Nobody visits a casino for its architecture. But given the River West complex’s size, its proximity to downtown’s fine architecture, and primo, chef’s-kiss-of-a-site along the Chicago River, the city deserves a better design.
By Lee Bey
Aug 30, 2024, 6:39pm CDT
The start of demolition last week at the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center is the most public sign yet that the city and Bally’s have pushed their chips forward in the big bet to build the region’s largest casino.
But what will it look like?
According to the latest renderings, the casino has been redesigned again, giving the complex its third look since the city approved Bally’s bid in 2022 to build and operate the $1.7 billion project.
Under the previous design, the event center, theater and casino gaming hall read as three distinct but connected elements. Now, they are single linear mass topped by enclosed parking and rooftop greenery.
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And the planned 100-room hotel that was evicted from the north end of the casino site, so that its construction wouldn’t damage underground municipal water pipes, now shows up as a 500-room tower on the south side of the campus near Chicago Avenue and Jefferson Street.
Last year, I said the casino’s two previous designs were “huge, loud and yet architecturally anonymous … better suited for a stretch of I-15 in the Nevada desert … than for the prime urban riverside site for which it’s slated.”
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This new design is quieter. But the flash has been dialed down so much that the complex somehow seems even less visually interesting than before.
So much so, the casino when viewed from the north along the river looks more like the old Greyhound Bus depot that used to be at Randolph and Clark streets than a $2 billion entertainment resort.
A ‘more sleek design’?
The two previous casino designs were the work of the architecture firm Gensler. But Bally’s dumped Gensler for HKS Architects after the financially-struggling gaming company got a cash infusion from its new partner, the real estate investment trust Gaming and Leisure Properties.
HKS kept most of Gensler’s building program — they had to, given that’s what won approval from the Chicago Plan Commission and City Council. But they wrapped it in new skin.
A view of the casino’s previous design.
Provided, City of Chicago
Gone are the blocky structures designed by Gensler that contained the event center, theater and casino. The uses are still there, contained in a single, more horizontal-looking building with terrace-like rooftop spaces.
“It’s more of a sleek move, than broken up,” said HKS Senior Designer and Principal Peyton Booth.
Booth said the new design improves access through the complex and to the riverwalk, while taking better advantage of the river bend in front of the building.
“We’ve kind of placed our building and articulated the massing and such so that it really highlights that [bend],” she said. “And we really love — we’re excited about — this green roof element.”
The casino viewed from the south. Note the hotel’s much taller height in this rendering.
The terraced green space is one of the building’s better touches. But the rooftop parking garage — ungainly and quite visible — rolls snake eyes.
Relocating the hotel allows it to connect to the event center and theater, which is an improvement given that those two venues seem to be the complex’s center of action. But from the renderings, it’s hard to tell how the hotel will look. The tower looks tall and slender in one image; shorter and stubby in another.
So which do we get? Abbott or Costello? Bally’s and HKS should make it clear.
Meanwhile, the riverwalk will be activated with restaurants and other attractions, as envisioned in earlier plans.
Last January, I said the casino “will not get built to the scale planned. Or at all,” because of Bally’s financial problems.
So if one of the casino’s eateries serves crow, they may have to save a plate of it for me.
Chicago deserves better
The planned changes are big ones for a development that, in its previous incarnation, has already been blessed by the city.
But are the alterations major enough to force Bally’s back into the public approval process, or will they be addressed administratively by the city’s Department of Planning and Development?
Bally’s Senior Vice President for Corporate Development Christopher Jewett said the changes have been made “in conjunction with both the city, the mayor’s office, but also with DPD.”
A Department of Planning spokesperson said the agency has been in talks with the Bally’s team, but awaits a formal, detailed submission on the changes before deciding next steps.
They better hurry. Revenue from the city-owned casino will be used to help Chicago pay down its massive municipal pension obligations.
Construction teams are expected to begin sinking caissons for the casino in January. And granted, nobody visits a casino for its architecture.
But given the complex’s expense, its proximity to downtown’s fine architecture, and the primo, chef’s-kiss-of-a-site along the Chicago River it’ll occupy, we deserve a better design.
Lee Bey is the Sun-Times architecture critic. He is also a member of the Editorial Board.
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