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Something like this could also be the key to fully restoring the Uptown Theater for the casino to use as an entertainment venue? Just a wild thought. |
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If additional (smaller) casinos open in the future, I'd hope they're more geared towards neighborhood entertainment... Uptown, Chinatown/the 78, UC lots would be good contenders. |
whatever location is easiest to drain the pockets of the 58 million tourists who visit Chicago every year
loop/mccormick place vicinity |
Ah yes, Uptown, because you totally want to locate a huge gambling facility next to the largest concentration of social services in the region...
This casino will be as close to downtown as possible. Probably within the rectangle of LSD, North, Damen, I-55. Anything outside of that is too poorly-sited for tourists. The urban design will probably suck. Just get used to it. None of the casinos recently erected in Philly, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cincy, or St Louis have been anything more than giant windowless boxes with a parking garage and huge porte cocheres. Cleveland (Jacks) and Detroit Greektown are interesting counterexamples but neither of them is really super profitable. It would be interesting to get an Asian themed casino near Chinatown, especially if one of the big Asian operators wanted to open here (Genting, Galaxy, Crown, etc). |
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Stick it on the Macerich owned site the North Bridge expansion was conceived of going on. Downtown doesn't need more retail and they could design it to bridge across Illinois for an expansion if Nordstrom ever relocated or reduced space. Build giant hotel/apartment towers on top of it.
I think McCormick is a decent secondary site but River North is probably where you want this. |
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How big of a parcel for land do you think they need? The parcels of land at 2240 and 2302-32 S Wabash are for sale from the same owner. They're across the street from one another and currently industrial lots. Total land is nearly 1.85 acres - 1 parcel is 1.14 acres while the other is 0.83 acres.
This site is right around the corner from the McCormick Center Green Line stop, near McCormick Place, near the up and coming Motor Row area, near Chinatown, near Wintrust Arena, etc. Also just a few blocks north of that proposed E Sports Arena. Depending on how much land they need, this is a pretty good spot. I'm sure those townhomes across the street would raise hell though. https://cawleychicago.com/availabili...Id=546687-sale There's also a 1.55 acre parcel of land for sale along the river at 1050 N Kingsbury, a little south of Division off of Halsted. This is about a mile from the proposed and future entertainment area that was the Morton Salt plant. Also about a mile to Clark/Division red line, and near the expressway. Not as good of a location as the other one, but still not bad. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1050...o-IL/17327427/ |
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https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/8/8/...strict-tribune |
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I doubt anyone will put this out in the "middle of nowhere" (relatively). My guess is it'll be close/close-ish to downtown. |
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EDIT I found out https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/curbed-la-closing/ While some Curbed content from L.A. and San Francisco is expected to continue being produced, local editions of the site in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit have now been fully closed. Curbed sites in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington D.C. were sunset in December 2019. |
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“According to the 4 casino operator respondents, the minimum acreage for an urban casino is: • 10 acres but such a small site would cause bifurcation of casino floor and amenities (multiple levels); to avoid bifurcation of the casino floor and amenities, need for 20-30 acres; • 15 acres (to accommodate 350,000 sq. ft. footprint); • 14-20 acres; or • 12-25 acres. One real estate developer suggests minimum acreage of 5-10 acres. Another real estate developer suggests the minimum acreage could be as low as 5-6 acres (allowing 40,000 to 50,000 sq. ft. baseline) and build vertically (7-9 stories). This respondent notes, however, that development costs will increase as the site size is smaller. This respondent assumes parking will be on land adjacent to the casino site. The respondent proposing a location outside of downtown Chicago offers a site of 100 Acres” |
My guess is that they're dealing with casino operators and developers who might be used to more sprawl casinos that are in 1 floor for the actual gambling/entertainment portion. It'll be interesting to see what operators they get now with some of the other news. Even at 10 acres you can have a pretty big complex.
MGM Macau - ~10 acres Cosmopolitan Las Vegas: 8.5 acres MGM Las Vegas: 6.6 acres Sands Macau: ~6 acres Casino Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal - without a hotel tower): ~2.6 acres Alitra Macau: < 2 acres etc It would actually be cool to get a casino operator who has operated in Macau for the first one in Chicago. My vote would either go for something like that South Loop site or the River District. I think for the more "wow" factor the river would be better. Literally right on the river and they could do a lot with that. Plus it's not far from the Blue Line, the expressway, etc. Some of the hotel rooms in a tower would have really great views of the skyline too. My vote would probably go for that in all honesty. |
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This is a challenge: seeking a site that optimizes revenue while not cannibalizing surrounding businesses (or possibly even having a positive development impact), retains money from those who currently travel across the border without taking money from those who cannot afford it or sucking in too many dollars that would otherwise be spent elsewhere in the community, accessible to those who most need jobs, and somehow attracting more than the normal share of out-of-towners. |
^ Interesting. In that case, if its going to be mostly people within a 50 mile radius, lets make it as easy as possible for suburbanites to get in (even better, NW Indiana residents). That would be money from outside the city (and outside the state) coming into the city's treasury. This would mean that it would need proximity to highways.
Keeping it near downtown for the occasional tourist/business traveler doesn't hurt either. That basically narrows the locations down to somewhere near 90/95, 290, or 55. Something along Goose Island/Lincoln Yards might not work due to community pushback/NIMBYism. Traffic is already a nightmare up there as is. 90/94 through the West Loop is already congested and there is not a lot of developable space either. 290 could work if you go west enough, past Ashland? Near the UC? But then you start getting a bit far from the traditional tourist zones. The plus side is it could force the CTA to finally open a Madison Pink Line stop? lol 90/94 south of the Circle would be a great option, there are large blocks to the east of the highway between Harrison and 18th, and one of those sites could be converted into a casino/entertainment area that would easily tie in with the rest of the city. Since the area is mostly commercial/industrial as it is, there would be limited NIMBY complaints. 55 is probably too far south, and even if we wanted to located it near McCormick Place, it would be best not to situate it on its southern extreme, instead placing it north of the convention center, in between it and the South Loop for closer proximity to downtown. That could work if there was direct access from LSD, but not sure if you could find a site large enough in that area. |
Build it on all the lots around United Center if they are gonna demand that much space...
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When I'm in Vegas going into the Ventian or something I'll text a friend, "I'm right outside. I'll be able to walk to where you are in 15 or 20 minutes." A big casino is the size of a small mall. And no serious casino splits up the major attractions onto a second floor. |
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It's close to the expressway, not too far from all the major downtown tourist zones, and yes if a Pink Line stop were to ever get built it could be integrated into the casino and be easy to get to. |
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