Resorts’ Margaritaville Gets Beach Permit

New Jersey environmental regulators have given the OK for Resorts Casino Hotel to build its planned Margaritaville restaurant, bar and entertainment complex on the Atlantic City shoreline.

The state Department of Environmental Protection says the project met the criteria for a Coastal Areas Facilities Review Act permit. The project still needs other approvals.

Margaritaville, the Jimmy Buffet-themed restaurant, is the centerpiece of a $35 million remake of Resorts. The casino is the oldest in New Jersey and the first in America to open outside Nevada.

The Mohegan Indian tribe will run Resorts' day-to-day operations under an agreement soon to be approved by New Jersey casino regulators. It hopes to have the complex up and running by Memorial Day weekend.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)