With 814 rooms, the Atlantic City Hilton is the second smallest casino/hotel property here, and with the ink barely dry on the deal, officials of the Los Angeles-based Colony Capital say they plan to rectify that with a new hotel tower with an unspecified number of rooms. The Hilton also has this city's smallest casino, less than 60,000 sf, and that, too, would be expanded dramatically.

More details will be announced "within the next 60 days," according to Nicholas L. Ribis, vice chairman of Resorts International Holdings, the affiliate of Colony Capital that operates its various casino properties. The expansion itself will rise on an oceanfront parcel next to the hotel and on an adjacent piece of property currently utilized for parking.

The hotel tower itself would occupy an oceanfront property between Albany and Hartford avenues. And the block across Pacific Avenue from the existing casino/hotel will be targeted for a combination of retail shops and restaurants. Finally, according to Ribis, plans are in the works for a luxury high-rise residential condo building on the former site of Atlantic City High School, which Colony Capital acquired as part of the larger deal.

The Atlantic City Hilton is the former Golden Nugget Casino Hotel, which was originally built by gaming mogul Steve Wynn, but sold a number of years ago when Wynn abruptly exited the market and its regulatory machinations in favor of the freewheeling Las Vegas market.

The expansion would mark Colony Capital's second effort to rejuvenate a casino/hotel property here. Four years ago, the company bought this city's oldest such property, Resorts International, and by a year ago had completed a $125-million, 400-room expansion.

Colony Capital officials also say the property will continue to bear the Hilton name. The company also owns the 3,200-room Las Vegas Hilton, and according to Ribis, the new owner plans to trade on the "synergies of the Atlantic City and Las Vegas Hiltons. We like the tie-in between the two properties."