Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa is pouring $107 million into a top-to-bottom reimagination of its Borgata Tower, with construction set to begin on September 13 and renovated guestrooms becoming available on a floor-by-floor basis starting in October. The overhaul will touch every guestroom and suite in the tower, along with refreshed corridors and a redesigned main lobby known as the Living Room.
The project marks the latest phase of a broader capital reinvestment push by parent company MGM Resorts International to protect Borgata's standing as Atlantic City's top-grossing casino resort, according to the Daily Voice. Nik Rytterstrom, president and COO of Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, said the tower reimagining is the latest step in a broader investment across the property, per that report. The design draws on modern Italian style and fine tailoring, aiming for what the outlet describes as a warmer, more contemporary take on the resort's signature glamour.
What's Changing Inside the Tower
Guestroom corridors will get new carpeting featuring an abstract interpretation of Italian mosaic design, while corridors and elevator lobbies throughout the tower will pick up bolder colors, artwork and graphic patterns, the outlet reports. The Living Room, Borgata's main lobby space, will receive new furnishings and finishes, though it will retain its existing architecture, the same report notes.
The tower makeover is part of a property-wide transformation that will continue through 2027, according to the article. It builds on a series of earlier investments at the resort. In May 2023, Borgata completed a $55 million redesign of its adjacent 38-story hotel tower, rebranding it as the MGM Tower with more than 700 renovated guestrooms and 40 new corner Vista Suites, according to Hotel Dive. That project marked the property's 20th anniversary.
A Casino With 2,700-Plus Rooms to Modernize
Borgata is the largest hotel in New Jersey, with 2,727 guest rooms and suites spread across the main Borgata Tower and the MGM Tower, per the Press of Atlantic City. The main tower holds roughly 2,000 of those rooms, with the rest in the MGM Tower. During the first half of 2024, Borgata's rooms averaged 71.1% occupancy at an average nightly rate of $175.29, the same outlet reports — figures that help explain the financial logic behind refreshing guestroom finishes to preserve premium pricing.
Rytterstrom took over as Borgata's president and COO in May 2024, arriving after serving as general manager of The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas for MGM Resorts International, according to LIGHT Stockton University. He is the fourth chief executive to lead the resort since 2017. The tower project also follows a September 2024 wave of gaming-floor upgrades in which Borgata closed its long-running Gypsy Bar, an original feature of the property dating to 2003, to make way for a new Asian culinary concept and a specialized rare-liquor bar, per Bonus.com.
Leading the Market Amid Industry-Wide Pressure
Borgata led all nine Atlantic City casinos in physical in-person gaming revenue in July, pulling in $81.6 million compared to $57.3 million for second-place Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and $52.1 million for third-place Ocean Casino Resort, the Press of Atlantic City reports. Total physical casino win across Atlantic City reached $304.2 million that month. Still, the broader picture is more complicated: Atlantic City casino operators recorded a 9.3% year-over-year decline in gross operating profits during the second quarter of 2026, even as top properties like Borgata continued to lead top-line gaming revenues, according to the same outlet.
That margin pressure frames Borgata's decision to keep investing heavily in its physical property. Borgata originally opened on July 2, 2003, as a joint venture between Boyd Gaming and MGM Mirage, becoming the first new resort built in Atlantic City in 13 years, according to Casino.org. MGM Resorts acquired Boyd's 50% stake in May 2016 for $900 million to gain full operating control. The resort's development in 2003 was aided by construction of the Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector, a $330 million highway tunnel completed in 2001 that linked the Atlantic City Expressway directly to the Marina District, per the Press of Atlantic City.
Ahead of the interior overhaul, Borgata also refreshed its exterior lighting in mid-2026, installing purple LED neon technology engineered by Las Vegas contractor LED Connection, Hoodline previously reported on the lighting swap. With construction on the tower's interior now just days away, Borgata is betting that a warmer, Italian-inspired redesign will help it hold its lead in a regional gaming market where profits are getting harder to come by.
