Mayor Lightfoot Picks Bally's Pitch To Develop Casino On Chicago River
The proposed $1.7 billion Bally's casino will have 3,400 slot machines, 500 table games, a 3,000-seat theater, 500-room hotel, and more.

My office faces the medinah temple… the area overall is pretty junky so why not. At least there is a sh*t ton of parking garages.

During their public town hall they brought up the possibility of closing the pedestrian bridge at night. Hopefully that ends up being the concession and it still gets built.

I don't understand why. Are they afraid of people getting from the casino to their area? Do they realize they aren't on an island and there's other ways, at night, to get between this area and their area?

Oh you mean suburbanites might have to move into the city and actually contribute to the tax base instead of driving in on the subsidized highway and stealing our jobs? Boo hoo

Agreed. And as someone who has never been inside Medinah, I am really excited for this! Even if it's temporary.

Well, when it was a Bloomingdale's it was... ok, I guess? I really don't like Bloomingdale's though, too fancy for me. I only went there for Nespresso pods...

Neighbors should welcome more people on the streets at night. Whatever horrors they are imagining is likely not what they would experience. I would hope the bridge would be open to start off, then see how things play out.

Casino Recommendation Report

https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/...ion-Report.pdf

Yeah the interior just looked like a fancy department store. Apparently they kept the dome and some of the Moorish ornament on the top floor (old furniture dept) but I never got up that far. The basement, 1st, 2nd floors are just generic white department store. It's not bad architecture, the atrium is nice etc. It's just a little anodyne.

Anyway, what's there now is already a good base for some light renovations. They can do this on the cheap with mostly cosmetic changes, and it won't feel cheap. They can bring in some rugs/carpets to dampen sound and conceal wiring, paint colors and wallpaper, put up some decorative chandeliers and sconces. The hardest part will be retrofitting for two restaurants, since the Bloomingdales did not have any food service.

But the result will be properly luxurious. I think this is a genius move, even if Ald. Reilly hates it and journos are busy pointing out Friedman's campaign donations to Lightfoot. I agree that it would be nice to keep this as a high-roller gambling facility, but I don't think state law authorizes two different sites in Chicago. I also don't think it's a good idea to totally siphon off the high-rollers, which leaves the Tribune site as a more downscale facility.

"The bridge is next to a playground. A CHILDRENS playground! That is used by CHILDREN!"

Since I have been pushing Medinah as a temporary casino site all along, I'm delighted by this news. Reilly's newsletter this afternoon says he does "not intend to lift [the liquor license] moratorium to allow a temporary casino the ability to serve alcohol in this location."

I think it would have been wiser to have set up three downtown gaming pavilions rather than one massive one, the better to fleece three different tourist segments: Medinah, one of the old Motor Row buildings, and Navy Pier.

I can see it now... the Hashish Palace...

The first Chicago-area consumption lounge just opened in Mundelein a few weeks ago. You have to drive to it. :facepalm:

There's going to be a townhall about Bally's casino on May 12th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/332212575757

Property values decrease. There's tons of studies on this...

It will undoubtedly attract poors that are much more likely to have gambling problems (once again plenty of research on this), which leads to crime. As noted similar to the commenter at the last meeting, the casino itself will have solid security, it's the immediate area when clowns get kicked out at 5am that's the issue (and we are down 1K or so cops already).

It seems you live in West Avondale. My block is full of 50 story buildings, is there even a 5 story one in your hood? It's basically the suburbs to me with higher taxes paying for shittier schools. Not trying to be a jerk, but life in River North is extremely different. Hence, why I've asked if anyone on here actually lives there...

I want a good time. I go to 50 concerts a year in the city and will definitely go to the casino. I just think the other sites make much more sense.

For the third time, property values do decrease though. Just Google it.

Is it possible that if this gets rejected, the other 2 options could come into play? Just a thought in my mind.

Just WOW

Wow. So much dishonesty. So much classism. Extreme levels of stupidity. Good amount of hidden racism thrown in for fun. Absolutely pathetic.

Aaron (Glowrock)