Artist's rendering of the $1.5 billion expansion of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Image: Seminole Hard Rock

Openings & Closings

Seminole Tribe smashes guitars at $1.5 billion expansion of casino in Florida

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The Seminole Tribe is undertaking a $1.5 billion expansion at its flagship gaming facility in Florida.

The work at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood isn't due for completion until mid-2019. But tribal leaders and gaming executives held a guitar smashing ceremony last week to herald the centerpiece of the massive project: a 450-foot tall guitar tower that will light up brightly every night.

"Our ancestors and elders welcomed curious tourists to our Florida reservations, and today's members of the Seminole Tribe of Florida will soon welcome visitors from all over the world to what will become a landmark destination," Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr., said in an October 25 press release. "Our guitar tower will attract global attention."

The expansion will result in a gaming floor that's double the size of the current one. There will also be 60,000 square-feet of new retail and restaurant space and another 803 hotel rooms, with the majority of those to be located in the guitar tower.

South Florida Business Journal Video: Seminole Hard Rock unveils $1.5B guitar-shaped hotel project

Additionally, the tribe is spending $100 million to redesign and rebuild the Hard Rock Live Theater on site. More seats will be added, bringing the total capacity of the venue to 7,000 seats.

The tribe said the entire effort will be finished ahead of Super Bowl LIV in 2020. That event will take place in the Hard Rock Stadium, located about 10 miles south of the casino resort.