Open house held in Aurora on Hollywood Casino project
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Residents had a chance to meet with city officials and developers to learn more about the new Hollywood Casino Resort project planned near Interstate 88 in Aurora during an open house Thursday night.
The two-hour session was held at the Aurora Police Department at 1200 E. Indian Trail and gave participants a chance to ask questions about the project, which will see the casino move from its current location downtown to a site just north of the Farnsworth Avenue interchange with I-88.
According to the casino’s parent company Penn Entertainment, “the development, with an estimated budget of $360 million, is expected to include approximately 900 slots and 50 live table games and approximately 200 hotel rooms. In addition, the property will feature a full-service spa, high-quality bars and restaurants, approximately 10,000 square feet of meeting areas and an event center.”
Developers said construction of the new facility is expected to begin in late 2023, subject to city and regulatory approval.
An early arriving crowd Thursday that numbered more than 50 came to take part in the open house right from the beginning.
Jeff Morris, vice president of public affairs for the Penn group, said he was impressed by Thursday’s turnout “out of the gate and it’s really exciting that folks are interested in the new development.”
“We’ve got 700 new jobs and a $360 million dollar development here and folks are interested in the things they are always interested in - what it’s going to include, traffic, what improvements are coming to the area,” Morris said. “What this open house is – it’s a mixture of design, PENN officials and the city and hopefully all the folks can get their questions answered directly.”
Several visitors to the open house voiced concerns about traffic the new casino may bring to the area.
Pat Weiler of Aurora said she was concerned about traffic and “the possible negative impact that the casino may have on the community.”
“I also think there are many questions about how quickly this happened and what’s the plan for downtown because we lost a property down there and that was supposed to be vital,” she said.
Weiler said once the casino leaves its current site downtown something needs to fill that spot.
Sean Morrissey of Aurora said he wanted to know how the project “was going to impact property values in the local area.”
“I live on the West Side of Aurora but own a number of rental properties near I-88 and Farnsworth and I think this could actually be a good thing for the property owners in that area,” he said. “For me, it’s also a lot of basic information – when are they going to start digging, how will it affect property taxes.”
He said the question of taxes is always important.
“I think the fear is, who is going to pay for this? Is it coming from Aurora taxpayers or the casino owners? The financial impact and also what’s going to happen to the downtown (site), those are the questions,” he said.
The City Council in late October approved a redevelopment agreement with Penn Entertainment that includes some incentives for the project. One of those is a $58 million general obligation bond the city would pass to help with upfront costs for the project.
The intent is to pay the bond service each year for 20 years with money generated by the new casino resort. The city is working to establish a tax increment financing district which would be how the city would collect the money each year to pay the bonds.
In a TIF district, when a property owner - in this case the casino - pays its property taxes, part of the money goes into a fund called the increment. In this case, that money would be used to retire the bonds each year.
The city has estimated the property taxes would generate about $5.5 million a year into the increment. If the property does not raise that much each year, the casino has agreed to make up the difference to make the payments.
Clayton Muhammad, chief communications and equity officer for the city of Aurora, said the open house held Thursday night is just the first of several to be staged concerning the casino project.
“This is the first of a series of open houses where community members can come face-to-face and talk with architects, consultants, city staff and ask any of those questions people have from when does construction start to how long will it be,” Muhammad said. “People want to know how many jobs it might provide and those basic questions as well as see updated renderings as we go through the process.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
