“New Taj” opens

My old stomping ground the Trump Taj Mahal has gotten a makeover and is getting a new hotel tower. From the AC Press:

They are de-Tajing the Taj. First they ripped out the gaudy pink and purple hues that dominated the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resorts over-the-top decor since the 1990s.

Then they converted the stark main hallway connecting the parking garage with the casino into a promenade of retail shops and restaurants called Spice Road to create a more inviting entrance.

Next came sophisticated European-style penthouse suites, a spruced-up casino floor and a sexy lounge called Ego that everyone jokes immediately brings to mind the swaggering personality of Donald Trump.

Now get ready for the most dramatic part of the Taj Mahals transformation: a brand new, shimmering $255 million hotel tower that rises 40 stories and symbolizes the rejuvenation of the Trump casino empire.

"For us, its really important," said Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., parent company of the Taj Mahal and two other Trump casinos. "With the limited amount of capital that the company has, we thought this was the best use of $255 million that we could have ever done."

Taj Mahal prepares to open doors on new 40-story hotel tower

Here’s the Chairman Tower, from the roof of the Showboat parking garage. I can guarantee that some of the guests in the CT will have stunning views of the Showboat’s garage:

Somehow “Chairman Tower” sounds wrong to me. It doesn’t sound like a building at all, but like the chairman of the Tower Commission.

That aside, the Taj looks great. There’s nary a sign of the old pink and purple anywhere. They didn’t get the casino carpeting right, but you can’t ask for everything.