Ground breaking held for new Aurora casino
Aurora officials and representatives of Penn Entertainment broke ground Wednesday on the new site for the Hollywood Casino.
The complex, expected to cost $360 million to build, will be at Farnsworth Avenue and Bilter Road. It will replace the current casino, situated on a permanently moored barge on the Fox River in downtown Aurora.
The new casino will include a hotel, spa and restaurants. It's scheduled to open the second half of 2025 or early 2026, according to its website. The city is lending Penn up to $50 million for the development and will give it about $8 million worth of land, per a redevelopment agreement the city council approved earlier.
The agreement is contingent upon the city creating a tax-increment financing district for the site. A city council hearing on the proposed TIF district will be held Dec. 12.
The loan would be repaid from incremental property tax revenues collected from the site.
The current casino opened on two riverboats in 1993. The city lobbied to change state law to allow the casino to move to dry land without having to get a new license.