Empire 298 Questions

My dilemma: I grew up in a house with two audiophiles for parents. I haven't lived at home for a while and sadly that means I don't have a turntable for my vinyl collection. So basically, I'm wondering whether I rehab an old Empire I inherited from my grandfather or do I buy a new intro level table? I've currently got an Empire 208 with the model 98 tonearm, which I think technically makes it a model 298. It runs, but needs some cleaning up. It definitely needs a new belt and it's missing the headshell and I'd need a cartridge. I'm wondering if it makes sense to buy something new along the lines of the Rega RP1 table that comes with the Ortofon OM5e cartridge or the Music Hall MMF-2.2 LE which comes with Music Hall's Tracker mm cartridge or if I should spend an equivalent amount of money (around $500) rehabbing the Empire and on a new cartridge for it?

My guess is that the Empire will be the better table when I'm done, but can I do this project with a $500 budget? Given that I grew up listening to a proper system with gear like Audiostatic speakers, etc, I've got reasonably high expectations. Any opinions as to which route will sound better at the end?

Thanks for any help you can offer, I'm very new to at creating my own setups.