Chicago\u2019s decades-in-the-making plan to open a casino in the city moved a big step closer to reality Thursday, when Bally\u2019s and city leaders gathered along the Chicago River for the ceremonial hoisting of the final structural beam.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s topping-out event marked the $1.7 billion project at 777 W. Chicago Ave. recently reaching its full architectural height, with the skeleton of the 34-story hotel now towering over the river that runs through the nation\u2019s third-largest city. <\/p>\n
Beyond Chicago, the project is expected to draw close scrutiny from U.S. real estate, gaming and land\u2011use professionals eager to see how casino\u2011anchored developments perform in major urban markets, particularly as similar projects take shape elsewhere.<\/p>\n
The milestone comes the same week that a permanent casino opened<\/a><\/span><\/span> in New York\u2019s Queens borough \u2014 the first of three planned in the country\u2019s largest commercial real estate market.<\/p>\n The Chicago project on the 30-acre former Freedom Center newspaper printing site will include the 500-room Bally\u2019s hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, a 2-acre park, restaurants, cafes and a food hall.<\/p>\n The River West casino complex \u2014 one of the biggest ongoing construction projects in the city, employing more than 1,000 union laborers \u2014 is expected to open in the first quarter of next year.<\/p>\n Bally\u2019s Chairman Soo Kim acknowledged \u201cfits and starts\u201d in the long-awaited project and noted its importance at a time of relatively muted construction in Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big deal,\u201d Kim said in an interview with local media after the ceremony. \u201cThis is the third-largest metropolis. There\u2019s gaming all around it, but there\u2019s not gaming here.\u201d<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s celebration came almost exactly four years after then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot chose the River West site<\/a><\/span><\/span> over two other finalists.<\/p>\n It was a notable moment after several previous mayors unsuccessfully pursued plans to put a tax-generating casino in the city after the arrival of gaming in suburbs, throughout Illinois and in neighboring states.<\/p>\n Lightfoot, current Mayor Brandon Johnson and other politicians attended Thursday\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n Resorts World New York City opened this week as that city\u2019s first full-scale commercial casino, with two other casino projects \u2014 including a $4 billion Bally\u2019s project in the Bronx \u2014 expected to open there around 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York, I don\u2019t know if it was in response, but it also has mandated three casinos in that city as well,\u201d Kim said after the ceremony. \u201cWe\u2019ll have ours open in three years and change.\u201d<\/p>\n The broader trend of major cities adding casinos is an effort for the largest population centers to capture more tax revenue, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really as simple as, why should Chicagoans, jobs and tax dollars leave and go 25 miles away to a different state?\u201d Kim said of nearby Indiana. \u201cWhy should the neighboring towns get all the jobs and money? The average American lives less than a half-hour from a casino. That\u2019s just how it is. There\u2019s legalized gaming in over 40 states. I just think that everyone is going to want their own version to meet their own community needs.\u201d<\/p>\n As Bally\u2019s plan was introduced in Chicago, critics questioned whether it would generate as much tax revenue as it claimed and wondered whether Providence, Rhode Island-based Bally\u2019s heavy debt burden would hinder the project.<\/p>\n The other finalist proposals were for Rush Street gaming to put a casino within Related Midwest\u2019s riverfront project in the South Loop called The 78 \u2014 since chosen by Major League Soccer\u2019s Chicago Fire for a new stadium \u2014 and a plan by Hard Rock to team up on Wisconsin developer Bob Dunn\u2019s One Central mixed-use plan for a platform that would be built over train tracks near Soldier Field.<\/p>\n The Bally\u2019s plan was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission<\/a><\/span><\/span> and then the City Council in December 2022,<\/a><\/span><\/span> followed by final approval from the Illinois Gaming Board.<\/p>\n Johnson touted the potential for more than $100 million in new annual tax revenue from the casino, which he said will help pass future budgets.<\/p>\n \u201cThe revenue will support our police and fire pensions and our ongoing efforts to build a more equitable, safe and affordable Chicago where every community has the opportunity to thrive,\u201d Johnson said during the ceremony.<\/p>\n Bally\u2019s bought the site, the Chicago Tribune\u2019s former Freedom Center printing plant on 30 acres, for $200 million in late 2022. Bally\u2019s then assigned the purchase to Oak Street Real Estate Capital as part of that firm\u2019s planned $500 million financing for the project\u2019s construction.<\/p>\n![\"Bally's](\"https:\/\/costar.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/88016ec\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5000x3333+0+0\/resize\/2100x1400!\/quality\/100\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcostar-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F7b%2Fee%2Fd8577cae4e6e837fb663b8f1bc20%2Fballys-with-crane.jpg\")
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