Casino & Hawthorne Group ?

[buzz]

Caught part of the news tonight.  They were talking about the State's 10th (?) casino license.  They said Stickney ( the Hawthorne Group ) was bidding for that license.  Anyone know what's up ?  If they get it, why the hell do they need us for park maintenance?  Something stinks in Stickney.

[Ted]

  Story in the Life newspaper about this:

  http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/berwyn/news/x1261525332/Hawthorne-Race-Course-1-of-7-bidders-for-10th-casino-license

  Hawthorne Race Course 1 of 7 bidders for 10th casino license

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By Kristen Zambo, kzambo@mysuburbanlife.com
GateHouse News Service
Wed Oct 15, 2008, 08:27 PM CDT
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Stickney, IL -

Maybe it's a sign of the economic downturn when a bid for the as yet illusive 10th Illinois casino license once was $518 million, and Wednesday the highest bidder topped out $83 million short.  Members of the Illinois Gaming Board opened bids Wednesday afternoon for the much-coveted casino license, with the Rosemont proposal, once again, in the lead at $435 million. In second place is Waukegan, registering a $225 million bid, according to records released Wednesday.

Coming in third is a $175 million bid for Harvey, with Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney and Calumet City tying for fourth place at $150 million apiece.

Former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka is backing a partnership between Hawthorne Race Course, gaming industry real estate firm Altium Development Group and Altium's sister company, Merit Management Group, to build a $500 million Champions Casino and Resort at the existing racetrack site. The complex would include a hotel and conference center, theater, suite of restaurants and entertainment venues including a water park.

"We can get this up and running in six months," Hawthorne President and General Manager Tim Carey said Wednesday. "That means 1,200 people being employed on this project by June. We're going to totally revitalize the Cicero-Midway corridor."

Hawthorne Race Course, 3501 S. Laramie Ave., straddles Cicero and Stickney. The project would span 136 acres owned by the Carey family.

Carey said the racetrack's existing 400,000-square-foot building is too large for today's horse-racing fans, who might not watch the races at the track, opting for electronic monitoring on cell phones or a Blackberry.

The building would be torn down in stages, and retrofitted to meet much smaller space needs, Carey said. Work could begin on the western end of the building in January, after Gaming Board members select the winner by year's end.

If awarded the license, Carey projected that the casino project would create more than 3,000 jobs – many of those union positions. Carey said the project would be paid for entirely by private funds.

The proposal calls for a 40,000-square-foot casino, 1,150 slot machines, 50 table games and a poker room, a 300-room casino hotel and conference center. State gaming laws limit the number of slot machines to 1,200.

Also proposed is a 140,000-square-foot entertainment district, with eight to 12 restaurants, a 150,000-square-foot water park with 400 all-inclusive suites, a multiscreen movie theater, 25,000-square-foot bowling alley and 4,800-seat outdoor amphitheater.

"We want to put a restaurant in it," Ditka told the Suburban Life after a Wednesday press conference at the racetrack. "They would front the cost of building it out, and we would be co-owners with them."

The license application was filed by 5 p.m. Tuesday with the Gaming Board. The other two applications were for casinos in Des Plaines and Country Club Hills, with bids of $100 million and $60 million, respectively.

Board members plan to review casino license applications and create a short-list of three finalists.

Within about 10 days of being selected, finalists will be called to make presentations during an open session of a Gaming Board meeting, according to the board. Residents at this time may comment about the presentations to board members.

Ditka said building a Champions Casino and Resort with a sports theme makes sense in the Chicago area.

"This truly makes more sense than the other ones. It can be up and running in the shortest amount of time," Ditka said. "We're talking about the economy today. It would be a great boon to this city."

[Ted]

  Just one more note on this - If the Berwyn Park District merger with Stickney referendum passes, the casino would be part of the Berwyn Park DIstrict's taxing area.

  Ted

[dukesdad]

the casino would be part of the Berwyn Park DIstrict's taxing area.

So, would that be a bad thing?

[Shelley]

Would the casino be a part of District 201?

[oldberwynite]

Yes, then dist. 201 will hire bookies to teach how to make bets, and figure out how odds work, they will start out by taking field trips there LOL

[Guy_on_Clinton]

i cant wait to have a casino in the area...  i hate driving to Indiana or to Aurora or Elgin...
DOUBLE DOWN!!!!!

[Bear]

Don't hold your breath, Rosemont has more clout in this deal.

[mustang54]

Don't hold your breath, Rosemont has more clout in this deal.

No Way!! Da Coach has more clout than Rosemont does!! I think opening a math academy at a casino would be a perfect fit. What better way to teach algebra than figuring out odds. Its perfect!!

[Ted]

the casino would be part of the Berwyn Park DIstrict's taxing area.

So, would that be a bad thing?

  I was simply stating a fact, not offering an opinion one way or the other.  Ted

[dukesdad]

What better way to teach algebra than figuring out odds. Its perfect!!

Algebra would be of little help, you need to know statistics.

[obijuan]

Being a variety entertainer, I am excited by the possibility!

[Bonster]

Gaming board to pick three finalists today for 10th casino
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2008/11/gaming-board-to.html

Posted by Monique Garcia at 4:30 a.m.

The Illinois Gaming Board today will narrow the field of bidders for the state's only available casino license to three finalists.

Seven companies made offers ranging from $60 million to $435 million for the right to open a Chicago-area casino, and the board members will whittle down the contenders at an afternoon meeting.  The extensive applications have been under review for almost a month, and included visits to proposed site locations.

Illinois' 10th casino license has been mired in problems since it first went up for bid a decade ago and ended up targeted for Rosemont, but the Board insists it plans to award the license by year's end.

The delay has hurt the price of the license, however. Four years ago, during another round of bidding, the winning offer was $518 million, much higher than even the highest current bid.

After the finalists are announced, a series of public meetings will be held to detail the plans.

Here's the current list of bidders:

Location: Rosemont
Offer: $435 million
Company: Trilliant Gaming Inc.
Key Player: Former MGM Grand president Alex Yemenidjian

Location: Waukegan
Offer: $225 million
Company: Waukegan Gaming LLC
Key Players: Developers Richard Stein and Alan Ludwig

Location: Harvey
Offer: $175 million
Company: SouthSide Casino LLC
Key Player: David Hanlon, president and CEO of New York-based Empire Resorts Inc.

Location: Calumet City
Offer: $150 million
Company: Calumet Gaming LLC
Key Players: Hinsdale-based gambling executive Joseph Canfora, Gary Grasso

Location: Stickney
Offer: $150 million
Company: Hawthorne Gaming LLC
Key Players: the Carey family, which owns Hawthorne Race Course; Joseph Canfora

Location: Des Plaines
Offer: $100 million
Company: Midwest Gaming & Entertainment LLC
Key Player: Developer Neil Bluhm

Location: Country Club Hills
Offer: $60 million
Company: CCH Gaming Partners LLC
Key Players: Gatling family of Chicago, developers Michael Reschke and Steven Craig

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

If I was a gambler (and I'm not) I'd put my money on Rosemont for the big win.  First, their bid is huge compared to everything else and second, they have the infrastructure in place already to become the midwest mini-Vegas.  I pass by there regularly on my way to work and remember when my dad worked for a company on River Road and there wasn't much out there then (in the 60's).  Then a guy named Donald Stephens came along.  Look at it now. 

[Ted]

  Hawthorne is not one of the three finalists:

  http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/berwyn/news/x1751716536/Illinois-Gaming-Board-rejects-Hawthorne-Race-Course-casino-bid

Illinois Gaming Board rejects Hawthorne Race Course casino bid

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By Kristen Zambo, kzambo@mysuburbanlife.com
Berwyn Life
Fri Nov 14, 2008, 07:22 PM CST
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Berwyn, IL -

Not even with backing from "Iron Mike" Ditka could Hawthorne Race Course officials drive through a bid Friday on the state's 10th casino license. Hawthorne Race Course officials lost out on the chance Friday to continue vying for the much sought-after 10th casino license after Illinois Gaming Board members tapped three other bidders as finalists.

Continuing to the next round are proposals for casinos in Rosemont, Waukegan and Des Plaines. Hawthorne's bid received not a single vote Friday from gaming board members. Hawthorne's development group bid $150 million for the license. Rosemont's bid was almost triple that amount.

"I'm shocked to say the least," Tim Carey, president and general manager of Hawthorne Race Course, said Friday night. "Everyone's just blown away to think there's not one southern applicant. I don't know how the board can ignore the south like that."

Illinois Gaming Board members met at 2:30 p.m. Friday in the second floor conference room at the James R. Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph to reveal their selections. Rosemont, Waukegan and Des Plaines, as short-list finalists for the 10th Illinois casino license, move on to the next round of considerations.

Rosemont's bid for the license is in the financial lead at $435 million. In second place is Waukegan, registering a $225 million bid.

Coming in third was a $175 million bid for Harvey, with Hawthorne Race Course and Calumet City tying for fourth place at $150 million apiece. The least-lucrative bidders proposed casinos in Des Plaines and Country Club Hills, with bids of $100 million and $60 million, respectively.

Carey said $720 million are lost to Indiana casinos because Illinois residents hop over the state line to casino there. He said a casino in the southern suburban area could have kept some of that cash here.

"One billion has been lost and that's all due to Rosemont," Carey said.

Isle of Capri Casinos bid $518 million in 2004 for the license in order to build a casino in Rosemont. But the proposal fell flat after legal questions arose from the state. The 10th license since has languished. Carey and a team of backers wanted to build a $500 million Champions Casino and Resort, hotel and conference center, theater, water park and suite of restaurants and entertainment venues at the site. But this was the state's final casino license.

  The proposal for Hawthorne Race Course, 3501 S. Laramie Ave., included plans for a 40,000-square-foot casino, 1,150 slot machines, 50 table games and a poker room, a 300-room casino hotel and conference center. Also proposed was a 140,000-square-foot entertainment district with eight to 12 restaurants, a 150,000-square-foot water park with 400 all-inclusive suites, a multi-screen movie theater, 25,000-square-foot bowling alley and 4,800-seat outdoor ampitheater. The project would have spanned 136 acres owned by the Carey family between Cicero and Laramie avenues. Hawthorne Race Course straddles the Stickney-Cicero border. Hawthorne National, which oversees racing at the track, joined forces with Altium Development Group and Merit Gaming Group, on plans to redevelop this parcel if awarded the 10th casino license.

Former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka, a backer with major star power, had proposed a restaurant on the site.

Messages were left Friday for Stickney Mayor Donald Tabor, but he was unavailable for comment.

Carey's group projected that constructing the revamped Champions Casino and Resort would have created more than 3,000 jobs in what they called an "economically deprived area."

A message also was left Friday for Mary Esther Hernandez, executive director of the Cicero Chamber of Commerce and Industry, but she was unavailable for comment.

The three finalists will be called in to make presentations during an upcoming open session of a gaming board meeting, according to the board.

Gaming board members are expected to select the winning application by year's end.

"I just think they think there's more money up north," Carey said.

[mustang54]

   Not surprised at all Hawthorne was not chosen. No matter what they bid they would have never gotten it. Its close proxemity to the City of Chicago doomed it from the start.
I think Daley and his crew still have visions of a casino at Navy Pier or somewhere else along the lakefront sometime in the future.1. Its a natural to put one there with all the tourism
downtown. 2. The city will see it as a last chance to bring in needed new revenue. 3. It would mean good jobs for the freinds and relatives of the politicians at city,county and state levels. I'm also quite sure being next to the Town of Cicero did not help its chances one bit.

[Mike Iniquez]

Poor Betty Loren-Maltese was looking to land a blackjack dealers job when she got out.

[mustang54]

Poor Betty Loren-Maltese was looking to land a blackjack dealers job when she got out.

And the person that took over when she left was probably looking forward to a higher paying custodial position!

[Mike Iniquez]

Who the MIDGET    Well I guess it worked out for him, he was able to stash away a bunch of cash for those rainy days 

[Bonster]

“I’m shocked to say the least,” Tim Carey, president and general manager of Hawthorne Race Course, said Friday night. “Everyone’s just blown away to think there’s not one southern applicant. I don’t know how the board can ignore the south like that.”

I don't think it's a North/South thing.  Rosemont and Des Plaines are logical winners due to proximity to O'Hare.  Those stopping over or in town for short stays are right there, and it's at the junction of two major highways in the area.