Aurora breaks ground on Hollywood Casino complex
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Rendering courtesy of PENN Entertainment/Hollywood Casino
The City of Aurora broke ground Wednesday on a casino and entertainment complex.
What's happening: The $360 million project is being developed adjacent to Chicago Premium Outlets, right off I-88.
Details: The Hollywood Casino will include up to 1,200 slots and tables and operate a sportsbook.
- The project includes a 200-room hotel and a 12,000-square-foot event center for meetings and conferences.
- The facility will have 1,700 parking spaces.
The big picture: Renderings show a sleek, low-level casino and hotel, which is in stark contrast to Bally's plans for a skyscraper-like hotel in Chicago.
- Earlier this year, Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey implored the mayor to help reshape the Bally's plan, writing that the architectural design for the Chicago casino was more suited for a complex off the highway.
- This new Aurora concept may be off the highway, but it's less like the traditional casino/hotel structures we've seen in the area in the past.
The intrigue: The Aurora project is expected to be finished by 2025, a year before the new Bally's Casino will be up and running in West Town.
By the numbers: The City of Aurora is kicking in for the project, donating land for the development and issuing $50 million in bonds.
- The casino expects to have 700 permanent jobs at the new facility, nearly doubling the current employees at the existing casino downtown.
What's next: The old Hollywood Casino located downtown along the Fox River will stay open until the new casino is finished.