City Council's approval of the casino deal and a CTA Red Line extension were two major wins Wednesday for Mayor Lori Lightfoot as she seeks reelection.
An artist's rendering shows the proposed $1.7 billion Bally's Chicago casino, hotel and entertainment complex at the site of the Chicago Tribune Publishing Center, located on the corner of Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street.
For both projects, there were gripes that the measures were being rushed. Nevertheless, the mayor expressed satisfaction after the votes concluded. The alderman presiding over the 27th Ward where the casino will be built, Walter Burnett, passionately defended the development as “bigger than me, bigger than individuals, bigger than folks’ egos.”
“This team is scrambling to find the capital needed to see this project to fruition,” Hopkins said. “So it really raises the prospect for us as a city, what do they bring to the table? … They don’t bring the money that they need to make this happen.” Supporters of a casino in Chicago have said such an enterprise is 30 years in the making and will show a strong front for a city as it economically heals from the COVID-19 pandemic. It also will provide residents — and their wallets — an alternative to going to Indiana. Mayor Richard M. Daley tried several times to get a Chicago casino, Lightfoot has said, but the state legislature had “no appetite” to help the city.
If all goes according to plan, construction on the extension could begin in 2025, and the project could be finished by 2029. CTA officials have billed its construction as a matter of equity, noting that large swathes of the Far South Side are cut off from rail service, but those communities could stand to shave more than 30 minutes off their commutes with this extension.
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