Hollywood Casino Resort held a two-hour open house for local Aurora, Illinois residents to learn about its new project planned near Interstate 88. City officials and developers were on hand to answer questions about the casino’s move from its present downtown Aurora location.
Construction on the new Penn Entertainment locale will begin later this year, subject to city approval. The project is estimated to cost $360m and will feature 900 slots, 50 live table games, 200 hotel rooms, a full-service spa, restaurant and bar options and an event center.
Jeff Morris, VP of Public Affairs with Penn Entertainment, said, “Out of the gate, it’s really exciting that folks are interested in the new development. Folks are interested in the things they are always interested in – what it’s going to include, traffic, what improvements are coming to the area.”
Apart from questions about potential traffic, open house visitors wanted to know what would become of the old downtown venue.
Pat Weiler of Aurora said, “I think there are many questions about how quickly this happened and what’s the plan for downtown because we lost a property down there that was supposed to be vital.”
Other Aurora residents had comments on how a new casino location would affect property values. Sean Morrissey said, “I think this could actually be a good thing for the property owners in that area. I think the fear is, who is going to pay for this? Is it coming from Aurora taxpayers or the casino owners?”
Clayton Muhammad, Chief Communications and Equity Officer for the city of Aurora, said, “This is the first of a series of open houses where community members can ask questions. People want to know how many jobs it might provide and see updated renderings as we go through the process.”
