Meetings Today - June 2017

Trump Taj Mahal, targeting completion by summer

2018. With famed Springsteen tribute band the B Street Band (See Zoom In, page 44.) warming up the press conference, also on hand was E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who intends to bring bands to Atlantic City via his rock radio show Little Steven’s Underground Garage.

Live entertainment figures prominently in the destination’s strategy for product diversification. Cavernous 14,770- seat Boardwalk Hall, from 1929, ranks among the world’s top grossing midsize multipurpose venues, with event space that includes the 3,200-seat Adrian Phillips Ballroom. The venue welcomes legendary rockers The Who next month.

Set to rock the entire summer is Tropicana Casino & Resort. With its daily Multimedia Light & Sound Show dazzling revelers on the Boardwalk, accompanied by free Saturday night fireworks shows from May to September, the property’s diverse entertainment hot spots include the 2,000-seat Broadway-style Showroom, Tango’s Lounge and Ivan Kane’s Kiss Kiss Nightclub.

Star-studded events are also calling at Resorts Hotel Casino, where venues include the classic 1,700-seat Superstar Theatre and indoor-outdoor Margaritaville casino and entertainment complex, featuring Atlantic City’s only year-round beach bar and programmable outdoor space.

Atlantic City options extend from the
Circus Maximus Theater at Caesars Atlantic
City to Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, where
along with its brand-new 18,000-square-
foot Central Conference Center, group ven-
ues include the 30,000-square-foot Event
Center, 1,000-seat The Music Box
theater and 18,000-square-
foot Premier Nightclub, as
well as the Borgata Beer
Garden.
An hour south
of Atlantic City,
the ocean-facing,
260,000-square-foot
Wildwoods Con-
vention Center can
host 10,000 people for
concerts, such as this
October’s Fabulous ’50s &
Beyond Celebration.

Big Tickets

Like New Jerseyans, the state’s larger-scale facilities rock with the best of them.

At MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, home of the NFL’s New York Jets and New York Giants, wide-ranging group programs include guided tours and on-field banquets, with diverse gathering spaces ranging from VIP meeting rooms to the visitors’ locker rooms. The 82,500-seat stadium is also for mega-concerts, Springsteen and Bon Jovi again among them.

Opened in 2007, the multipurpose,

19,000-seat Prudential Center in downtown Newark is home ice for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and concert stage for acts like Sir Paul McCartney, playing here for the first time ever this September. Fall

2017 also sees the debut of the arena’s interactive GRAMMY Museum Experience. Versatile event spaces at “The Rock” include the arena floor; main concourse, with NYC views through its 75-foot windows; and adjacent 17,000-square-foot practice facility.

Turning 20 this year, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, also in Newark, hosts events ranging from intimate dinners to corporate meetings in the 2,850-seat Prudential Hall.

Outside of Newark in the suburban Oranges (birthplace of Dionne Warwick and Grammy-winning R&B star Lauryn Hill), the multipurpose South Orange Performing Arts Center offers its 439-seat theater and 325-capacity Loft for events. In West Orange, the Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center also hosts private events.

Just over the George Washington Bridge in Englewood (where Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder once lived), the versatile Bergen Performing Arts Center offers its

1,367-seat main auditorium and more intimate cabaret, lounge and gallery spaces for meetings and events.

In central Jersey, with its own Garden State Parkway exit, PNC Bank Arts Center, turning 50 next year, is a fan favorite for headliner concerts from May to September. Seating 17,500 with lawn space for another 10,500 guests, the venue offers pre-show party space for groups of 20-plus.