Hard Rock Biloxi hotel tower to face an expansion project

Hard Rock's second hotel tower will add 140 rooms and 14 new suites, bringing the total number of rooms to almost 500. "We stay full over 99 percent of the time," McKenzie said, "so we are really excited to have more rooms."

The expansion is a us$ 32.5 million investment that will add 90 permanent jobs and is expected to attract more visitors. "We are focused on not only casino, but tourism in general," McKenzie said.

A rainy summer had delayed concrete pouring and pushed back the completion date from the hoped-for New Year's Eve. McKenzie said the hotel will now open early next year.

The hotel rooms were designed by a Las Vegas architectural firm that has worked on hotel rooms all across the country. Architect Brad Schulz said the Hard Rock rooms are different from others the firm has designed.

"A typical room you walk in, you walk through the room to a relatively narrow window. This is just the opposite," Schulz said. "The room is turned 90 degrees, so one whole long side of the room is facing the window... out to the Gulf or to Biloxi."

The hotel is curved to fit on a compact slice of land west of the casino, between the sidewalk and the swimming pool, south of U.S. Highway 90. The new hotel will be known as the Platinum Tower to distinguish it from original, called the Royal Tower.

The original hotel has royal-blue windows and the new tower has platinum-hued mirrored glass. An enclosed walkway will connect them.