Hard Rock AC Tries to Block Strip Club

The under-construction Hard Rock Atlantic City has become embroiled in a battle with Scores gentleman’s club which operated at the site when it was the now closed Trump Taj Mahal. Hard Rock is renovating the former Taj Mahal into a “family friendly” casino, however the club maintains its lease with the property remains in full effect and wants to re-open.

Hard Rock Atlantic City has already gone a long way to obliterate any vestiges of the closed Trump Taj Mahal as it transforms the property, but one former tenant of the Taj—Scores gentlemen’s club—wants to remain a part of the picture.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City says it is trying to create a “family friendly” casino and wants to exclude the club, but Scores—which leased 30,000 square feet at the former Taj Mahal—says it wants to return and that its lease remains in “in full force and effect.” Scores entered into the lease with the Taj Mahal in 2010.

The result is now a lawsuit as Hard Rock tries to break the lease. According to a report at NJ.com, the suit filed by Hard Rock maintains that the club missed a 2015 deadline to obtain a five-year extension on the lease, causing its lease to expire in June 2016. The suit says Scores is threatening Hard Rock’s “ability to open on schedule and operate without impediment or potential denigration of its brand.”

Scores did close down in August 2016 as the Taj Mahal was closing.

Coincidentally, the suit came to light as workers for Hard Rock began demolishing the landmark Taj Mahal fountain at the entrance to the former casino. Hard Rock is spending $375 million to completely transform the property. The company hopes to re-open the casino next summer.