Aurora council OKs zoning, conditional use requests for new casino site
The Aurora City Council on Tuesday agreed to rezone land and approved a conditional-use planned development for the Hollywood Casino to move out of the downtown and onto a site near the Chicago Premium Outlets mall.
Only Alderman-at-large John Laesch voted against the measures. Laesch, elected in April, has long opposed the financial incentives the developer is receiving from the city, including a $50 million loan and gifts of land.
Laesch argued that because Penn Entertainment has made $2.75 billion to $2.77 billion annually the last three years, "there is an argument here that could be made that we as taxpayers should not be subsidizing (the project)," Laesch said.
He also said the tax-increment financing plan for the project would "siphon" property taxes from other taxing districts.
But the city's chief financial officer, Christopher Minnick, said it would not take away any money currently paid to those districts - they just would not get any of the increased property taxes the casino is expected to generate, for the next 23 years.
Penn Entertainment plans to move the casino to a 16.8-acre site on the west side of Farnsworth Avenue bounded by Bilter Road, Church Road and Corporate Boulevard.
The land was zoned for business, wholesale and manufacturing use. The council changed it to business and wholesale use, and approved a conditional-use planned development for a casino, hotel and other uses.
Penn Entertainment says it plans to build a casino that includes a Barstool Sports sports-betting facility, a hotel and restaurants.
The city is giving Penn land where two motels and a restaurant stood, off Farnsworth. It has also agreed to lend Penn $50 million.
The redevelopment agreement the city council approved last year calls for the site to be removed from its current tax-increment financing district and be placed into a new one. The loan is supposed to be repaid, over 23 years, from the increased property taxes expected from the casino.
If the property taxes aren't enough to cover the loan payment in any year, Penn would have to make up the difference, according to the agreement.
Construction of the new casino isn't expected to start until 2024. Penn still has to get final approval on designs and construction plans from the city.
The Hollywood Casino opened in 1993 on two riverboats downtown, when the state authorized gambling on moving boats. The boats were removed in 2004 and 2010, and the casino was put on barge that stays in place. In 2019, the state changed its casino law to no longer require casinos to operate over or near a waterway.