After previously receiving local approvals, the Hard Rock Hotel And Casino Sioux City is soon set to embark on a $6.5 million expansion project after its plan received final consent from the Iowa Racing And Gaming Commission.

According to a report in the Sioux City Journal newspaper, the two-year-old casino located in the Iowa city’s former train station now intends to begin construction on a 7,800 sq ft expansion within the next 30 days and anticipates completing the project by February.

“That’s kind of a target we have to get open,” Todd Moyer, General Manager for the Hard Rock Hotel And Casino Sioux City, told the newspaper.

Moyer revealed that the new area will feature a high-stakes gaming area, a wine bar with 125 labels and a private lounge offering 60 slots alongside a pair of blackjack tables while maintaining the casino’s original theme of providing a variety of entertainment options.

“This expansion encapsulates that same kind of feeling, that same kind of objective,” Moyer told the Sioux City Journal. “We’re not just adding gaming units, we’re creating a whole new experience. In 7,800 sq ft we’re really building an entire casino. What more could you want?”

The Hard Rock Hotel And Casino Sioux City replaced the area’s Sioux City Belle riverboat casino around 20 months ago with Moyer declaring that the planned wine bar will have a 600-bottle capacity with 32 vintages set to be made available by the glass.

“I’m happy things are going well and the market is growing,” Jeff Lamberti, Chairman for the Iowa Racing And Gaming Commission, told the newspaper. “It confirms what we thought when we did this project.”