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Hard Rock Casino Celebrates $120 Million Expansion

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By TED JACKOVICS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2007

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TAMPA - The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino here celebrated the grand opening of its $120 million expansion this afternoon, including opening a new second floor for the casino, the Fresh Harvest restaurant and a VIP lounge.

The Hard Rock had a soft opening of the expanded gaming portion of its new area on Sept. 27. That turned the Tampa casino into the state's largest gaming area.

In addition, Hard Rock in late September opened the upscale Council Oaks Steaks & Seafood Restaurant, with a response from the public that Tampa Hard Rock President John Fontana described as "amazing."

"The response has been great," Fontana said. "The guests have really loved the new parts they had not seen before."

Fontana said he could not provide specific figures on how much Hard Rock patronage has increased since the September soft opening of the expansion, but he said it was drawing more customers and more overnight guests to the hotel and that they are booking longer stays.

The expansion is scheduled to be completed before Christmas, when a new parking garage for 1,250 cars is finished. That will raise total parking to 4,500 spaces.

Beyond that, the Hard Rock complex could enjoy even more patronage under a proposal Gov. Charlie Crist made this week to allow card games such as blackjack and upgraded slot machines at Seminole facilities here and in Hollywood, Fla..

"I cannot even predict what the impact from that would," Fontana said.

Today's grand opening featured the opening of a 390-seat marketplace-style restaurant on the casino's new second level.

The project added about 55,000 square feet of gaming space and 1,099 gaming machines. Now, 140,000 square feet of casino and restaurant space and 3,208 gaming machines will be available.

The expansion includes a $2 million video waterfall that will project video images on a wall as water flows down the front.

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