Bally’s announced a deal Friday with Gaming & Leisure Properties, a Pennsylvania-based real estate investment trust, to provide $940 million to fund the construction of the permanent casino.
One week after taking possession of the Freedom Center printing plant, Bally’s has secured the needed financing to supplant it with a $1.7 billion Chicago casino complex on the 30-acre site in River West.
The financing package and revised site plan should allay concerns expressed by analysts, investors and the city itself that Bally’s didn’t have the financial wherewithal to build the permanent casino. The initial plan called for a 100-room hotel base near the Chicago River, with a gleaming 400-room tower built on top of it within five years of opening the permanent casino.
Gaming and Leisure Properties has a portfolio of 65 locations across 20 states, including several Bally’s properties. The business model entails buying, financing and owning the land, then leasing it back to gaming operators.The Bally's Chicago casino, in the former historic Medinah Temple, is seen in a long exposure as traffic flows on Dec. 8, 2023.
People walk past the historic Medinah Temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave. in Chicago, on Feb. 23, 2023. The building is scheduled to be the home of a temporary casino that Bally's hopes to open this summer.Workers place a copper dome atop one corner of the Medinah Temple in this undated photo. Once owned by Friedman Properties, Bloomingale's department store was a tenant of the space, in the Near North neighborhood.John J.
An artist's rendering shows the proposed Bally’s Chicago casino, hotel and entertainment complex at the site of the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center, located on the corner of Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street.Workers compile election returns in the basement of the Medinah Temple on Nov. 3, 1964.Workers compile election returns in the basement of the Medinah Temple on Nov. 3, 1964.
As part of the transaction, Gaming and Leisure Properties is also acquiring the Freedom Center site for $250 million before development begins. Some analysts suggested a tight credit market and Bally’s debt-heavy balance sheet might force the casino company to delay or downsize the permanent Chicago casino.
Building what would be the state’s largest casino may be crucial to meeting the ambitious financial goals of both the city and Bally’s. Statewide casino revenue was down nearly 4% to $138 million in June, with more than a million visitors for the month, according to Gaming Board data.
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