Beyond the Sheraton: Polistina Warns Atlantic City Convention Center Needs Major Investment

ATLANTIC CITY — The increasingly contentious debate over the future of the Sheraton may be only one piece of a much larger challenge facing Atlantic City's convention business, according to state Sen. Vince Polistina.

Polistina says New Jersey needs to look beyond the fate of the hotel connected to the Atlantic City Convention Center and make a broader investment in the Convention Center itself if the resort is going to remain competitive for meetings and conventions.

“If not, we're going to continue to hemorrhage conventions,” Polistina said Tuesday during an appearance on Off The Press with Scott Cronick on News Talk 1400 and 92.3 WOND.

His comments come as the future of the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel has become a growing point of debate among city, state and tourism officials.

But Polistina says that debate shouldn't obscure a larger question:

Is Atlantic City investing enough in the infrastructure needed to compete for convention business?

‘This is a much bigger conversation’

Polistina told Cronick that discussions surrounding the Sheraton and Convention Center have been taking place behind the scenes for considerably longer than the recent public controversy.

“This is a conversation that's gone on long before the last month that you've been hearing about it,” Polistina said. “It is a conversation that's been going on for two years now.”

The Convention Center is one of the largest convention facilities in the Northeast, encompassing nearly 1 million square feet, with five exhibit halls and 45 meeting rooms.

The adjoining Sheraton provides more than 500 hotel rooms immediately adjacent to the facility, connected by a pedestrian bridge.

The hotel's owner has proposed converting a portion of the property to age-restricted housing while retaining and renovating a hotel component. CRDA planning documents describe a proposal for 130 age-restricted residential units and 252 renovated hotel rooms.

Polistina believes maintaining a large hotel immediately associated with the Convention Center is important to its future.

“We have to have a 500-room hotel associated with the Convention Center, and so that must be maintained,” he said.

He also said there previously had been discussions about a potential purchase of the Sheraton that did not ultimately move forward.

But Polistina said the issue is bigger than a single hotel.

“The hotel aspect is one piece of it,” he said. “The Convention Center itself is an entirely other aspect.”

“This is a much bigger conversation than just the hotel.”

Is Atlantic City keeping up?

One area Polistina singled out is technology.

He initially characterized the Convention Center as lacking Wi-Fi before immediately clarifying that Wi-Fi exists but, in his view, is not reliable enough for a modern convention facility.

“It's limited, right? It's spotty,” Polistina said.

“If you are coming into a business convention, and you need to have Wi-Fi, you can't have spotty Wi-Fi.”

“We haven't invested in the facility,” he added. “That investment needs to happen.”

The Convention Center says wired and wireless internet service is available throughout the facility through Smart City Networks, with complimentary Wi-Fi in public spaces and meeting rooms.

The center also announced in 2023 that it had expanded Wi-Fi coverage to all 45 meeting rooms, the atrium and other public spaces.

Polistina's criticism, therefore, is about what he considers the quality and competitiveness of the service, rather than the absence of Wi-Fi.

Technology isn't the only infrastructure receiving attention.

CRDA and DCO Energy announced a major energy project in 2025 involving the Convention Center and Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. The overall $77 million initiative includes a new chilled- and hot-water plant at the Convention Center designed to provide full heating and cooling redundancy, along with solar-energy improvements.

That investment notwithstanding, Polistina argues considerably more needs to be done if Atlantic City wants to remain competitive for major events.

Could the Convention Center district become bigger?

Polistina also raised a more ambitious possibility.

He said convention-industry representatives have discussed the value of adding even more hotel capacity directly connected to the Convention Center.

That could eventually involve property near the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, located behind the Convention Center.

Polistina said participants at a recent gathering involving convention-industry representatives suggested Atlantic City should not only preserve the Sheraton's hotel capacity but consider another hotel with direct Convention Center access.

“You not only should have the Sheraton 500 rooms in front,” Polistina recalled of the discussion, “you should take the mission and make that another hotel of direct connectivity to the Convention Center.”

He said the concept would involve more than the existing Rescue Mission building because of surrounding property.

“You could put something in the back and then connect it right to the Convention Center,” Polistina said.

No such hotel project has been formally announced, and Polistina's comments should not be interpreted as indicating one is approved or imminent.

But they illustrate the larger vision he says state officials should be discussing.

Polistina wants new state-CRDA partnership

At the heart of the issue is money.

Polistina argues that the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority no longer has access to enough of the revenue it once used for major investments in Atlantic City.

He specifically pointed to Investment Alternative Tax revenue that was redirected as part of New Jersey's response to Atlantic City's fiscal crisis.

“You have got to get some of that money returned to CRDA or we got to figure out a better way to work with EDA,” Polistina said, referring to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

He said he has been discussing the issue with both state economic-development officials and CRDA.

“There's got to be a better partnership between the State Economic Development Authority [and] the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority,” Polistina said.

He pointed to the redevelopment of Renaissance Plaza as an example of what cooperation between the two agencies can accomplish.

“That's the partnership that must continue,” Polistina said. “Talk to EDA. They want to continue. I've talked to CRDA. They absolutely want to continue.”

‘We must do this’

For Atlantic City, convention business extends far beyond the people attending meetings inside the Convention Center.

Convention visitors fill hotel rooms, eat in restaurants, gamble in casinos, use transportation services and spend money throughout the resort.

That is why Polistina argues the city and state can't afford to allow the facility to become less competitive.

“If not, we're going to continue to hemorrhage conventions,” he said. “You're not going to see them, and that's going to have such an impact on the city that I think everybody recognizes we must do this.”

Polistina also connected that economic activity to the money Atlantic City's casino industry generates for programs elsewhere in New Jersey.

“You can't forget the fact that there are millions of visitors here every year, billions of dollars of revenue generated from the Atlantic City casino industry and the Convention Center business,” he said.

“And if you start to lose that business and lose casinos, you are going to start dropping revenues as it relates to casino revenue.”

The senator's argument effectively expands the debate now surrounding the Sheraton.

The question isn't simply whether Atlantic City should preserve hundreds of hotel rooms next to its Convention Center.

It's whether the state is prepared to make the larger investments necessary to keep the entire convention district competitive for decades to come.

State Sen. Vince Polistina discussed the Atlantic City Convention Center, Sheraton and other regional issues on Off The Press with Scott Cronick on News Talk 1400 and 92.3 WOND. The show airs Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.