Video: The WTTW News Spotlight Politics team on casino construction and more of the day’s top stories. (Produced by Andrea Guthmann)
More than 600 days after Bally’s got the green light to demolish the Chicago Tribune’s newsroom and printing plant to build not just a casino but also a resort along the Chicago River, work finally began on the project city officials hope will generate hundreds of millions of dollars for Chicago’s underfunded police and fire pensions.
With a plume of dust from ceremonial bricks, crews started demolishing the former home of the storied newspaper, which is now working out of the West Loop, launching Bally’s efforts to build a permanent casino at 700 W. Chicago Ave. after facing a mountain of doubt during the past two years.
With 3,300 slots and 173 table games — in addition to an exhibition hall, 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater and 11 restaurants — the casino promises to transform River West by expanding the Riverwalk and adding a two-acre park.
Soo Kim, chairman of Bally’s Corporation, said the casino and resort will be worthy of Chicago and will help elevate River West to the status of River North and the Fulton Market District.
“It is going to make everyone proud,” Kim said, noting that the permanent casino will be four times as big as the temporary casino now open at the Medinah Temple at Ohio Street and Wabash Avenue. “We’re excited to go.”
The work was delayed by the discovery that the initial plan for the 35-story hotel would damage critical water infrastructure, Kim acknowledged.
Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward) said he never doubted that the permanent casino would be built as promised, despite a number of delays that raised concerns the plans would never come to fruition.
“This is my neighborhood, these are my people,” said Burnett, who also serves as vice mayor. “It is only incumbent upon me to make sure people from my neighborhood do well. This is personal for me.”
Burnett was the only City Council member who welcomed having the casino built in his ward.
The new casino will be sandwiched between the Cabrini-Green complex, run by the Chicago Housing Authority, and the gentrifying West Loop, both in his ward. Burnett said he remained concerned that residents won’t get jobs at the new casino and resort, and would block new development in his West Side ward until that’s corrected.
“My folks don’t eat, nobody eat,” Burnett said.
Demolition will take approximately five months, and no explosives will be used.
Will the city’s bet that a casino can help ease its cash crunch pay off? Maybe — but the permanent casino isn’t scheduled to open until fall 2026.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
