Bally?s Corporation announced a refreshed Bally?s Chicago Casino permanent site plan that prominently features a planned 500-room, 34-story hotel tower into a single-phase construction project at the 30-acre former Tribune Publishing site, pending approval of the Chicago Department of Planning & Development. In new renderings released, the future Bally?s Chicago Casino will feature its hotel tower on the southern end of the casino development nearest Ohio Street along the Chicago River. The hotel tower will include a large pool spa, fitness center and sun deck, as well as a rooftop restaurant bar to enjoy the Chicago skyline.

Earlier this year, the hotel tower was moved due to unforeseen underground infrastructure and an adjusted design for a two-phase hotel was approved. Bally?s and Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. entered into a binding term sheet for $940 million construction funding facility for the Chicago project, along with other financing transactions, that together GLPI expects to fund $2.07 billion to Bally?s. GLPI and Bally?s have agreed to a strategic alliance on the Chicago casino and hotel tower construction development. GLPI?s principals have over three decades of construction development in the gaming and entertainment industry.

On July 5, Bally?s took possession of the former Tribune Publishing site, located at 777 W. Chicago Avenue. This week, Brandenburg Industrial Service Company, the project?s demolition contractor, began preparing the site for demolition. Bally?s Chicago Casino development will harness the beauty of the urban Chicago riverfront site to create inclusive, dynamic spaces, including plans for the 500-room hotel tower, 3,000-seat theater, six restaurants, cafes and a food hall, and a 2-acre public park.

The casino will offer space for approximately 3,300 slots, 173 table games and VIP gaming areas. The lower riverbank will be connected to the property with an approximately 2,000-foot-long extension of the riverwalk extending south from W. Chicago Avenue. The development will generate approximately 3,000 construction jobs and 3,000 casino jobs when Bally?s Chicago permanent becomes operational.

Renderings of the new design are available at http://ballyschicago.com/renderings. The renderings of the improved site plan were prepared by HKS, a global design firm with an office in Chicago that provides hospitality and entertainment design services. HKS designed the Grand Hyatt Nashville, MGM National Harbor gaming resort in Maryland, The Palazzo in Las Vegas, and The Venetian Macao.

The design for Bally?s Chicago will add to the rich architectural history of Chicago with an iconic addition to the riverfront skyline, pulling inspiration from the Chicago River for the form-pulling activity from the river up the façade creating a dynamic, iconic building incorporating undulations of the skin. The Chicago Community Builders Collective (?CCBC?), a minority-led construction partnership, is poised to implement the improved site plan and bring the Bally?s Chicago Casino vision to life.