Formula 1 Track, Condos Get Green Light for Atlantic City Airport

An historic Atlantic City airport will be transformed into a $2.7B mixed-use development including a Formula 1 racetrack, condos and retail.

The city council has unanimously approved DEEM Enterprises’ proposal for the redevelopment of Bader Field, the first municipal airport built in the US. The council voted 8-0, with one abstention to approve a memorandum of understanding with DEEM.

According to a rendering released by the Greater Atlantic City Chamber, the project will include a 2.44-mile Formula 1 motor course surrounded by hundreds of condos—the cars weave around the apartments in the rendering—and retail shops.

The Army Corp. of Engineers will dredge the back bays around the old airfield, dumping the sediment on the field as sub level site work elevations, NJ.com reported.

Renaissance at Bader Field, as the development will be known, will be a net-zero carbon LEED Platinum. According to the DEEM website, sustainability features will include solar panels on all roofs and a microgrid that can be converted to use hydrogen power.

“The fundamental design approach of this new community is rooted in resilient and sustainable design methodologies. Our microgrid concept for energy generation and distribution, with the ability to utilize clean hydrogen, will serve as a model for future self-sustaining projects the world over,” DEED said.

The developer said the new community will “act as a catalyst for the financial rebirth of Atlantic City by attracting new job-creating industries, increasing the city’s tax base and diversifying future businesses in the city.”

DEED estimated it will take six to nine years to complete the project.

DEED defines its mission as building developments that are unique in terms of use, building type, scope, resiliency and sustainability which in turn provide a stimulus for attracting and creating new and vibrant local economies that financially support the city in which they operate.

Because Atlantic City sits on a long and windy barrier island much like Kitty Hawk in the Outer Banks of NC, the first municipal airport in the US was built in Atlantic City in 1910—named for a former mayor of AC, Edward Bader, Bader Filed was the world’s first airport built specifically for fixed-wing aircraft.

The 140-acre city-owned facility permanently closed in 2006. Bader Field was put up for sale in 2016.

It was replaced by Atlantic City International Airport, which was built on the site of a US Navy air station that closed in 1958. During the pandemic, service was severely curtailed at Atlantic City International, which was reduced to a couple of domestic carriers—and no international flights.