Officials detail resort makeover

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Officials said during a news conference Wednesday that there won't be many changes on the outside of what's now the Isleta Casino and Resort as it becomes the Hard Rock Casino & Hotel Albuquerque, but officials plan to overhaul much of the resort.

Matt Raine, the vice-president for development of Hard Rock Hotel Holdings, a Las Vegas-based company that franchises Hard Rock properties in the western United States, said the company toured other casinos in the Albuquerque metro area, but quickly zeroed in on Isleta as a possible partner.

"The hotel, the meeting space, the spa, the pool experience, the concert venue — it had all the physical aspects of what we liked," he said.

Crews will renovate the concert venue, add a center bar and expand the swimming pool, and decorate the resort with music memorabilia.

The resort will start bearing the Hard Rock Name around June 1.