HOLLYWOOD, FL—Designed to resemble back-to-back guitars, with guitar faces, necks and brightly lit guitar strings that reach 450 ft. into the sky on both sides, the Hard Rock guitar tower is under construction as part of a $1.5-billion expansion of Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood. It is the flagship destination of the Hard Rock International empire owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
The giant guitar tower will be the centerpiece of one of the world’s most elaborate casino complexes, including a Hard Rock Casino nearly double its current size with 3,267 slot machines and 178 table games, plus a new 18,000-sq.-ft. poker room. The expansion will also include 60,000 sq. ft. of new retail and restaurant space and a $100-million redesigned and completely rebuilt Hard Rock Live venue with 7,000 seats in a theater-style configuration.
The expansion of Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will open in mid-2019, in advance of Super Bowl LIV at nearby Hard Rock Stadium in February 2020. Leaders of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Seminole Gaming, who own and operate the casino complex, gathered on the expansion site to celebrate its construction progress with a traditional Hard Rock “Guitar Smash” ceremony and community event.
The guitar hotel structure is the vision of James F. Allen, longtime CEO of Seminole Gaming and Chairman of Hard Rock International. Allen is working closely with Las Vegas-based Klai Juba Wald Architects and other firms to turn his vision into reality. Other firms involved in designing and furnishing the expansion project are Rockwell Group, New York; EDSA, Fort Lauderdale, FL; Wilson Associates, Dallas; Wimberly Interiors, Coral Gables, FL; Cleo Design, Las Vegas; and Laurence Lee Associates, Los Angeles. Suffolk-Yates is constructing the expansion.
The expansion will include 806 additional guestrooms and suites, with 638 in the guitar hotel tower, where all guestrooms will be 525 sq. ft. or larger. An additional 168 guestrooms and suites will be located in a seven-story Pool Tower that will flank the pool complex. It will bring the total number of guestrooms and suites at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood to more than 1,300. Other amenities will include restaurants, lounges, a business center and a 41,000-sq.-ft. spa.