Revel nightclub operator wants to stay open

Could there be hope for fans HQ Night Club and HQ Beach Club?

The operator of the two immensely popular clubs at Atlantic City's bankrupt Revel Casino Hotel - the sort of noncasino entertainment venue government and industry officals touts as key to Atlantic City's future - filed a complaint in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden asking or a preliminary injunction that would allow it to keep its facilities open even though Revel closed Tuesday.

The HQ Beach Club was jammed with guests - some of whom reportedly paid $100 to get in - Sunday and Monday for DJ parties, while the casino remained almost empty.

The operator, Idea Boardwalk L.L.C., has a significant investment at stake. The filing said Idea paid $16 million of the $80.3 million needed to build out the spaces in Revel that it has used.

The company said the clubs could operate safely. They have independent entrances, making it unnecessary for HQ patrons to go through the casino, the filing said.

The 88-page filing revealed that HQ's owners have been working for about two weeks on a plan to stay open.

The company conducted tours with top officials of the Atlantic City Fire Department in mid-August to demonstrate that the facilities could operate safely without access to the casino and met with lawyers for the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to formally request permission to stay in business at the $2.4 billion casino.

Selling prodigious amounts of alchohol was a key part of HQ business.

To keep that going, Attorneys for HQ on Friday filed a petition with the state's Division of Alchoholic Beverage Control asking for permission to continue selling booze after the closure under Revel's license or its own, which would have to be issued on an expedited basis.

The petition put the loss of 90 jobs at the HQ clubs in the context of nearly 6,000 jobs in Atlantic City, as Showboat, Revel, and Trump Plaza close in a span of less than three weeks.