THE SULTRY, EXOTIC side of Havana is making its way to the Atlantic City Boardwalk in the form of The Quarter at Tropicana Casino And Resort, a $265 million, grand-scale dining, entertainment, retail, and spa complex scheduled to open this fall. The largest such complex in the city, it aims to recreate the ambience of Old Havana and will house an eclectic mix of tenants, among them Brooks Brothers, the city's first IMAX theater, and Carmine's, a popular Italian restaurant making its first foray outside Manhattan.

The new Tropicana tower will include 502 guest rooms, making the hotel the largest in New Jersey once again. The project is the largest nongaming expansion in the history of Atlantic City. Built with the needs of corporate groups in mind, the tower includes 45,000 square feet of new meeting space. Of course, each guest room will have high-speed Internet access.

With the completion of the expansion, the Tropicana complex will cover 14 acres and offer 2,127 rooms and 122,000 square feet of meeting space. www.tropicana.net