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A deal to sell Atlantic City, N.J.’s Revel Casino Hotel to a Florida developer is in jeopardy after a federal appeals court panel intervened to temporality block a provision of the deal that was unfavorable to the resort’s former tenants.

Following a hearing Friday morning, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia reversed a lower court’s decision that allowed a $95.4 million sale to developer Glenn Straub to continue despite an appeal from the former operator of Revel’s nightclub.

Friday’s decision, which split the panel 2-1, will allow the sale to continue, but preserves the tenants’ leases and other rights while an appeal is pending. A bankruptcy court had previously approved the sale to Mr. Straub “free and clear” of any existing leases, including those from tenants that made substantial investments in the resort.

IDEA Boardwalk LLC, which ran Revel’s HQ nightclub and other venues and is pursuing the appeal, spent $16 million to outfit what it described in court papers as Atlantic City’s “most expensive and desirable piece of developed commercial real estate.” In exchange, IDEA was promised the right to run the nightclub for 25 years.

But Revel, built at a cost of $2.4 billion, never turned a profit and filed its second Chapter 11 case in June.

Stuart J. Moskovitz, an attorney representing Mr. Straub, has said Mr. Straub might walk away from the sale if an appeal interferes with the deal, even if it means losing a $10 million deposit. Lawyers for Revel argued that IDEA would face a far worse situation if Revel was left without a buyer.

With Friday’s ruling, it is unclear if the sale to Mr. Straub will close by Monday, as is required by the terms of the deal.

“If they can’t close, so be it,” Mr. Straub said to The Wall Street Journal late Friday. “It’s business; we’ve done it for 52 years.”

Mr. Straub has plans to rebrand Revel, adding more family-friendly amenities and possibly a scaled-down casino. Mr. Straub has also discussed installing a university at the Revel site, one that would tackle complex problems like nuclear-waste disposal.

The Florida developer has said he hopes to invest as much as $500 million to revitalize Atlantic City, with plans for a water park, Ferris Wheel, a man-made mountain for skiing and snowboarding, and a soccer franchise.

Before shutting down, Revel employed more than 3,000 people, and its retail, food and beverage partners employed about 800 more, court records show.

In total, four of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos shut their doors last year.