South suburban towns are jockeying for a casino
Now that lawmakers have finally approved gambling-expansion legislation to allow a casino in the south suburbs, people are wondering where the casino will be located.
Despite being proposed for many years, the site for a south suburban casino has yet to be determined.
Speculation abounds as communities toss their hats into the proverbial ring. Towns vying to host the prized facility include Country Club Hills, Crestwood, East Hazel Crest, Ford Heights, Homewood, Lynwood, Matteson and Tinley Park.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Crestwood Mayor Lou Presta said. “We all believe we have the best site.”
A derby-like sweepstakes is developing as towns jockey for position. The racing analogy is apt, since the gaming legislation sprung a surprise second facility for the south suburbs. The bill also allows for a horse racing track with up to 1,200 gaming positions, which some call a “racino.”
The Illinois Gaming Board will ultimately decide the location of the casino and “racino.” The assumption is that communities will partner with private developers to eventually submit proposals for consideration.
A gaming board spokesman declined to offer specifics about next steps and how the application process will proceed.
“The next step is that the governor has to sign the legislation,” gaming board spokesman Gene O’Shea said. “The board can’t take any action until the governor signs the legislation into law.”
The board meets Thursday but is not expected to formally open the process to seek requests for proposal because Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker hasn’t yet signed the bill. The board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Aug. 1, but it could call a special meeting sometime sooner.
The five-member gaming board has one vacancy. Also, the term of board chair Don Tracy, who was appointed by former Gov. Bruce Rauner, is set to expire next month. That means Pritzker is expected to soon appoint two new members to the board.
While the board awaits reorganization, towns in the south suburbs are wasting no time positioning themselves as the best location for a casino.
“We’ve always had the best site,” Country Club Hills Mayor James Ford said. “We have the only site.”
The village’s proposed site is near the intersection of interstates 57 and 80, Ford said. It is just west of a 300-acre site where an outlet mall was proposed for many years, and more recently has been announced as the site of a logistics development.
“There is another 200 acres. We could easily facilitate a casino there,” Ford said. Most of the land is privately owned, though the village owns some of it, he said.
Advantages of the site are that it is vacant and shovel-ready for development and it offers a prime location near two busy interstates, Ford said.
“No other town can match the traffic count that we offer,” Ford said.
What is known is that the legislation specifies the south suburban casino must be located in one of six townships: Bloom, Bremen, Calumet, Rich, Thornton or Worth. The “racino” must be located within one of seven townships: the six eligible for the casino, plus Orland.
The gambling-expansion legislation allows six new casino licenses and specifies they must be located in Chicago, Danville, Rockford, the south suburbs, Waukegan and Williamson County.
Illinois legalized riverboat gambling in 1990. There are 10 casinos currently operating in the state. Over the years the law was amended to allow land-based casinos. The legislature voted in 2009 to allow video gaming terminals at local establishments.
Crestwood would like to host a land-based casino on about 50 acres owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District along the Cal-Sag Channel near Cicero Avenue and Cal-Sag Road, Presta said.
“I think we have a good spot,” Presta said.
Village officials have discussed leasing the land from MWRD, he added. They have also talked with Illinois Tollway representatives about the possibility of adding an interchange along the I-294 TriState Tollway at Pulaski Road, he said.
The village has invested about $15 million over the years cleaning up the property and preparing it for development, he said.
“If we don’t get a casino we’ll develop it as something commercial or industrial,” he said.
Presta noted the legislation calls for 43 communities to share revenue from a south suburban casino. The host community will keep 2% of monthly adjusted gross receipts, and 3% will be divided among the 42 other towns.
How much revenue the casino will generate is unknown, but
$150 million a year is a reasonable estimate, Presta said. That means the host community would get about $3 million a year, and the other towns would split about
$4.5 million.
“I would like to take every dollar and give it back to residents” by abating property taxes or lowering village fees, Presta said. Also, the village would offer no tax incentives to lure a casino developer, he said.
South-suburban communities such as Alsip, Chicago Ridge, Evergreen Park and Oak Lawn are excluded from the revenue-sharing agreement, he noted.
“It seems like they left out anyone north of the Cal-Sag Channel,” Presta said.
State Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood, said last week that Homewood and East Hazel Crest are partnering to attract a casino to vacant land along Halsted Street south of I-80/294.
“It’s right at the interchange, with easy access and high traffic counts,” Homewood Village Manager Jim Marino said.
The property is a vacant, privately owned 16-acre site that straddles the border of both communities, Marino said. The two towns have approved an intergovernmental agreement that details how revenue from a casino would be shared, he said.
“We would split it on a percentage basis,” Marino said. East Hazel Crest would get 55% of proceeds, and Homewood would get 45%, he said.
East Hazel Crest Village Administrator Pat Lazuka said the location offers a competitive advantage.
“It is strategically situated to intercept the gaming traffic flow to the Indiana casinos,” she said. “It will be the economic engine needed to generate jobs for the disadvantaged communities of the south suburbs.”
Matteson would like to host a casino, Mayor Sheila ChalmersCurrin said Tuesday. The site of the former Lincoln Mall is not among potential sites being considered, as a master plan calls for other redevelopment of that property, she said.
Vacant land near the Manheim Chicago auto auction center south of Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park is among the options, she said.
“We definitely want to throw our hat in the ring,” she said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to be a part of that.”
Chalmers-Currin said she’s concerned that while the legislation requires revenue be shared among south suburban communities for a casino, there is no such revenue-sharing provision for the “racino” development.
“In fairness, it should,” she said. “It would be fair if all the communities would benefit from that.”
Ford Heights and Lynwood are reportedly partnering on a proposal to lure a casino to a site near U.S. 30 and Illinois Hwy. 394. Officials with Ford Heights and Lynwood did not immediately respond to messages Monday and Tuesday requesting comment.
Several local officials and lawmakers mentioned Tinley Park is in the running for the proposed “racino.” The 280-acre site of the former state mental health center northwest of Harlem Avenue and 183rd Street is reportedly under consideration.
Village officials had been considering a proposal to redevelop the property with housing catered to senior citizens, but a “racino” may upend those plans. The site is in Orland Township.
One disadvantage of the stateowned site is that it is not vacant. A study done for the village estimated the cost for cleaning up contamination and demolishing the 45 structures on the property at $12.4 million.
Also, the site is within a 35-mile radius of Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney. The gaming-expansion legislation says that if the new track is within a 35-mile radius of an existing track, it would require written approval from owners of the existing track.
Hawthorne Race Course says on its website that “the estate of Thomas Carey has owned and operated Hawthorne Race Course for 100 years, distinguishing it as the oldest continuously familyowned and operated race track in the nation.” The track, which opened in 1891, also is the oldest sports venue in Illinois, according to Hawthorne. The Carey family acquired the track in 1909.