CHICAGO | City Casino

[Randomguy34]

Bally's casino would be in the 27th Ward, so I doubt this will have a major influence on the city's decision. That said, the River District and the 78 sites now have more vocal opponents than the One Central site.

[Mr Downtown]

^I wouldn't be too sure about that.

[Randomguy34]

Which part? That RNRA's disapproval won't have a large influence on the final decision, or that the River District & the 78 have more vocal opponents?

[Mr Downtown]

One Central has organized opponents, with significant reserves.

But alderpersons of the individual sites won't play much of a role in this decision. Remember that Mayor Lightfoot got her casino supercommittee of loyalists through City Council last week.

[west-town-brad]

I have to believe that a supportive alderman is better than a non supportive, constant criticizer type…. Also I’m sure Burnett is the only alderman activity campaigning the mayor for the casino to be in his ward.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Well, I'm not sure how much of those air rights can actually be used without first redoing Weldon Yard to allow supporting columns.

As I study the site, it occurs to me that any structure built east of the original railroad tracks—and there'd have to be some, perhaps 25 percent of the site area—will be subject to the same Public Trust Land challenge that doomed the Lucas Museum.

Hard Rock would occupy the southern section of the site, south of Weldon Yard. It looks like you could build a deck over that without relocating anything except the pedestrian bridge and maybe minor shifts to the busway.

[Randomguy34]

Video Link

[jpIllInoIs]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Hard Rock would occupy the southern section of the site, south of Weldon Yard. It looks like you could build a deck over that without relocating anything except the pedestrian bridge and maybe minor shifts to the busway.

In the video attached by RandomGuy34 it indicates there is track realignment which is no small deal with active train service.

The video also misidentifies the CN Chicago division as BNSF.

[Klippenstein]

Originally Posted by jpIllInoIs

In the video attached by RandomGuy34 it indicates there is track realignment which is no small deal with active train service.

The video also misidentifies the CN Chicago division as BNSF.

In their plan, they want to reroute some BNSF trains to their station using that ROW. One of many half baked ideas.

[rgarri4]

The 7 story podium just kills me. Its like it patches up the urban fabric just to wall it off again.

[rivernorthlurker]

Originally Posted by rgarri4

The 7 story podium just kills me. Its like it patches up the urban fabric just to wall it off again.

Yeah objectively it's kind of a design disaster. But I don't think there's much loss from the neighborhoods in the west. If it gets done from I think it's a huge win for the city from a practical perspective.

I means it's basically an extension of McCormick, which exists and we seem to be ok with that.

[VKChaz]

Originally Posted by rgarri4

The 7 story podium just kills me. Its like it patches up the urban fabric just to wall it off again.

Can you say where you are seeing that detail. The video I saw doesn't show much.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by jpIllInoIs

In the video attached by RandomGuy34 it indicates there is track realignment which is no small deal with active train service.

The video also misidentifies the CN Chicago division as BNSF.

No, what I'm saying is the "civic build" can be phased. The southern section indicated in red in the video is where the Hard Rock would go, they can build this section of the podium without any track realignment or new transit infrastructure, leaving some future trackways on the lower level. That stuff would get built with future phases and/or the arrival of a big wad of taxpayer money.

I think Hard Rock, Bob Dunn and co are trying their best to dis-associate the casino bid from the bigger development, because the timelines are different. The casino will be selected this year and they won't have time to build the support they need for all of One Central and especially for the huge subsidy.

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Good question. I think they use both. Looks like the lower track is used for tanker cars carrying milk, and the upper track is used for cars carrying sugar.

I read that too. The language is confusing. There is an existing PD covering the site that includes certain commitments; Bally's would take over that PD and they would be on the hook for those commitments even if they change the allowed uses to permit a casino. But the PD doesn't require them to build the transitway, they just need to leave space for it to be built in the future.

Now that Lincoln Yards is becoming more real I am somewhat appalled that a transit line of some kind is not being pushed as priority number 1 for city transit projects, be it rapid bus or light rail. The critical mass will eventually be there in the not too distant future, even if the Casino does not go to the Tribune site. I am not sure what the hesitation is about putting it low on the list of projects in the city (as far as I know).

I would also love to see the rail line link up with the Carroll Ave corridor going through River North to Streeterville, but that admittedly would be more cumbersome and extensive.

[ardecila]

The hesitation is that Lincoln Yards is massively unpopular with voters after CTU and other progressive orgs decided to demonize it. Any transit money spent there (even if it covers the whole North Branch) will be seen as robbing from more important needs. That said, it's kind of stupid to try reading the tea leaves. This is Chicago, the mayor controls everything and our current mayor does not remotely understand the value of good public transit to economic development. Pretty much what you'd expect for somebody from Ohio.

Lincoln Yards is already getting $1.3B in TIF money - this won't do much for transit other than rebuilding the Clybourn stop, but at least the bike and pedestrian situation will massively improve in that area and will connect to other highly walkable areas in Bucktown and Lincoln Park. If LY can get built out as a truly mixed-use area and not just an office park or a vertical subdivision, then there's still hope that it won't completely devolve into a snarling traffic mess.

[thegoatman]

Lightfoot really gives zero fucks about public transit, so dissapointing coming from Rahm who was so stringent on improving public transit and making the city more sustainable. Has there even been a major CTA expansion (not counting red/purple line fix) during her tenure?

But you're right, very excited for the 606 expansion.

[ardecila]

^ No, there hasn't been a big CTA project completed during her tenure, but the timeline for all CTA projects is much longer than a mayoral term. It takes years to plan a project, do the environmental work, do the engineering, get funding lined up etc before a shovel even hits the ground. Rahm took credit for the Morgan station but that was launched while Daley was still mayor.

Even now, most of the CTA projects in planning stages were around before MLL took office. Her problem is that she has not introduced any transit priorities of her own - she just doesn't care. Even her signature urban development project - Invest South/West - is just a rebranded version of a program that Rahm started. Now she came out this week calling Chicago a "car city" and promising gas tax relief to drivers, literally starving CTA of revenue for drivers' benefit.

I do give her some credit for hiring Maurice Cox, who has brought very high standards of design into the DPD review process. The archirecture on large proposals now is significantly better than 10 years ago - just look at how the Bally's casino got reshaped from the initial renderings to the latest ones.

[TR Devlin]

Originally Posted by ardecila

The archirecture on large proposals now is significantly better than 10 years ago - just look at how the Bally's casino got reshaped from the initial renderings to the latest ones.

IMO, Bally's and the 78 are kind of meh and Hard Rock is clown shoes. What I'd really like to see is what Morris Adjmi would do if someone gave him a chance - especially at the Bally site.

Here's a link to his website.

[ardecila]

Unfortunately I'm not sure Related will snap back to the previous scheme at The 78 even if they lose the casino bid.

I hope they do, but there's a good chance they just look for another huge anchor like a Chicago Fire stadium or something. Hell, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to build a Topgolf (wouldn't be the first time a Chicago megadevelopment started with golf).

[thegoatman]

Chicago does need an Ikea and Topgolf