Stockton University, a public college based in New Jersey, said on March 24 that the Trump Taj Mahal was blocking its bid to turn the now-defunct Showboat Casino, which it purchased for $18 million in December, into a residential campus, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. After squabbling with the Trump Taj Mahal for weeks, Stockton announced on April 4 that it had reached a deal to sell the property to real estate mogul Glenn Straub for $26 million, with a clause allowing the university to cancel that sale within 90 days. Stockton will use those three months in an attempt to fix a disagreement about a decades-old contract that is at the heart of its dispute with the Trump Taj. For Stockton, the trouble arose when the Trump Taj recently moved to enforce a legal agreement it had with the old owner of the Showboat Casino, Caesars Entertainment, which mandated that the property be used only to house a high-end casino and hotel. Stockton wants to turn part of the 1.7 million-square-foot property into housing for students, along with making an additional section into a hotel, but it had not planned to install slot machines on the premises. The Trump Taj said last month that it was sticking to the covenant because it has no interest in operating next to college students.
