Bally’s on Friday said it has locked up the funding needed to complete an ambitious Chicago casino project that had appeared on shaky financial ground in recent months, promising a “refreshed” vision of the River West gaming site that now calls for a 34-story hotel tower on Ohio Street.
The Rhode Island-based company released renderings of the updated site plan proposal for its permanent casino project, which initially had the massive tower pegged closer to Chicago Avenue and the river until designers realized that would damage city water mains.
Bally’s said it will complete the tower in a single phase instead of the two-phase approach initially planned — and that its entire gaming campus at 777 W. Chicago Ave. will be completed on schedule by September 2026 thanks to a $940 million financing deal with a Pennsylvania real estate firm.
That’s expected to cover an $800 million funding gap Bally’s acknowledged earlier this year on the $1.34 billion project, fueling questions about the company’s ability to build the casino sought by generations of city officials to salvage Chicago’s troubled police and firefighter pension funds.
“With keys to the property in hand, the new financing secured, a site plan that exceeds the original, and demolition set to start this summer, let there be no doubt that Bally’s Chicago Casino and Hotel will soon rise up along the Chicago River,” Bally’s President George Papanier said in a statement.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said it was “pleased with this development. ... We look forward to reviewing the updated plans and proceeding through the review process with the Department of Planning and Development.”
Last month, the first-term mayor cast doubt on Bally’s, which was selected by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot over two more experienced casino operators to land the coveted license in 2022.
“It just has to make absolute sense,” Johnson told the Sun-Times Editorial Board on June 10. “I think that one’s still to be determined, to be perfectly frank with you.”
Bally’s took over the property at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street earlier this month, with demolition of the former Chicago Tribune printing plant expected to take up most of the rest of this year.
The company has operated a temporary casino since September at the historic Medinah Temple. It has proven to be a popular draw — but has fallen far short of city revenue projections.
Gamblers have made more than a million trips through the turnstiles at 600 N. Wabash Ave., making it the second most popular casino in Illinois, trailing only Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, according to state Gaming Board records.
The temporary site has turned a net profit of $93.2 million in its first nine months, generating a cut of $9.9 million for the city.
Lightfoot had banked on nearly $13 million from the casino by the end of 2023, and Johnson was even more optimistic in his first budget, which is eyeing $35 million this year. It only netted $6.8 million through June.
Under state gaming law, Bally’s has to be out of its temporary casino and into its permanent one by Sept. 9, 2026. Aside from the tower, the plan calls for a 3,000-seat theater, six restaurants and a 2-acre public park along with the 3,300-slot casino with 173 table games.
The company inked the $940 million construction financing deal with Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc., which takes over the land and leases it back to Bally’s starting at $20 million per year, with an initial 15-year term.
GLPI is providing a total of over $2 billion in financing to Bally’s through the deal, which includes other lease-back acquisitions on some of Bally’s 15 other casino properties nationwide.
Along with casino revenue and an initial public offering of shares in the Chicago casino to minority businesses — a process Bally’s has yet to announce — the financing will “fully fund the development expenditures necessary to complete the Project,” Bally’s said.
Not addressed in Bally’s announcement was Chairman Soo Kim’s effort to take the publicly traded company private. A committee has been reviewing his $15-per-share buyout offer since March, less than half the amount Kim offered in his first rejected bid shortly after it landed the Chicago license.
“Our agreements with GLPI fulfill the construction financing requirements, allowing us to bring the Bally’s Chicago permanent casino and entertainment complex to River North by the fall of 2026,” Kim said in a statement. “This is an amazing partnership that continues to pay strong dividends for both parties.”
