The owners of Hollywood Casino Aurora have announced their intention to change the casino venue’s location from downtown and move it to a site in close proximity to the Interstate 88 interchange with the city’s Farnsworth Avenue.
The beginning of the week saw Penn Entertainment officials, who own Hollywood Casino, make the announcement on the company’s website, revealing a decision that the operator intended to build a casino and hotel, with about 50 live table games, 900 slot machines, a Barstool Sportsbook, and approximately 200 hotel rooms at the new site of Hollywood Casino Aurora.
The casino and entertainment property would also feature bars and restaurants, a full-service spa, approximately 10,000 square feet of meeting space, as well as an event center. The development would be on land purchased by the city a few years ago along Farnsworth that included two hotel properties that were torn down by the city.
According to Penn Entertainment officials, the estimated budget of the casino and hotel project would amount to about $360 million. The property would be linked to the Casino Premium Outlets mall, just off the I-88 interchange. The announcement of the company unveiled that the deal would involve the city transferring land. Company officials also noted that the city would contribute about $50 million to the project, with the amount raised through issuing bonds.
The CEO and president of Penn Entertainment, Jay Snowden, has revealed that the construction of the new property is set to start in late 2023, and is subject to approval by the city and regulatory body authorities.
Relocation of Hollywood Casino Aurora Is One of the Biggest Investments in the Area
For the time being, the city itself has not unveiled the plans, although the chief communications and equity officer of the city of Aurora – Clayton Muhammad – released a statement, saying that a full presentation of the redevelopment deal between the gambling operator and the city was set to take place at the next City Council Finance Committee meeting that is scheduled for 3:00 PM on October 13th.
That would pretty much be the beginning of the City Council process. As previously reported, any redevelopment of the deal needs the approval of the City Council.
Mr. Muhammad noted that the unveiled plans could be described one of the major investments in economic development in Aurora’s history.
In an interview with a local media outlet a few weeks ago, Richard Irwin, Mayor of Aurora, said that the pending deal would include all the city land, both along Bilter and along Farnsworth. At the time, he said that the agreement would encompass an entire entertainment district in the area. The casino venue would be situated on the site along Farnsworth where the two hotels were once based. Aurora’s Mayor shared that the move of the casino company and the investment that is set to be made by the city would aim at about eight million people who visit the outlet mall on an annual basis.
According to Mr. Irwin, this would change the face of the city of Aurora.
Apart from making an announcement about the Hollywood Casino Aurora move, Penn Entertainment also revealed that it would move its downtown casino in Joliet to the Rock Run Crossings development which is situated in close proximity to the interchange between Interstate 55 and Interstate 80.
