Hard Rock Biloxi bringing music artifacts back for July opening
BILOXI - Elvis Presley’s Army uniform, found on a mannequin floating in the Mississippi Sound, will be back on display when the Hard Rock Biloxi reopens on July 7.
B.B. King’s original guitar “Lucille” will return along with the guitars of Johnny Cash and KISS.
Some of the rock artifacts will be in pristine condition, but others will be part of a Katrina memorial collage. Everything else will be new and gleaming inside the casino resort, including a display in honor of James Brown.
People celebrated the casino’s pending comeback during this weekend’s Smokin’ the Sound, cheering a Hard Rock-sponsored power boat as it sped past emblazoned with “7-7-07.”
Check out Hard Rock Biloxi Rebuilding Pictures
The casino is counting on the lucky number for a little mojo. Besides being the opening date, the casino’s address is 777 Beach Blvd.
“It’s a big deal for us to get back open, but we do think it’s also a big deal for people on the Coast to see it back open,” said Joe Billhimer, the casino’s chief executive officer. “It keeps revitalization going. It shows that we and a lot of others believe in the revitalization of the Coast.”
The Hard Rock has had more than its share of challenges since Hurricane Katrina. The storm destroyed its gambling barge two days before the casino was scheduled to open. Bondholders who had financed the casino’s construction did not want to release insurance proceeds so contractors could be paid. Lawsuits were filed. New partners were brought in. The casino’s parent company, Premier Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy to gain access to the insurance money.
Throughout all those hurdles and with the legal disputes still being played out, the casino kept rebuilding. It’s an investment of $120 million that will provide jobs for more than 1,300 people.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t have a choice,” Billhimer said. “We had to do what we had to do. There’s a lot of other people on the Coast in the same situation.”
This party spot will be a place for folks to forget their troubles. All the restaurants (Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Starbucks, Hard Rock Cafe, Ben & Jerry’s) are coming back. There’s at least eight bars throughout the resort. Hard Rock Live, the entertainment venue, has a long bar with 10 serving stations and two portable bars on the main floor. The VIP balcony has a bar in the middle and another one in an adjacent lounge.
Perhaps the nicest bar is the one on the top floor.
Katrina brought a storm surge of almost 23 feet to the casino site. The casino now sits atop a combination of concrete pilings and steel columns. The concrete pilings are driven 90 feet down. It has 12 inches of concrete slab on top of that to anchor steel columns rising up to the casino.
The casino will have 1,453 slots, 50 table games and six poker tables.
Source: Sun Herald
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