Green Light for Revised Bally’s Chicago Hotel Plan

Planning officials in the American city of Chicago have approved a revised plan regarding the hotel Bally’s Corporation is looking to bring to its under-construction Bally’s Chicago facility.

Bally’s Corporation bested competition from rivals Hard Rock International and Rush Street Gaming in 2022 to be given the right to build and operate the very first Las Vegas-style casino resort for the center of Illinois’ largest city. The Providence-headquartered firm subsequently began work to transform a 30-acre parcel of land once home to the printing works of the Chicago Tribune newspaper into its $1.7 billion Bally’s Chicago development.

Downtown Disappointment

The original plan had called for Bally’s Chicago to feature a 168,000 sq ft casino hosting some 3,400 slots and 170 gaming tables as well as six restaurants, a spa, a 3,000-seat theater, and a 500-room hotel tower. However, Bally’s Corporation last month cited ‘unforeseen infrastructure issues’ in revising the design for this latter amenity, which had been due to sit on the north end of the River West site along the banks of the Chicago River.

Chicago Zoning Administrator Patrick Murphey told the Chicago Sun-Times the initial hotel plan from Bally’s Corporation was rejected as it would have involved sinking massive support caissons that could have damaged major water pipes. He revealed the amended design is to see a 100-room hotel placed directly above the casino with a 400-room counterpart being built at a later date either on the downtown plot’s western or northwestern edges.

Extensive Estate

Known as Twin River Worldwide Holdings Incorporated until undergoing a name change in 2020, Bally’s Corporation is already responsible for 17 gambling-friendly properties across the United States including the 1,214-room Bally’s Atlantic City and even larger Tropicana Las Vegas. The operator additionally runs the temporary Bally’s Chicago at Medinah Temple facility housing a 34,000 sq ft casino featuring approximately 800 slots and 56 gaming tables alongside two bars, a coffee shop and a pair of restaurants.

The operator told The Southland Journal it had ‘worked hand-in-hand for more than a year with various Chicago departments and agencies’ in adjusting the Bally’s Chicago plan so as to ensure ‘essential infrastructure would be protected’. The firm moreover asserted construction on the altered 100-room hotel is set to begin in July in hopes of having it open by the time the entire development premieres in 2026.

“Today’s approval on relocating the 100-room hotel above the casino adheres to all city requirements, maintains the same floor area ratio we committed to when Chicago selected Bally’s Corporation as its partner and keeps us on track to start construction on time of our world-class entertainment complex in River West this summer,” read a statement from Bally’s Corporation.

Lucrative License

Bally’s Corporation recently saw its company-wide revenues for the three months to the end of September increase by 9.4% year-on-year to a record $632.5 million as its associated nine-month tally improved by over 9% to hit north of $1.8 billion. The operator also disclosed its attendant third-quarter gaming returns reached $508.8 million with its takings for the whole of 2024 expected to be as high as $2.5 billion.

The good news continued into January as the company’s temporary Bally’s Chicago at Medinah Temple facility became its third highest monthly earner with a profit of about $9.3 million. Gamblers made more than 88,000 trips to the three-story venue last month, which made it the second most lucrative gaming property in Illinois after the 44,000 sq ft Rivers Casino Des Plaines and earned the city of Chicago some $913,000 in tax revenues.