Alden Printing Plant Lease Might Be a Drawback for Bally’s
Alden International’s Heath Freeman and a rendering of Bally’s growth (Getty, Bally’s)
Bally’s is attempting to keep away from pulling a bust card in its plan to develop an enormous on line casino and gaming advanced on the positioning of the previous Chicago Tribune printing press.
Whereas the gaming firm gained a $200 million bid final 12 months to purchase the Tribune’s Freedom Middle plant in River West, the deal hinges on Bally’s shopping for out the rest of the Tribune’s lease, Crain’s reported. Now, the paper’s mother or father firm Alden International Capital has prolonged its lease, driving up the worth of the positioning.
The New York-based Alden is thought for its propensity to drive exhausting bargains. It prolonged its lease by an extra 10 years, a transfer that would require Bally’s to push extra chips onto the desk in an effort to purchase out the lease. Bally’s may even be answerable for serving to Alden discover a new dwelling for its printing press.
Colliers Worldwide, which is working with Alden and Bally’s on the deal, mentioned the 2 corporations are “removed from an settlement.”
The information may halt the plans to construct Chicago’s first on line casino.
Again in Could, Mayor Lori Lightfoot chosen Bally’s bid to develop the $1.7 billion on line casino mission, which was seen as a frontrunner all through the choice course of. On the time, Lightfoot mentioned Bally’s proposal “finest met the town’s core targets and would assist us develop a casino-anchored resort advanced that matches our thriving cultural scene.”
The deliberate on line casino will embody a 500-room resort, a 3,000-seat theater, an exhibition corridor, an out of doors music venue and 6 eating places. The gaming portion of the on line casino can have 3,400 slots and 170 recreation tables. Earlier than the on line casino is completed, nonetheless, Bally’s will open a short lived on line casino at Medinah Temple.
Spokespeople for Bally’s and Alden declined to touch upon the matter, however a spokeswoman for the mayor’s workplace advised the outlet that “the Metropolis is assured that each one steps required to finish the transaction shall be achieved.”
— Victoria Pruitt