THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2008
Board Tours Casino Sites
State Gaming Officials Take First Hand Look At Proposals
By TODD WESSELL
Journal & Topics Editor
Members of the Illinois Gaming Board Wednesday afternoon toured sites in Rosemont, Des Plaines and Waukegan to get a first hand look where the state's 10th riverboat casino may eventually be located.
The five-member board, led by chairman Aaron Jaffe, a former state representative from the North and Northwest suburbs, spent about 30 minutes at each location.
In Rosemont, board members stood on the sixth level of the village-owned Williams Street parking garage looking out over the 12-acre parcel bounded by the Tri-State Tollway on the west and Balmoral Avenue on the south. Alex Yemenidjian of Trilliant Gaming of Illinois, LLC, which wants to develop the casino, touted the acreage's ideal location and demographics
About 45 minutes later, Gaming Board members drove a half mile north to the proposed Des Plaines casino site near River Road and Devon Avenue. Waiting outside for them were Midwest Gaming and Entertainment, LLC owners Neil Bluhm and Greg Carlin. Mayor Tony Arredia and aldermen Marty Moylan (2d) and Laura Murphy attended,
The group of about 30 people walked from an office building at Devon and River about two blocks to the 20 acre site where Bluhm wants to build a casino, parking deck and eventually hotel and restaurant. A while later, the group gathered in a conference room where Bluhm and other Midwest representatives explained the project further and answered a few questions.
Earlier in the day, the board visited the proposed Waukegan site that sits along I-94 and Illinois Hwy. 120.
The Gaming Board wants to narrow the list of seven applicants to three finalists possibly by Thanksgiving. A winner of the license is expected to be named by Dec. 31. Bluhm's application calls for paying the state $100 million for the license while Trilliant's proposal calls for allocating $435 million. Once the three finalists are named, the proposals will likely change.
On Tuesday, the Gaming Board visited four proposed casino sites in south suburbs.
During the gathering in the office following Wednesday's walking tour in Des Plaines, Bluhm remarked, "We think we have the best site. We thought so five years ago and we think so today." Five years ago, Bluhm and the city inked an agreement that they would work together to try to attract a gaming operation to Des Plaines and that the preferred site is along River Road north of Devon.
Bluhm added that the potential exists to build an exit ramp off the tollway at Devon Avenue for traffic coming from the north.
Mayor Arredia also praised the site saying that no residential property is nearby.