Atlantic City Expansion is Scrapped – Hard Rock Cafe Stops Plan for New Hotel

The Hard Rock Cafe has been a fixture on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City for decades, but anything more than the restaurant for this establishment ended within the last 24 hours as the idea of a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino was scrapped.

Hard Rock International had been working for about a year on the idea of becoming the managing partner for a new hotel with 208 rooms to start (planned expansion to 850 in the future), located on the Boardwalk by Albany Avenue (right at the foot of the Black Horse Pike), with a plan to utilize more of the beach than any casino has tried to before.

The proposal for the beach part of this Hard Rock Hotel had set up for a pool, a cafe set up for barbeques, and an entertainment area to compete with other casinos for concerts.

Hard Rock was hoping for a new approach that smaller is better, and take advantage of the "Boutique Law" in A.C. allowing for smaller casino hotels to exist on the Boardwalk.  Hard Rock decided that due to "current market conditions", it would not be wise to make the $1 Million application fee to go forward with this project.

Somebody may step in for this location in the future, but could a small intimate casino hotel be profitable among the giants in A.C., and the outside competition of Philly?  When someone truly believes yes is when that property will be used, but that may be quite a ways off now.