$2 billion, beach-themed casino/hotel on the site of the demolished Sands Hotel. Now, the company has indeed put the project on the back burner, and may even sell the cleared property for the right price.

"The company's plans…are on indefinite hold due to credit market conditions and an evolving competitive environment," reads a statement issued by the company. "including approval of a state constitutional amendment…permitting 15,000 slot machines in nearby Maryland, the three additional casinos…in eastern Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City's recent request for proposals for one or more casinos to be built on [former municipal airport] Bader Field."

"We recognize that this is not an environment to go and 'dream big'," Pinnacle chairman/CEO Daniel Lee told analysts during the company's Q3 earnings conference call. "We're going to sit in Atlantic City, and we could be sitting for a very long period of time. If we have to put it off for years and years to make sure that what we're doing is bulletproof, then so be it."

Lee also admitted his company would entertain offers to sell the 18-acre boardwalk property, which it acquired two years ago, and subsequently demolished the Sands in late 2007. "Obviously, if someone made us a decent offer for the property, we would have to consider it," Lee told analysts.