After setting new highs for admissions and gross receipts at Medinah Temple in May, Bally’s Chicago said it expects to break ground on a $1.7 billion permanent casino on July 5 and open the River West entertainment complex in September 2026.
Mayor Brandon Johnson is not so sure.
Not while the company that won the Chicago casino sweepstakes continues to walk a tightrope between an $800 million construction funding gap and a buyout offer from its largest shareholder.
The mayor’s concerns were evident during a meeting Monday with the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board.
It happened after veteran architecture critic Lee Bey, an editorial board member, asked Johnson a two-part question the mayor called “probably the most complicated” of an hourlong session: Does he believe the permanent casino will ultimately be built, and if so, will it be constructed with all the bells and whistles Bally’s proposed?
“I liken it, frankly, to the airlines deal that was negotiated two administrations ago. There were some challenges in there,” said Johnson, who recently hammered out a cost-cutting deal with United and American airlines, clearing the massive O’Hare expansion plan for takeoff.
“I wish I could say something definitive today. I know our team is working with ownership to figure it out like we figured out some of the other things that I’ve inherited. It just has to make absolute sense. ... I think that one’s still to be determined, to be perfectly frank with you.”
Two months ago, two high-profile investors trying to block a takeover effort by the debt-laden corporation’s chairman, Soo Kim, warned that Chicago’s casino bet on Bally’s could go bust if the company goes private.
As Bally’s scrambles to secure $800 million to build its permanent casino in River West, investors from K&F Growth Capital warned in a letter to Bally’s board that Kim’s bid “jeopardizes the completion of the Chicago project, putting at further risk gainful employment and tax generation in Illinois.”
Wall Street ratings firms Moody’s and Fitch have downgraded Bally’s credit since March, with S&P Global highlighting “development and execution risks” for the company as it aims to break ground on its permanent casino at 777 W. Chicago Ave.
Marcus Glover, Bally’s chief financial officer, has said the company needs to close a “funding gap” of about $800 million on the project before then, though executives “feel pretty good” about their odds.
The company has committed to spending $1.7 billion on the project and is contractually obligated to spend at least $1.34 billion under the host city agreement signed by then Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. After expenses so far, they’ve got about $1.1 billion to go in order to hit the requirement, Bally’s has said.
But the company still hasn’t figured out where it’s putting a massive hotel tower on the River West site, after discovering earlier this year that the location in their original plan would damage city water pipes.
Future also cloudy for new Bears stadium
The permanent casino is not the only massive project in political limbo.
So is the mayor’s plan to help the Bears build a domed lakefront stadium for a staggering $5.9 billion, including infrastructure and financing costs.
It went nowhere during the Illinois General Assembly’s spring session, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic legislative leaders have warned there is no appetite for helping billionaire sports owners build new homes at a time of so many other pressing social needs.
Johnson isn’t giving up hope. He argued the Bears are “off to a good start,” having “made their case locally.” They simply need to do a better job convincing the entire state that the project, which would create jobs and more green space on the lakefront, is worth the investment.
If the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority “could build schools and hospitals. I would do that,” Johnson said, referring to the state agency with the bonding authority to finance a new stadium.
CTA ‘moving in right direction’
Also during Monday’s board meeting, Johnson said the CTA is “moving in the right direction” under embattled President Dorval Carter Jr. The mayor refused to discuss Carter’s long-term future, but argued it is “not unheard of” for Carter to be targeted by critics because he is African-American, as Carter suggested to a Council committee.
The mayor also said he “rebukes all antisemitic views and presentations — all of them, whomever they are,” but won’t single out Human Relations Chair Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez for a Facebook post saying she was “looking for an anti-Zionist doctor” to treat her son.
“As far as anyone’s particular political views, I don’t chase them down,” he said.
“There are people who are part of City Council, state reps, state senators, congressional leaders that have political posts and presentations that, if I were to respond to ones that I’ve seen or ones that I’ve heard of, we would be responding to everyone and anyone at any given time.”
