The city of Rockford, Illinois recently held a public meeting where each of the three contenders for a casino license made its case in a 45-minute presentation to about 600 attendees. Mayor Tom McNamara said city staff will continue to negotiate with Forest City Casino, Hard Rock International and the Rock River West Group. “Through that process, we’ll start to narrow that down, probably get it down to two. The turnout was pretty much what we expected. I think it was a good opportunity for residents to get really the first full blush of every single proposal. I thought there were a lot of good questions asked and I think all three proposers did their best.”
The city—the third-largest in the state–has until October 26 to submit its recommendation(s) to the Illinois Gaming Board, which will have up to one year to select the chosen developer.
Rockford is one of five south Chicago suburbs selected to develop a casino under the state’s new gambling law passed earlier this year.
Here’s a roundup of the three competitors:
Forest City Partners
The $420 million development on 136 acres off Lyford Road would include a 250-room Wyndham Hotel, 150-room casino hotel, 40,000 square foot indoor water park, 10,000 square foot outdoor water park, family entertainment complex, golf course, campground, restaurants and even a 130-150 bed senior living facility—plus a 60,000 square foot casino.
One of the owners, Henry Leong of Viet Capital Group, said the project would create 2,000 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs. He said Merit Management Group would operate the casino.
Darren Lazan of Minnesota-based Landform Development, the master developer for the Forest City Partners project, said the developers are considering two temporary casino options: building a $5-$8 million temporary casino that would convert to another venue when the casino opens; or, it could find an existing building to serve as a temporary casino.
Hard Rock International
Rick Nielsen of the famed rock group Cheap Trick entertained the audience before Hard Rock International’s presentation, which included a video highlighting its hotels, casinos and Hard Rock Cafés around the world. Nielsen, a Rockford native, said, “I think this is gonna be an amazing project. I don’t need a job, but some people do. This would be a good investment.”
The $310 million Hard Rock Casino Rockford development at the shuttered Clock Tower Resort property near State Street and Lyford Road would include a casino with 1,500 slot machines and 55 table game seats, a Hard Rock Café and other restaurants and 1,600-seat live entertainment venue. Phase two would include a hotel. Officials said within 90 days of obtaining a license, Hard Rock would open a temporary casino location with more than 730 slot machines at Giovanni’s Restaurant & Convention Center, 610 N. Bell School Road, until the permanent location is constructed.
Lead investor Dan Fischer said, “We started this journey six years ago, recognizing that Rockford and the Clock Tower site was an ideal location. Our goal with the Hard Rock Casino Rockford is to build a new history at this iconic site and make it once again a destination.” He noted the Hard name is one of the most recognized brands in the world and would benefit what a “regional casino.” Fischer added a market study showed every day about 64,000 cars would pass by the venue, which could generate $282 million a year for the local economy.
Gorman & Company
Wisconsin-based Gorman & Company’s proposed $400 million Water Power Entertainment District includes a historic redevelopment at 650 Race Street. Illinois Market President Ron Clewer said the project would be an urban casino that complements the downtown as opposed to an “island casino,” where visitors typically don’t leave.
Clewer said the development would include a 60,000 square foot, 1,200-position casino, a Rock & Brews Family Restaurant, a 60-room hotel, bowling alley, 300-500 seat concert hall and a Rockford Aquarium. “As we think about the customer experience that each of these proposals talked about, it has to be an authentic Rockford experience,” Clewer said.
A temporary casino downtown would open in the first phase, offering 460 gaming positions.
Clewer said the casino would create 800 full-time jobs. He stressed it could be operational before a proposed Ho-Chunk casino just across the state border in Beloit, Wisconsin.
Illinois’ new gambling law also allows sports betting at venues with more than 17,000 seats. Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens said that motivated the community to form a 5-member committee to pick a company to run a sports betting operation within a 5-block radius of Allstate Arena. Stephens said several sports betting companies have contacted the village over the last few months.
Village spokesman Gary Mack said the committee was formed because the village wants to be as “transparent as possible and make sure every possible opportunity to do this the right way is examined. Rosemont isn’t going into this helter skelter. The whole thing was precipitated by there being a number of entities and companies that have expressed some interest. The village isn’t in a position to field those, so we wanted to assemble a group that could do it properly and seek input, hopefully from the gaming board as well.”
