CHICAGO | City Casino - Page 78

twister244 · #**1541** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 4:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by galleyfox

I’m sure the threat of eminent domain will resolve that situation sooner rather than later. Site acquisition is not exactly something government is powerless to deal with. The government’s fair price is going to be quite different from Alden’s idea of a fair price if it comes to that.

Quick - Someone call up Daley and a few construction equipment rental companies...... Oh, and nighttime camouflage gear.....

WestTowner · #**1542** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 5:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by galleyfox

I’m sure the threat of eminent domain will resolve that situation sooner rather than later. Site acquisition is not exactly something government is powerless to deal with. The government’s fair price is going to be quite different from Alden’s idea of a fair price if it comes to that.

Maybe I don't understand the situation, but seems like Alden's is a current sub-leaser from Bally's. Oak St Capital owns the site. I'm no lawyer, but eminent domain feels like a drawn out process to evict a sub-letter. I'd guess ultimately Bally's is going to have to pay off Alden. Probably should've written a better sub-lease agreement.

galleyfox · #**1543** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 5:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by twister244

Quick - Someone call up Daley and a few construction equipment rental companies...... Oh, and nighttime camouflage gear.....

A mysterious fire has broken out at the printing plant. City states cause of fire to be indeterminate.

Seriously, there are ways to fix the problem of difficult tenants if it’s going to be demolished anyway.

galleyfox · #**1544** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 5:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WestTowner

Maybe I don't understand the situation, but seems like Alden's is a current sub-leaser from Bally's. Oak St Capital owns the site. I'm no lawyer, but eminent domain feels like a drawn out process to evict a sub-letter. I'd guess ultimately Bally's is going to have to pay off Alden. Probably should've written a better sub-lease agreement.

It is somewhat drawn out if it doesn’t get resolved beforehand, but lighting a fire under these company’s butts helps to speed up the process. The city and state want their tax money.

west-town-brad · #**1545** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 5:54 PM**

mmmmm.... looking more and more like that "temporary casino" is going to be permanent.

Kngkyle · #**1546** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 6:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by galleyfox

It is somewhat drawn out if it doesn’t get resolved beforehand, but lighting a fire under these company’s butts helps to speed up the process. The city and state want their tax money.

There isn't a goddamn thing the city/state can do about it if Alden has a bulletproof lease agreement. If they want to really play hardball they can lock this thing up in the courts for a decade until the Supreme Court ultimately rules in their favor.

The far likelier outcome is Bally's uses what little cash they have on hand to pay them off. But considering they have $165 million in cash and $3.4 billion in debt it's questionable this thing ever gets off the ground. The cost of financing has skyrocketed since this was originally proposed.

UrbanDweller98 · #**1547** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 7:42 PM**

Gotta love the pessimism on this forum

Randomguy34 · #**1548** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 8:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrbanDweller98

Gotta love the pessimism on this forum

More than a decade of constant negativity from press and people across the country has made Chicagoans assume the worst

Kngkyle · #**1549** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 10:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

More than a decade of constant negativity from press and people across the country has made Chicagoans assume the worst

Or you know... actual recent history.... Chicago Spire, Waterview, Wolf Point, Olympics, Lucas Museum, Uptown Theatre, Northerly Island.. some of us are just tired of being let down constantly. Fulton Market is probably the only development actually exceeding expectations and that was a collection of smaller scale projects that culminated/is culminating in something special.

The 78 is an empty field. Lincoln Yards is an empty field. Michael Reese is an empty field.

The tight monetary situation makes financing anything an order of magnitude more difficult than a year ago when all of this stuff was first proposed.

Randomguy34 · #**1550** Posted **Feb 13, 2023, 10:57 PM**

Well it looks like all the dooming wasn't necessary

Bally’s moves to boot Tribune Publishing printing plant from casino site

Quote:

Bally’s has given Tribune Publishing its walking papers, exercising a relocation option to force the newspaper company to vacate its mammoth River West printing plant to make way for a casino.

The relocation notice, delivered several weeks ago, will end a four-decade run for the Freedom Center, which is slated for demolition to build a $1.74 billion casino complex in its place along the Chicago River.

But Freedom Center won’t have to stop the presses immediately. Tribune Publishing will have up to two years to find a new location for its printing plant before the casino breaks ground, Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim said. And Bally’s will have to chip in to fund that relocation.
....
The lease extension, Kim said, is ultimately moot.

“Even with the extension option, there’s a clause in the lease that allows for us to relocate,” Kim said. “And so we started the process of engaging that clause.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...3ba-story.html

twister244 · #**1551** Posted **Feb 14, 2023, 1:52 AM**

Nice! I wonder if this was having a set of good lawyers that saw the potential for this issue to come up, or if a clause like that is standard.

Either way - Great to see this was barely a speed bump.

maru2501 · #**1552** Posted **Feb 14, 2023, 2:42 PM**

the press replacement was always contractual. Not new

Kngkyle · #**1553** Posted **Feb 14, 2023, 10:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

Well it looks like all the dooming wasn't necessary

Bally’s moves to boot Tribune Publishing printing plant from casino site

https://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...3ba-story.html

What would you expect the Chairman of Bally's to say?

galleyfox · #**1554** Posted **Feb 14, 2023, 10:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

What would you expect the Chairman of Bally's to say?

Quote:

The Freedom Center printing plant was not part of the original plan, but Kim had considered adding it to the mix as a long-term tenant — and potential tourist attraction. Walking the site with an architect in December, they came up with an idea to build around the presses, shift the location of the hotel and incorporate the printing operation as part of the overall entertainment theme.

The city, he said, nixed that idea.

“We were even considering building a glass box around the printing presses as a cool tourist attraction that patrons at the casino could see,” Kim said. “For whatever reason, the city didn’t like it.”

The alternative apparently was rebuilding around the printing presses.

Kind of a big fire risk if you ask me.

west-town-brad · #**1555** Posted **Feb 22, 2023, 2:01 PM**

does anybody know if customers will be able to smoke inside the casino? I have not personally been to a casnio within the state of IL so I dont know the rules now that indoor smoking has been banned for years.

r18tdi · #**1556** Posted **Feb 22, 2023, 3:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

does anybody know if customers will be able to smoke inside the casino? I have not personally been to a casnio within the state of IL so I dont know the rules now that indoor smoking has been banned for years.

Indoor smoking is still banned in IL, including casinos. One of the reasons going to Hammond, IN is so jarring.

west-town-brad · #**1557** Posted **Feb 22, 2023, 6:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by r18tdi

Indoor smoking is still banned in IL, including casinos. One of the reasons going to Hammond, IN is so jarring.

I really wonder if that's reason enough for people to make the trip to hammond... seems like it might be.

ardecila · #**1558** Posted **Feb 22, 2023, 7:48 PM**

I think smoking lounges are still allowed with proper ventilation. I would imagine the Bally's will provide a cigar lounge or similar.

Chi-Sky21 · #**1559** Posted **Feb 22, 2023, 8:55 PM**

For as many people that it is a reason to go to Indiana i am sure there are FAR more that won't go to a casino if they DID allow smoking.

HomrQT · #**1560** Posted **Feb 22, 2023, 11:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

Or you know... actual recent history.... Chicago Spire, Waterview, Wolf Point, Olympics, Lucas Museum, Uptown Theatre, Northerly Island.. some of us are just tired of being let down constantly. Fulton Market is probably the only development actually exceeding expectations and that was a collection of smaller scale projects that culminated/is culminating in something special.

The 78 is an empty field. Lincoln Yards is an empty field. Michael Reese is an empty field.

The tight monetary situation makes financing anything an order of magnitude more difficult than a year ago when all of this stuff was first proposed.

Dang. Depressing post.