F1-Style Track Approved for Construction in Atlantic City

The sheer absurdity of a Formula 1 Grand Prix in AC makes me want the project to succeed.

byPeter Holderith|
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Deem Enterprises LLC
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A developer's plan to build a $2.7 billion Formula 1-style racetrack, housing, and shopping complex on the site of a former airport in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was unanimously approved by its city council last week. The plan, which would involve landfilling parts of the city's back bay and converting the former airfield into the track, would take six to nine years to complete.

Details of the developer's ambitious plan were reported by NJ.com and would ask the Army Corps of Engineers to prepare the site for construction. From there, a 2.5-mile track would be built, along with over 1,000 units of housing, 234,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, and several parking garages. The developer, DEEM Enterprises LLC, says residents won't be bothered by the racing because it will be mostly electric cars competing there. Bullet dodged.

Deem Enterprises LLC

Bader Field, the former site of Atlantic City Municipal Airport, has long been the topic of redevelopment following the airport's closure in 2006. A 5,500-seat baseball stadium, known as Surf Stadium, already sits on the site but does not occupy it completely. Bader field has also been a venue for some motorsports events. A round of the Global Rallycross Championship was held there in 2016, and the area's SCCA chapter hosts autocross events there as well.

Whether the project will actually advance has yet to be seen. A representative for the developers, Michael Binder, previously told Atlantic City's Chamber of Commerce that the track was designed by "the world’s foremost designer from Spain." New Jersey is known for stillborn developments, though. The "American Dream" mall, a loosely similar ambitious project in the Meadowlands, took over a decade to complete after changing hands several times. It cost $5 billion and has been struggling to stay afloat since its partial completion right before the pandemic.

Whether this project will suffer a similar fate is yet to be seen. Ground has yet to be broken, and DEEM Enterprises LLC isn't planning to build an indoor ski area—at least as far as we know. Just for the sake of witnessing the sheer absurdity of an Atlantic City Grand Prix, let's hope it happens.

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