Hard Rock has been finalizing plans to renovate the Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When the company first bought the troubled hotel and casino, they paid just $50 million for the property. However, Hard Rock was going to have to spend a significant amount of money on renovating the Trump Taj Mahal in order to bring it in line with other Hard Rock facilities. Unfortunately, the original renovation budget is going to be insufficient and more money has had to be allocated.
Hard Rock Allocates an Additional $150 Million
When Hard Rock completed the purchase of the Trump Taj Mahal, it originally allocated $350 million to the renovations of the property. However, upon further inspection, Hard Rock has decided that the original budget will not be nearly enough to complete the renovations. New estimates suggest that another $150 million will need to be added to the budget, bringing the total cost of refurbishing the hotel to $500 million
The Chairman of Hard Rock, Jim Allen, came out and said that it is not enough for them to simply change the carpets and put some guitars on the wall. Hard Rock needs to completely rework the 2010 room hotel and casino in order to get rid of the Indian theme.
Jim Allen told the press “The amount of money we’re going to have to spend to remove all those minarets and all that purple, Jesus! What were we thinking?”
Still a Bargain for Hard Rock
Despite the additional money needed for the task at hand, the entire project will still be a bargain for Hard Rock. When the hotel was built in 1990, it cost $1.2 Billion to complete. Hard Rock purchased the hotel for $50 million, so even with the larger budget needed to complete the plans, the total cost will still only be $550 million.
