[4] In April 1983, San Diego real estate developer Jack Bona took over the project as majority owner in a joint venture with Shenker's company.
[6][7] In 1983, Bona purchased an option to buy an adjacent lot [site of the aborted Sahara Boardwalk Hotel and Casino project] from GNAC Corp., a subsidiary of Golden Nugget, Inc. for $18 million.
[12] Bona was incarcerated in 1989 and spent almost two years in the Atlantic County jail on a writ of capia ad satisfaciendum for failing to disclose his assets after a monetary judgment was entered against him in regards to a lawsuit filed by GNAC over the land option deal.
[13][14][15][16] In 1988 New York Developer Robert Cipriano of CDG of New Jersey made a bid to take the unsecured creditors out and restructure the property and assets.
Working with unsecured creditors Architect David Jacobson, Perini Construction and various engineers, Cipriano met with San Antonio Savings and other lenders to reorganize the Dunes project, renaming it Cascade Hotel & Casino.
[18] A plan for a mega-casino was dropped due to the economic downturn, and a joint venture to develop a smaller Hard Rock Hotel and Casino was proposed in July 2011.