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New Waterfront Conference Center Hits Construction Milestone In Atlantic City

By Cleve Bryan

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., (CBS) -- Atlantic City meeting facilities shared good Wednesday as Harrah's Waterfront Conference Center hit a construction milestone and steps began to invest $100 million in existing convention properties.

Elected officials joined company executives at Harrah's to sign the last steel beam on the $125 million conference center which plans to start operation in August 2015.

"This is going to be the most technically advanced project on the East Coast and it will be largest facility from Boston to Baltimore connecting a hotel with a conference center," says Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian.

Guardian pointed to a study that found Atlantic City only captures about one percent of a $16 billion meetings business in the Northeast.

He says a new conference center will not threaten to take business from Boardwalk Hall or the Atlantic City Convention Center which are expected to receive $100 million in improvements through bonding by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.

"It will be spread out over five years plus or minus with our capital program that identifies what we should be doing quickly to deal with needed improvements right away and then some of cosmetic things that can make a difference," says CRDA Executive Director John Palmieri.

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