A day after saying the city will study five potential sites on the South and West sides for Chicago’s first casino, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said it could still end up getting built Downtown.
While Lightfoot said Downtown didn’t make the initial group of potential sites, she said Thursday the city has not set a final list of sites to consider, according to the Chicago Tribune. She added that noise from tourism companies and convention operators would need to be addressed before a casino could go Downtown.
“There are concerns about whether or not having a Downtown site will detract from tourism,” the mayor said. “There are some tour operators, conventions that don’t want a downtown site because they feel like their conventioneers will go to the casino and not actually participate in the conventions.”
On Wednesday, Lightfoot said the city hired a consultant to study the potential for a casino at five sites: The former Michael Reese Hospital campus in Bronzeville, near Harborside International Golf Center in Pullman, the intersection of Pershing Road and State Street in Bronzeville, Roosevelt Road and Kostner Avenue in North Lawndale and the 440-acre South Works site along the city’s far south lakefront.
The five sites surprised aldermen, with Alderman Sophia King (4th) reacting by reiterating her opposition to a casino in Farpoint Development’s Burnham Lakefront project on the Michael Reese site. She said casinos are “known to have deleterious impacts on existing communities, especially communities of color.” She called the prospect of a casino in Bronzeville “appalling and offensive.” [Chicago Tribune] — John O’Brien