According to the report, the investment group is led by WallaceR. Barr, the former president and CEO of Caesars Entertainment, whostepped down from that position when the company was bought byHarrah's Entertainment, and by Curtis Bashaw, the former executivedirector of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, a stateagency. Bashaw, who left the CRDA post last October, currentlyheads Cape Advisors Inc., a Cape May, NJ-based firm that operateshistoric hotel properties there and office and residentialproperties in two other states. All of the parties involved in thepending transaction declined to comment or were unavailable.

According to reports, what Barr and Bashaw have in mind for thesite is a small casino/hotel property. The 11 acres is consideredtoo small for a mega hotel of the type that has been rising herelately, such as the Borgata. The site once held the Dunes CasinoHotel, which was never completed and was finally demolished in theearly 1990s after sitting vacant for five years.