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Soft Opening At The Hard Rock

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TED JACKOVICS The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 27, 2007

TAMPA - The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa, plans to open most of its new gaming area at noon today in a soft opening of its $120 million expansion, Hard Rock officials said Wednesday.

The upscale Council Oak Steak & Seafood Restaurant that can accommodate 165 diners will open Friday.

The grand opening will be Nov. 15, along with the opening of a 390-seat marketplace-style restaurant on the casino's new second level.

The Hard Rock plans to hold a job fair on the premises from Oct. 3-5 to fill the remaining 75 positions of the 300-plus jobs needed to support the facility's expansion. Most of the open jobs are in food service. When hiring is complete, total employment will be about 2,000.

'We plan to move the ropes Thursday and let people into 90 percent of the gaming area that is ready,' Tampa Hard Rock President John Fontana said.

The soft opening, a common business practice to correct any glitches in new projects, will allow the public to see and use many of the new gaming machines.

The casino is adding about 55,000 square feet of gaming space and 1,099 new gaming machines. When the expansion is complete, 140,000 square feet will be devoted to the casino and restaurant space and 3,208 gaming machines will be available.

Beyond more gaming, the new restaurants and VIP clubs, the expansion will add various touches of decor, including a $2 million video waterfall that will project video images on a wall as water flows down the front.

The Council Oak restaurant represents a new niche for the local Hard Rock, which is operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Fontana said.

'We are marketing the restaurant aggressively,' he said. 'The goal of the restaurant is to do something spectacular. We expect it will be the finest dining in town.'
Menu prices for entrees will range from $25 to market price. Entrees range from prime beef aged at the Hard Rock, line-caught Florida fish, Maine lobsters and Alaskan king crab caught by captains shown on the Discovery Channel program 'The Deadliest Catch.' The title refers to the dicey job of crab fishing.

Fontana said he expected the restaurant, named for an oak tree on the Hollywood, Fla., Seminole Reservation where tribal leaders met, will draw Tampa Bay residents who ordinarily would not visit the casino.

The restaurant also will provide an additional upscale dining opportunity for guests at the hotel.

The Seminole Tribe has been negotiating with the governor's office to add card games, blackjack and more exotic games that allow gamblers to bet against the house. Now, Indian casinos in the state offer Class II bingo type games in which gamblers use machines to bet against each other.

The more sophisticated games came online in South Florida after voters approved slot machines in Broward County parimutuel facilities. Under federal gaming laws, Indian casino operators are allowed to match the types of games approved elsewhere in the state.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at tjackovics@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7817.

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