WTF is he thinking
By the convention center you fool. I hope Lightfoot has more sense than BJ.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politic...sino-lightfoot
Pritzker: Forget downtown, put Chicago casino in area that has ‘been left out, left behind’
Pritzker did not name potential sites outside downtown, although in the past, there has been discussion of possibly building a casino at the old Michael Reese Hospital site, the former U.S. Steel South Works location and more recently the port authority land just off the Bishop Ford Freeway.
By Mark Brown, David Roeder, and Fran Spielman Jun 3, 2019, 3:44pm CDT
Gov. J.B. Pritzker meets with the Sun-Times Editorial Board Monday. Rich Hein/Sun-Times
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday he would prefer a newly-allowed Chicago casino be located separately from the downtown business district and away from McCormick Place.
While stressing the decision on locating the casino belongs to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the City Council, the governor said his preference is for the casino to be put in an area that hasn’t benefited from downtown’s building boom
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Pritzker would not name potential sites, but his comments would appear to help the prospects of the old Michael Reese Hospital property at 31st Street and the lake or the former South Works property at 83rd Street and the lake. Another possibility is the Illinois International Port District land on the Southeast Side.
“I will say that we don’t want to, let’s say, compete with what I think is important about downtown, which is, you know, this is a business town, right? And McCormick Place is a business showplace, and it’s different than other places, right?” Pritzker told the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board.
“You go to Las Vegas for your convention and you know that the people who are coming are not really spending all their time in the show, but love to go because of all the entertainment and everything else. I think in Chicago people come here to do business, and so you want to make sure that they’re separated, let’s say,” he added.
Reese, South Works and the port authority land all have potential and drawbacks as a casino site. They offer plenty of land for what must be a large casino; state legislation authorizes 4,000 gaming positions, or more than three times of the size of any single Illinois casino. But the sites also have drawbacks.
South Works, for example, lacks good highway access. Reese might be too close to McCormick Place for the comfort of the convention industry, which generally hasn’t wanted slots and blackjack tables to distract from their industry meetings and exhibitions. And the port district faces direct competition from Indiana casinos.
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The challenge in that approach is that casinos often don’t benefit their surrounding areas unless they are part of an entertainment district, said planning consultant Stephen Friedman. He was involved in a 2013 review that suggested a casino as one idea for the Reese property.
“If the casino doesn’t anchor an entertainment center,
it’s really just a concrete cash register,” he said. “It draws people, but they don’t spend much outside of the casino.”
he said.
The General Assembly passed legislation that calls for the city and Illinois Gaming Board to pick an independent analyst to study a Chicago casino’s feasibility and report within 150 days of the law taking effect. Pritzker is expected to sign the measure.
Lightfoot said she wouldn’t speculate on the site pending the analysis. Nor would she say whether she’ll try for an interim casino.
Does she prefer a centrally-located casino accessible to conventioneers and tourists? Or one that would be a catalyst for the type of neighborhood development she promised?
“If I answer that question, I might as well give up the site,” Lightfoot said with a smile.