Several hundred people, including scores of construction workers who are working on the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, gathered in the shadow of the guitar shaped building on Monday to celebrate its “topping out,” a tradition symbolizing the day the last beam in a project is lifted into place.
With the flags of the U.S., the State of Florida, the Seminole Tribe of Florida and a Christmas tree attached to the last girder, it was slowly raised to the top of the building, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2019.
The project has created 2,000 construction jobs and the finished complex will permanently employ about 2,000 people, a spokesman said.
The existing Seminole Hard Rock Hotel has 500 rooms, a casino, meeting space, restaurants, and a lagoon pool.
New guitar tower, pool hotel, dining, nightlife, entertainment, spa, retail and expanded casino set to open in fall 2019
The 450-foot-tall addition, the first building in the world that’s truly to designed as an authentic guitar, will add 600 rooms plus a 41,000-square-foot spa and several restaurants. At the guitar’s base, guests can swim underneath waterfalls in plunge pools and relax in private cabanas. The project will cost about $1.5 billion.
Guitars are a motif of the Hard Rock hotel and restaurant empire, but this is the first of the company’s buildings to so closely resemble the actual instrument. Vertical fins up the tower’s midline resemble strings, while horizontal banding act as ‘frets.’
“Today is an exceptional day,” stated Jim Allen, CEO of Seminole Gaming and Chairman of Hard Rock International. “A vision has truly become a reality as we place this final beam atop this iconic landmark. I thank everyone involved in this project, from the designers and engineers to the day-to-day laborers that are showing the world what the Seminole Tribe and the Hard Rock brand are truly about, unconquered vision, unparalleled service and unlimited future.”
Photo credits: Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Video credits: Suzie Freidberg (ground video); Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (Drone video)
