With a feasibility study on a Chicago casino barely underway, Mayor Lori Lightfoot jumped the gun Wednesday by identifying the five sites she wants consultants to evaluate.
Those locations now will be evaluated in terms of how likely they are to attract financing.
They are the near the Harborside International Golf Center site at 111th and the Bishop Ford Freeway; the former Michael Reese Hospital at 31st and Cottage Grove; Pershing Road and State Street; Roosevelt Road and Kostner Avenue; and the former U.S. Steel parcel at 80th and Lake Shore Drive.
Conspicuously absent from the list are two previously-mentioned possibilities: McCormick Place East, otherwise known as Lakeside Center, and Navy Pier. Both are closer to downtown, where many have argued a casino should be located to bring in maximum revenue for police and fire pensions.
The sites were identified in a statement released by the mayor’s office while Lightfoot was in New York City meeting with other big-city mayors.
Until Wednesday, she had steered clear of identifying specific sites, claiming she would wait for results of the feasibility study.
“While a Chicago casino had been talked about for more than 30 years, today we are moving forward to ensure the new casino is viable for Chicago and all of its communities,” Lightfoot was quoted as saying.
“Thanks to our partnership with Governor Pritzker, Speaker Madigan, President Cullerton and other state leaders, together we are advancing a shared vision for new revenues that will benefit Chicago’s severely underfunded pension funds, while generating new jobs and economic opportunity for communities across the city.”
The decision to include the old Michael Reese Hospital site will not sit well with local Ald. Sophia King (4th). It was purchased by the city to be used for the site of an Olympic Village.
But former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s bid for the 2016 Summer Games failed, and the $91 million loan used to purchase that site has turned into a financial albatross; Chicago taxpayers are still paying it off.
King told the Sun-Times last month that she does not favor a casino there because the Michael Reese advisory committee doesn’t want it and “I’m definitely supportive of what the community wants.”
She issued a statement Wednesday reaffirming that view but in much harsher terms.
“The community is adamantly against a casino at the former Michael Reese site. Casinos are known to have deleterious impacts on existing communities, especially communities of color. They siphon all of the inviting amenities that sustain vibrant communities,” King said.
“The juxtaposition of a casino in the historic Bronzeville community is appalling and offensive given the deep and storied African American history in Bronzeville. It would be like putting a casino in Harlem.”
Ald. Susan Sadlowski-Garza (10th) has been beating the drum for the site adjacent to the Harborside golf courses — a location championed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
She argued again Wednesday that the site, controlled by the Illinois International Port District, is big enough for a hotel and recreational complex, that would serve as an “economic engine” for the Southeast Side.
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“There’s no one in this whole city that has the amenities that Harborside has. We have biking, fishing, canoeing. Across the street is the Pullman historical site. We just broke ground on the Ford environmental center. We have Big Marsh. It could be a recreation destination,” she said.
“We have the PGA-ready golf course that we’ve been approached many times to have PGA tournaments. But we don’t have anywhere to feed people and lodge people. So a hotel, casino and marina on the water would something no one else can provide.”
The Harborside site would capture for Chicago “everything that leaves for Hammond” without impacting McCormick Place or the “overall culture or business climate” of Chicago, the alderman said.
“I have the Horseshoe Casino directly to the east of me that takes in $47 million-a-month. Seventy-eight percent of the license plates that are parked in that lot are from Illinois. ... We’re gonna get the same demographic,” Garza said.
“I’ve made this pitch to every single person that would listen. It’s our turn.”
Ald. Michael Scott Jr. (24th) represents North Lawndale. His ward includes the Roosevelt and Kostner site that once was an infamous dumping ground for FBI mole John Christopher, star of the federal investigation known and “Operation Silver Shovel.”
Scott said it would be “poetic justice” to turn the Silver Shovel site into a jobs-and-contracts-generating casino.
“When you think about the history of this site and you think about how it has been forgotten about by the city and other entities — for years and years used and abused — to now put something in that site that will spur for miles and miles around economic development that has been longed for and needed in the community may be just the ticket,” Scott said.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said the five sites identified by the mayor’s office are an appropriate place to start to find a site “proximate to downtown,” but also “begging for new investment and job opportunities.”
But Reilly was somewhat disappointed the list did not include McCormick Place East.
“We’re hearing about the exorbitant costs that would come with tearing down that facility. I’m the kind of person who prefers adaptive re-use. It’s better for the environment. It saves a lot of money. Were there to be a casino license in that facility, that could pose a win-win for the city,” Reilly said.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has expressed his preference for a Chicago casino outside the downtown business district and away from McCormick Place.
Until Wednesday, Pritzker’s preference for a neighborhood site had tamped down speculation about downtown properties, such as 62 empty acres at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street now slated for a mixed-use project called The 78.
Lightfoot was highly-critical of Emanuel’s dictatorial, top-down management style. She has promised to listen more, talk less and be more collaborative before making decisions on major projects.
That’s apparently why Wednesday’s press release stressed the mayor’s commitment to, what she called an “open and thorough community engagement process to solicit meaningful feedback on preferred areas throughout the city.”
The release continued: “This community engagement process will start with an online survey, followed by a series of community town hall-style meetings to be scheduled at a later date.”
