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Borgata Crew Working its Way to the Top9 October 2002ATLANTIC CITY – As reported by the Press of Atlantic City: 'For more than two years, progress on the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa could be measured by looking toward the Marina District, counting the floors and watching workers move about the open structure. "Now, the $1 billion casino hotel's concrete and steel structure is complete and enclosed with a gold-colored glass skin. From a distance, it's difficult to tell that there are more than 1,700 people working at the site. "Inside the hotel tower and the low-rise structure that will house the gaming floor, restaurants and service areas, tradesman from more than 20 different unions are applying coats of paint, framing walls, hanging drywall, wiring lights and installing ventilation systems and marble tiles. "`We're really in the end stretch of the tower,' said Tom Ballance, Borgata's vice president of development, adding that more than 70 percent of the entire project is complete. `We're just working our way up to the top now.' "Various trades are working on several different levels of the 43-floor hotel tower at any given time, Ballance said. "…`It doesn't feel like there are 1,700 people working here because they are spread out over 4 million square feet,' Ballance said. "…A majority of the hotel rooms have already been framed with walls and ceilings and drywall has been installed in most rooms below the 23rd floor. Carpets have been installed in the rooms up to the ninth floor. "Some of the hotel rooms on the lower levels are ready for furniture, but Ballance said the company hasn't decided when it will begin to move beds and other furnishings into the rooms. "…In the low-rise, construction crews are just as busy as their counterparts in the hotel tower, constructing walls, fitting ceilings and preparing the electrical wiring in the casino, restaurants, kitchens and offices. "Electricians have begun installing the eight miles of neon that will add decorative light to the ceiling above what will become about 100,000 square feet of gaming space, Ballance said. "…Boughner said the company hasn't made many alterations to its original plans during the construction process. One of the few changes it has made was building a 1,200-space employee parking garage…" |