A subcontractor on Bart Blatstein’s Atlantic City water park says he’s owed $1.8 million

ATLANTIC CITY — Bart Blatstein’s construction company is being sued by an irrigation and landscape company that says it’s still owed $1.8 million for work done on the $100 million Island Waterpark in Atlantic City.

Parker Interior Plantscape Inc. has further asked a Superior Court judge in Atlantic County to place Blatstein’s water park company, known as Accelerated Construction, into receivership and to force a sale of the water park, which opened nearly a year ago to great fanfare.

The judge, Ralph A. Paolone, has set July 5 to decide whether to appoint a receiver to oversee Blatstein’s assets in Accelerated Construction. [Update: The date for a decision or possible hearing is now July 19.]

“Accelerated Construction is now and for some time has been insolvent and unable to pay its debts as they become due, as evidenced by the substantial amount of unpaid claims due to Parker Interior and numerous other creditors,” attorney Anthony Rainone asserted in the court filing.

Blatstein, reached by telephone on Wednesday, declined to comment for the article or to make his attorney available for public comment. A formal answer to the lawsuit was due June 7 but had not been filed as of Friday afternoon.

Separately, Rainone says Parker and other subcontractors have filed construction liens with the Atlantic County Clerk against Blatstein’s company, seeking payment of outstanding debts totaling in the millions. The Parker lawsuit was filed March 29 in Superior Court. The request for a receiver appointment was filed June 6.

According to records of construction liens on file with the Atlantic County Clerk’s office, the outstanding liens against Blatstein, filed by eight subcontractors, currently total about $7 million. Contractors can claim a lien on property to secure outstanding payment for services provided.

They include a British Columbia company that builds water parks, WhiteWater West, which filed a construction lien for $2,182,739; Capital Concrete, which says it is owed $884,009; and RicoRock Inc, of Orlando, which says it is owed $252,000 for its work building the rock/waterfall feature of the water park.

Parker Interior Plantscape, of Plainfield, N.J., which took the additional step of filing a lawsuit, says it’s owed $1,766,683 for its work landscaping and irrigating the water park, located next to Blatstein’s Showboat Hotel at 801 Boardwalk.

It also says it’s owed about $30,000 for ongoing maintenance work at the water park.

By most accounts, the handsomely constructed indoor water park with a retractable roof has been a success in its first year in Atlantic City, attracting families and school groups at varying prices. On a recent weekday, the water park was busy with field trips. It has also been used for private events and charity fundraisers.

Its popular FlowRider wave simulator will be the site of the first Flow City Pro Am event, part of the 2024 FlowRider Flow Tour, on June 29 and 30, “where flowboarding competitors will have a chance to display their skills,” according to a news release.

The lawsuit names Showboat Renaissance, Tower Investments, SB Waterpark, and Accelerated Construction as defendants, all with locations at 1520 Locust St., Suite 320 in Philadelphia. Tower Investments is Blatstein’s development company.

“We believe this is one operation that serves Bart and only Bart,” says Rainone. “You can’t not pay your creditors.”

In the filing, Rainone contends that Blatstein is “clearly diverting assets away from Accelerated Construction to unknown insiders in order to thwart creditors’ efforts to collect the amounts owed.”

“If that was not the case, Accelerated Construction would have paid Parker Interior and the other construction lien claimants,” he wrote in the June 6 motion asking the judge to appoint receiver.

“The appointment of a receiver is urgently needed to take control of the assets and operations of Accelerated Construction, identify and recover transfers that occurred since insolvency, and prevent further dissipation and fraudulent transfers during the pendency of this litigation,” the motion states.

In the filings, Nathan Parker, owner of Parker Interior Plantscape, asserts: “If a receiver is not appointed, I believe there is a substantial risk that Blatstein will continue to transfer assets away from the Blatstein Group Defendants to insiders or affiliates in an effort to frustrate Parker Interior and the other construction lien holder’s ability to recover the amounts they are owed.”