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Bally’s is betting big on Chicago.
The global collective of entertainment brands, together with the main political actors and their construction team, exceeded the development of $1.7 billion along the Chicago River in the Windy City, according to a May 1 announcement.
Bally’s initiated the project along with its general contractor, the Community Builders Collective of Chicago. This joint venture consists of Providence, Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Co. and these Chicago-area construction companies:
- Builder Brown & Moment
- Escoto engineering services company
- Engineering company Milhouse Engineering & Construction
- Contractor Powers & Sons Construction
- Construction management company Riteway-Huggins Construction Services
- Project management company SQN Associates
- Constructora Ujamaa Construction
The casino development, when completed, will contain a 500-room hotel tower with a rooftop bar, an entertainment theater and a 3,000-seat event center and 3,300 parking spaces.
Bally’s project anchors a 30-acre redevelopment of the site of the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center, the former headquarters and printing facility of the Chicago Tribune. The vision for the site includes a riverfront destination that aims to reconnect the River West and Near West Side neighborhoods with the Chicago River. Bally got site approval in February 2025.
Casino construction comes at an opportune time for the industry — Casino and gaming revenues have been boomingaccording to a 2025 report by the American Gaming Association, a trade group representing the U.S. casino industry.
Bally’s casino is also one project among several Chicago initiatives that are generating billions for the construction industry. Parallel to this development, the $5.7 billion Red Line transit extension and the $1.45 billion O’Hare Concourse D project also recently started construction or reached new milestones.
