DOWNTOWN — Chicago’s first casino will be a Bally’s on River West, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Thursday, despite objections from some residents and council members.
Bally’s proposal is that a $1.7 billion casino be built on the Tribune Publishing site at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street. The casino would double as a resort with 3,400 slots, 170 table games, 500 hotel rooms, six restaurants, three bars, a 3,000-seat theater, an outdoor park and other amenities, according to the proposal.
Lightfoot will still need the Illinois City Council and Gaming Board to sign off on the agreement.
Bally’s claimed that this casino would have the highest annual payout in the city: nearly $200 million. All the companies committed to opening a temporary casino in the spring of 2023 and finishing a permanent one in late 2025 or early 2026.
Lightfoot cited Bally’s financial benefits when announcing why he was chosen, saying he will provide a $40 million down payment to the city and $4 million annually for the Host Community Agreement, and is the only operator that did not have a competing casino. in the region. .
Bally’s also has an agreement with organized labor, and the company has “committed to getting input from the community” on how it revamps the Tribune site, Lightfoot said.
Ald. Walter Burnett, 27, in whose district the casino would be, said in a press release that he supports Bally’s arrival on the Tribune Publishing site.
But neighboring officials voiced opposition to Bally’s plan, and some worried that Lightfoot would announce it without including City Hall.
“It was my understanding that we would have an opportunity to evaluate the options and … actually vote on them,” Ald said. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said Wednesday. “Yes [Lightfoot is] he’s going to usurp the whole process…before we’ve completed our work and made a decision, I wish he’d told us from the start.”
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) also opposes Bally’s proposal, airing his grievances with Crain’s Chicago Business political reporter AD Quig on an April 25 episode of his podcast.
Reilly said on the podcast that Bally’s site “doesn’t make sense” logistically, and accused the site of receiving preferential treatment for not having to pay a $300,000 second filing fee for another casino proposal it submitted to the city. City officials deny that claim, saying another applicant who paid multiple filing fees did so because his entities were completely different, unlike Bally’s, which were the same.
“I am concerned that there are a select number of people in the Mayor’s Office dictating the course of this entire discussion, and it seems that Bally’s has been given an advantage and that is not fair,” Reilly said on the podcast.
Local resident groups have also repeatedly said they don’t want the casino.
Leaders of the River North Residents Association said Wednesday that it would be “very disheartening and disappointing” if Bally’s were announced as the best option in town.
The organization has an ongoing resident survey where more than 80 percent of the 2,300 respondents have said they oppose Bally’s proposal.
“We were hoping this would make it into the decision-making process by early summer … with a lot more special committee meetings and more opportunities for public input,” said Brian Israel, president of the River North Residents Association.
Members of the City Council Special Committee on the Chicago Casino received a 102-page package of public comments and correspondence from the City Council about the three proposals last month. It included a 74-page submission from the River North Residents Association comprising several letters and hundreds of individual comments from neighbors who say they oppose Bally’s plan.
At last month’s meeting, city officials promised they would hold additional community meetings before making a final decision.
Chairman of the casino committee Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) has scheduled the committee’s next public meeting for Monday at 11 am. The schedule describes the hearing as an “issue hearing” to “discuss selected finalists to develop a casino in Chicago.”
See renderings of Bally’s proposal here:
Credit: Bally’s/SBC
Credit: Bally’s/SBC
Credit: Bally’s/SBC
Credit: Bally’s/SBC
Credit: Bally’s/SBCCredit: Bally’s/SBC
Credit: Bally’s/SBCListen to “It’s All Right: A Block Club Chicago Podcast”:
Reference-blockclubchicago.org