If Rivers 78 gets the nod as the Chicago casino, developers plan to launch the temporary facility in an old-school vessel: a renovated riverboat docked at the South Loop site along the Chicago River.
The riverboat, which holds about 1,000 gaming positions, could be up and running within six months of approval, providing a temporary “mini-Rivers” casino on the river while the permanent facility is built, Tim Drehkoff, the new CEO of Rush Street Gaming, said during a community engagement meeting Thursday.
Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming, which owns four casinos including Rivers Casino Des Plaines, is proposing a $1.62 billion riverfront casino at The 78, Related Midwest’s 62-acre development slated for long-vacant land in the South Loop. Developers touted the riverboat, once the only form of casino gambling in Illinois, as a fitting introduction to the permanent casino.
Rivers 78 is in the running to build Chicago’s long-sought casino after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot narrowed the city’s five proposals last month to three finalists: Bally’s at the baiduhai Publishing Center, Rivers at The 78 and Hard Rock at the proposed One Central megadevelopment.
The city is looking for a casino to generate $200 million in annual tax revenue to plug its public pension funding holes, while boosting Chicago as a tourism destination. It is expected to select one proposal by early summer to forward to the Illinois Gaming Board for final approval.
As part of the process, the city hosted three community meetings this week, with Rivers 78 the finale Thursday on the UIC campus. Like the Hard Rock and Bally’s meetings before it, hundreds of residents heard the casino’s pitch, with few rolling out the welcome wagon for their potential new neighbor.
Attendees expressed concerns about everything from crime and traffic to migratory birds crashing into a 1,000-foot-high observation tower planned for the Rivers 78 casino.
In addition to the distinctive tower overlooking Roosevelt Road, the Rivers 78 proposal includes a riverfront plaza, a live entertainment venue, a 300-room hotel and docking for boats at the casino, which would anchor an entertainment district on the north end of the ambitious mixed-use development.
The 78 has already landed the Discovery Partners Institute, a University of Illinois-led initiative building a 500,000-square-foot innovation hub to develop Chicago tech talent. The facility is slated to open on the south end of The 78 by 2024.
Curt Bailey, president of Related Midwest, called The 78 a “transformational” development that will bring tourists, commerce and 39,000 jobs to the South Side. He said the casino, which represents just 2% of the total square footage of The 78, will help drive the broader development.
“We’re creating an entire neighborhood from the ground up with a casino already integrated from the beginning,” Bailey said Thursday. “It is the engine that transforms this giant dirt lot today into a vibrant neighborhood.”
Last month, The 78 Community Advisory Council, a group of neighborhood representatives appointed by Lightfoot, released a survey that found 78% of nearly 400 area respondents were “unsupportive” of the proposed casino, citing concerns about crime, traffic and the character of the development.
That sentiment was echoed by a number of residents who spoke at Thursday’s meeting.
David Wu, a Chinatown resident and former president of the Ping Tom Park Advisory Council, expressed disappointment that the proposed casino would tower over his community.
“I have a new name for it: the Great Wall against Chinatown,” Wu said. “If you don’t listen to our comments about the design and how it affects neighboring communities, how are you going to address our real concerns: problem gambling, congestion, impact on small businesses.”
Nosa Ehimwenman, president & CEO of Bowa Construction, a South Side minority-owned firm that is serving as general contractor of the entertainment district at The 78, said jobs created by the development would be the best antidote to crime.
“Poverty breeds crime … 39,000 jobs is what drives crime down,” Ehimwenman said.
Rivers 78 hopes to open its temporary casino by 2023 and its permanent facility by the end of 2025. Mooring a riverboat has accelerated its timeline for the temporary facility, a throwback to the early days of casino gambling in Illinois.
“If we’re selected, the temporary casino could be up and running as close to probably a year and a half from right now,” Bailey said.
When Illinois enacted the Riverboat Gambling Act in 1990, casinos were not only required to be located on a river, but had to set sail during gambling sessions. Over the years, the seafaring requirements were dramatically eased, such that by 2011, Rivers Casino Des Plaines was built over a shallow pit of water near the Tri-State Tollway.
The state shifted to allow land-based casinos as part of its 2019 gambling expansion bill, the same measure that allowed Chicago to build its first casino.