In February 1977, Claridge Associates, a group of Connecticut investors led by F. Francis D'Addario, purchased the Claridge Hotel. In 1979, they took on Del E. Webb Corporation as a partner in order to obtain financing. Del Webb owned several Nevada casinos, including The Mint Hotel and Casino in Downtown Las Vegas. The Claridge hotel was expanded with 200 new guest rooms being built; it had the distinction of being the last of the pre-casino Atlantic City hotels to be refurbished into a casino. The New Jersey Governor at the time, Brendan Byrne, had been dissatisfied with what he called “Patch and Paint” jobs of the city's old resorts, which had been done with Resorts Atlantic City and the Dennis Hotel, which is part of Bally's Atlantic City, and he lobbied hard for the old structures to be torn down and replaced with new resorts.