Kevin DeSanctis, who guided Atlantic City’s Revel casino-hotel through its tortuous development, only to see it struggle in the cutthroat East Coast gambling market, is stepping down as head of the $2.4 billion resort.
DeSanctis and Chief Investment Officer Michael Garrity will resign from Revel Atlantic City but retain their jobs with Revel Group, the holding company that developed the resort and licenses its brand. They will work on developing amenity projects for Revel.
Jeffrey Hartmann, a 20-year veteran of the industry, will take over the resort’s day-to-day operations once he is approved by New Jersey casino regulators.
The moves come less than two weeks before Revel is expected to file a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that will wipe out about two-thirds of its $1.5 billion in debt and give lenders a greater equity stake in the resort .