Atlantic City Is the Comeback Kid: Evan Sanchez and the Orange Loop Folks love a comeback story. They love Rocky. And Evan Sanchez will tell you straight out: Atlantic City is the epitome of that. Evan is the co-founder of Authentic City Partners, and his job description might be the best one in South Jersey — his startup is Atlantic City itself. For the latest stop in our series about the South Jersey that shaped Kensington, Dan went to see what Evan and his team have been building, block by block. About a decade ago, Evan and his partners took a big plan called the Downtown Loop and, in his words, smooshed it down — into a couple of buildings on one block of Tennessee Avenue. The idea was to start small, build community, and let it grow organically. Today, that footprint spans three blocks: Tennessee, St. James, and New York Avenue. If those names ring a bell, they should — they're the orange properties on the Monopoly board, the game famously modeled on Atlantic City's streets. When they started, people said nobody would come to those businesses and nobody would ever want to live in that area. That prediction hasn't aged well. People live and work in the Loop today, and Evan expects around 100 new housing units to come online over the next six to twelve months — more housing than the neighborhood has seen in the past ten years, and the accelerant, as he calls it, for more thriving small businesses around it. His bigger point is about perception. The image most people carry of Atlantic City was formed over the last 40 or 50 years, and while some of it is fair, Evan says it's time to complicate the narrative. After more than a decade of work, he has never been more fired up. In his words: it is very much go time. That one hits close to home for us. Kensington started out in Atlantic City back in 1912, before the family moved the store to Tilton Road in Northfield. AC is where our story began — so watching a new generation bet on those blocks and win is a comeback story we'll root for every single time. About Kensington Furniture — Kensington Furniture is a family-owned furniture and mattress store on Tilton Road in Northfield, New Jersey. Founded in 1912, it's one of the oldest retail businesses in Atlantic County — if not the oldest — and has served South Jersey families for more than a century, from first apartments to forever homes. Visit the showroom in Northfield or shop online at kensingtonfurniture.com.
