The Quarter will be a 200,000-sf "Old Havana"-themed retail, entertainment and dining venue at the Tropicana Resort & Casino here. It's part of a $225 million expansion by the owner, Phoenix-based Aztar Corp., a Ramada spin-off with several casino properties around the country. The addition of over 500 guestrooms will bring the Trop to a Las Vegas-sized 2,100 rooms.

The Kravco Co. of King of Prussia, PA, founded by the legendary Morris Kravitz in the late 1940s, is developing The Quarter, the retail part of the expansion. "Atlantic City has a dozen of the most successful casinos in the country, but it doesn't have anything like this," Kravco president Lew Gantman confirmed to GlobeSt.com at the annual ICSC convention last week in Las Vegas. Gantman says the tenant mix to be upscale.

Fittingly, Kravco formally introduced the Quarter at a poolside Cuban-themed party during the ICSC convention at another Aztar property, the Tropicana in Las Vegas. "Atlantic City doesn't really have anything you'd call a 'shopping destination'," Gantman told GlobeSt.com. "There have been attempts that failed because they weren't done right. We expect to change that."

Interestingly, Kravco has another innovation in store for New Jersey. Besides its flagship 2.8 million-sf King of Prussia Mall, the company owns the massive Deptford Mall, Deptford, NJ; Quaker Bridge Mall, Lawrenceville, NJ; and Hamilton Mall, Hamilton, NJ, among others. With super-regional mall opportunities drying up, Kravco is looking for alternatives, such as specialty theme centers like the Quarter.

Another is downtown redevelopment, and Kravco has set its sights on the old Hahne's department store building in Downtown Newark. "Newark is on the way back, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center is a huge success and there are a variety of state and local incentives available that make it a great opportunity," according to Gantman.

What Kravco has in mind is a mixed-use project with heavy emphasis on retailing. To carry out that and other urban projects, Kravco has formed a new division called Downtown Works, headed by Margaret McCauley.