Atlantic City’s North End is finally getting the sand needed to promise a full summer of fun after years of delays.

In April 2024, there was barely enough sand to set up a chair. Fast forward to February 2025, and the beach has been widened by hundreds of yards.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last visited the North End five years ago, the long overdue replenishment project added 1.2 million cubic yards of sand – enough to widen the beach by hundreds of yards.

“We will have an enormous beach all the activities. We will have beach volleyball, corn hole, bars open. It's going to be amazing,” said George Goldhoff, the president of Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. “Our beach bar got washed away in 2022, so we had a makeshift beach bar. We will have multiple beach bars this year so it’s going to be an entirely new environment exciting.”

As most of New Jersey prepares for another round of snow, sleet and ice, business leaders say now is the perfect time to start planning for summer.

“It was pretty decimated but now we’ve got a beach and we’ve got a lot of it,” said Anthony Catanoso, president and owner of Steel Pier.

“It’s going to mean a lot for us, for the casinos, for the Steel Pier, for businesses here but they’ve got to have...you have to have a beach to go along with the boardwalk,” he said.

While gaming has always lured folks to Atlantic City, remodeled, renamed and reimagined hotels, like Hard Rock and Showboat’s indoor family water park, showcase the changing target audience – all that is lost without an actual beach.

“The most important and best tourist destinations in the world always have an attraction,” said Goldhoff.

“You want to spend your days on the beach in the sand in the ocean maybe enjoy a beach bar, music, and then come up steel pier with the Ferris wheel and the water park,” added Catanoso.

Atlantic City’s beach replenishment project is funded by federal, state, and local tax money at a cost of just over $38 million.