

Bader Field

, to casino developers as soon as possible.

Opponents say too much excitement over Bader could hurt already-shaky proposals to redevelop sites along the Boardwalk by drawing money and energy from the oceanfront to the city's western fringe.

But the "for sale" sign is already posted by the Expressway. And city officials plan to send their plan to state officials in Trenton for approval tomorrow.

The $1 billion price tag is five times what A.C. picks up in local taxes each year. A state law passed this spring with backing from former city mayor and

State Sen. Jim Whelan

would set aside some of the proceeds for city property-tax relief.

"This is groundbreaking," said

Carol Fredericks

, city business administrator. "Savings is not a New Jersey concept. The residents of the city have always been promised, 'If you see casinos come in, your tax rate will drop.' That unfortunately has never been true before."

Fredericks doesn't even mind the plan's detour through

Trenton.

"Oversight is a good thing," she said. "We've had issues in this city that have given some actions a cloud of impropriety."

Is state oversight always a good thing? Read veteran reporters

Bob Ingle

and

Sandy McClure's

recent book

The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption

to review 30 years of luridly, comically, expensively bad behavior by elected officials in the Garden State capital.

But maybe Atlantic City is one place that can look to Trenton for moral guidance: Last year in A.C., "three city council members were convicted on corruption charges, another was arrested for driving drunk in a city vehicle, and a fifth was indicted for his part in an attempt to blackmail a sixth councilman," The Inquirer recounted in July, after the city's most recently elected mayor was put on probation.

Still, some Boardwalk developers are pushing for a delay.

"Take Bader Field off the market," advises

Christopher DiGeorge

, who is pitching a non-casino hotel development at Kentucky and the Boardwalk. "Simply by placing a very public 'for sale' sign on this 143-acre site, the city has inadvertently created a massive disincentive to further new development on the Boardwalk," he said.

He added, "It's no secret that many of the Boardwalk casinos are struggling." Open Bader to developers right now and create "a risk that Bader Field, combined with the adjacent Marina District, might become 'New Atlantic City.' "

At least, DiGeorge urges, wait until after November's mayoral elections, when former Mayor

Lorenzo Langford

is expected to win election to a one-year term.

Fredericks hopes not to even wait that long. If the state cooperates, "we could announce bids by Christmas," she said. "That would be exciting. I view every month that goes by as $5 million in lost tax revenue."

And that's just for the vacant lots. When fully developed - which Fredericks acknowledges will take years - annual taxes for the site could top $100 million.

"A lot of hopes and dreams," she said, "are waiting on this parcel."

Mayor Nutter, City Council President Anna C. Verna

, state officials, builders and produce brokers are scheduled to gather at noon today at 6700 Essington Ave. in Southwest Philadelphia to officially announce the long-negotiated

Philadelphia Regional Produce Market

.

As previously reported by PhillyDeals, the new market, for fruit and vegetable vendors and truckers now crowded into the

Food Distribution Center

in South Philly, will be owned by the

Philadelphia Regional Port Authority

, built by developer

Brian O'Neill

, employ more than 1,000, and be funded primarily by Pennsylvania taxpayers.

The payoff? "The $218.5 million project is expected to generate $10 billion for the local and state governments over its 40-year lease," O'Neill's organization promises. We're looking forward to learning all about how that'll work.