When Bally’s won the competitive bidding process nearly three years ago to build Chicago’s first casino, it pledged to give minority investors a piece of the action as part of its agreement with the city. This week, Bally’s Chicago launched an initial public offering for women and minorities to buy a 25% equity stake in the fledgling casino, looking to fulfill its obligation to the city and raise funds for the construction of its proposed $1.7 billion entertainment complex in River West, which is slated to open in September 2026. But as applications begin to flow in through an online investor portal, work at the 30-acre site, home to what’s left of the former Chicago Tribune printing plant, remains halted after a demolition mishap last month that spilled debris from a wall into the adjacent Chicago River. A video posted on Citizen social media showed the debris from the demolition of the former Chicago Tribune printing facility, the Freedom Center, falling into the Chicago River as the site is prepped for the construction of Bally’s Chicago casino, Dec. 14, 2024. (Citizen) “Our goal is to start full-fledged demolition as soon as possible,” Chris Jewett, Bally’s senior vice president of corporate development, said Thursday. “It’s imminent.” The river has since been cleaned up and Bally’s expects to resume and complete demolition this month, pending approval from the city. Construction will then begin with the installation of caissons as a foundation for the casino by early February, Jewett said. As the city’s new gambling mecca begins to rise, the IPO window will close for minority investors. The $250 million initial public offering features four classes of stock ranging from $250 to $25,000 per share, enabling “underrepresented communities” to become investors in Bally’s Chicago. Qualified minorities can apply online through Jan. 31, with the offering expected to close on Feb. 7, according to the investor website. Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets is managing the IPO, which is limited to women, Blacks, Asian-Americans, Hispanics and other “socially disadvantaged” people as defined by city guidelines. Investor groups interested in participating in the offering must also be controlled by women or minorities. The investment is “highly risky,” with restrictions on future sale of the shares and cash distributions deferred for at least three years after the opening of the permanent casino, assuming it becomes profitable, according to the prospectus. In May 2022, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot selected Rhode Island-based Bally’s to build Chicago’s first casino, besting proposals from finalists Rivers Casino and Hard Rock. The Bally’s Chicago proposal includes an exhibition hall, a 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 restaurants and 4,000 gaming positions, making it the largest casino in the state. As part of the competitive process, the city required an equity component of at least 25% minority investment in their proposed casino. Bally’s refined its initial minority investment plan, eliminating a heavily criticized call option allowing the casino to buy out the minority shareholders after six years. The final version creates 10,000 Class A shares valued at $25,000 each, including 7,500 shares offered at full price and 2,500 shares at three levels of lower prices, supplemented with loans by Bally’s Chicago. The loans will bear an 11% interest rate, according to the prospectus. While Class A shareholders are not part of the agreement, investors backed by loans will not receive any cash dividends ahead of principal and interest repayment. That means Bally’s Chicago not only has to be profitable, but it also has to make enough money to pay off the loans attached to lower-tier minority participants before they see any return on their investments. The investor presentation, using results from other metropolitan casinos, projects annual gaming, hotel and restaurant revenues for the permanent Bally’s Chicago facility to range from $800 million to $1.2 billion per year. Launched in September 2023 out of a temporary casino at Medinah Temple, Bally’s Chicago still has a long way to go to meet those financial goals. The company has invested $70 million to convert the historic River North facility, once the home of the annual Shrine Circus, into a temporary casino with about 1,000 gaming positions. Last year, it generated about $115 million in adjusted gross receipts through November, according to Illinois Gaming Board data. Bally’s Chicago is tied for third in revenue and ranked second in admissions behind Rivers Casino Des Plaines among the state’s 16 casinos through 11 months last year. But its revenue has been essentially flat since peaking in May. In September, Bally’s brought in Travis Hankins, longtime general manager at its Quad Cities property, to run the Chicago casino, replacing Mark Wong, who shifted to Bally’s Kansas City. The city projected Bally’s would generate nearly $243 million in adjusted gross receipts at the temporary casino last year, yielding about $35 million in local gaming taxes. December revenue has yet to be released by the Gaming Board, but Bally’s Chicago is on pace to fall far short of those projections. Longer term, Chicago is counting on Bally’s to create a tourist magnet and profit center, generating $200 million in projected annual tax revenue for the city. There are some promising signs that opening the permanent casino could provide a significant boost to Bally’s Chicago, its investors and the city. Wind Creek Chicago Southland, a new casino which opened Nov. 11 in the south suburbs,  generated big numbers during its first three weeks of operations in November, boosting statewide casino revenue to its best month of the year. Hard Rock Rockford saw its monthly revenue and admissions jump from the middle of the pack to near the top after moving from a temporary facility to a $300 million permanent casino in late August. However, getting the permanent casino off the ground has already presented some challenges for Bally’s Chicago. Last year, Bally’s had to relocate its planned hotel tower, which was shifted from north of the casino to the south after it was determined that driving caissons into the ground might damage municipal water management infrastructure pipes along the river. In July, one week after booting the Tribune and taking possession of the Freedom Center, Bally’s announced it had obtained $940 million in financing to supplant the printing plant with the planned casino complex, assuaging concerns it didn’t have the wherewithal to build it. Demolition began in late August, but work ground to a halt on Dec. 14 when a crane knocked down a low wall on the southeast end of the former printing plant, spilling perlite, a volcanic glass used in construction, into the river. Videos and photos of the incident were shared widely on social media. “We had all the safety precautions with the netting and all that,” Jewett said. “It just came down a little bit different than we expected.” Jewett said the material has been cleaned up, engineers have come up with a new strategy for tearing down the rest of the wall and a large barge remains docked by the building as a backstop debris-catcher in case anything goes wrong. Bally’s is waiting for the city to give the green light for demolition to resume, he said. With only 5% of what had once been the largest newspaper printing plant in North America still standing, the Freedom Center could be completely gone within weeks, Jewett said. Minority investors willing to roll the dice that all the pieces fall into place for Bally’s Chicago can apply for an ownership stake at www.ballyschicagoinvest.com/offerings. But a careful perusal of the prospectus reveals yet another risk as President Trump is set to take office for a second term. Citing Trump’s threats to impose new tariffs on goods imported from China, Canada and Mexico, Bally’s Chicago warned the cost of constructing the permanent casino could significantly increase. How much? Apparently enough to sink the entire project into the Chicago River. “To the extent we determine our costs to develop our permanent resort and casino are too high, we may suspend, reduce the scope of or permanently abandon the implementation of our plans with respect to our permanent resort and casino, which could have material and adverse effects on our plans and strategic initiatives,” Bally’s Chicago said in the prospectus. [email protected] Meyer, a volunteer coordinator with the nonprofit Urban Rivers, cleans up perlite, a white insulation material used in construction, from the bank of the Chicago River at Division Street on Dec. 18, 2024, after demolition work Saturday at the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center sent debris into the water. Videos shared on social media showed a crane bring down a wall, causing white granular material to spill into the river and bring protective netting down with it. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)A volunteer cleans up the white insulation material used in construction, from the bank of the Chicago River at Division Street on Dec. 18, 2024. Bally’s identified the debris as non-hazardous perlite, a volcanic glass used in construction. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)A video posted on Citizen social media showed the debris from the demolition of the former Chicago Tribune printing facility, the Freedom Center, falling into the Chicago River as the site is prepped for Bally’s Chicago casino on Dec. 14, 2024. (Citizen)A barge sits along the Chicago River where demolition work is ongoing at the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center on Dec. 18, 2024. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Demolition of the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center building in River West continues on Dec. 16, 2024 at the future site of Bally’s Chicago casino. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim, center, swings a sledgehammer with others outside the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center at a demolition event on Aug. 27, 2024. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)Terrence Antonio James/Chicago TribuneThe Bally's Chicago casino, in the former historic Medinah Temple, is seen in a long exposure as traffic flows on Dec. 8, 2023.An artist's rendering shows the proposed $1.74 billion Bally’s Chicago casino, hotel and entertainment complex at the site of the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center, located on the corner of Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street. Credit is Bally's/SCBSlot machines glow through the windows of Bally’s temporary casino at Medinah Temple in Chicago on April 11, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)Bally’s Casino at Medinah Temple in Chicago on April 11, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)John J. Kim/Chicago TribuneGaming machines are visible through the main entrance to the Bally's casino at Medinah Temple, Sept. 8, 2023, in Chicago. The casino opened a day later.Antonio Perez/Chicago TribuneSlots are seen from outside following Bally's casino ribbon-cutting ceremony, Oct. 3, 2023.Trent Sprague/Chicago TribuneSignage for the Bally's Chicago casino appears at the former Medinah Temple in River North, shown July 18, 2023.Antonio Perez/Chicago TribuneA man at Bally's casino for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Oct. 3, 2023.Chris Sweda / Chicago TribunePeople walk past the historic Medinah Temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave. in Chicago, on Feb. 23, 2023. The building is scheduled to be the home of a temporary casino that Bally's hopes to open this summer.Friedman PropertiesWorkers place a copper dome atop one corner of the Medinah Temple in this undated photo. Once owned by Friedman Properties, Bloomingale's department store was a tenant of the space, in the Near North neighborhood.Antonio Perez / Chicago TribuneThe Medinah Temple in Chicago's Near North neighborhood.John J. Kim / Chicago TribuneThe Bloomingdale's store, housed in the historic Medinah Temple, owned by Friedman Properties, in the Near North neighborhood is seen on June 13, 2019, in Chicago.Abel Uribe / Chicago TribunePeople walk near the historic Medinah Temple and former Bloomingdale's store on Feb. 27, 2018.Antonio Perez / Chicago TribuneMorning traffic moves along Ohio Street by the Medinah Temple in Chicago on Sept. 30, 2022.Antonio Perez / Chicago TribuneA man bikes near the Medinah Temple in Chicago's Near North neighborhood on Sept. 30, 2022.Chris Sweda / Chicago TribuneThe Medinah Temple, 600 N. Wabash Ave., in Chicago.Chris Sweda / Chicago TribuneThe historic Medinah Temple, 600 N. Wabash Ave. in Chicago's River North neighborhood, is seen on Feb. 23, 2023. Bally's hopes to open the site as its temporary casino this summer.Antonio Perez/Chicago TribuneMayor Brandon Johnson and Bally's Chairman Soo Kim attend Bally's casino ribbon-cutting ceremony, Oct. 3, 2023.Antonio Perez/Chicago TribuneBally's casino in Chicago, Oct. 3, 2023, in the historic Medinah Temple.Val Mazzenga/Chicago TribuneThen-State's Attorney Richard Daley and his wife, Maggie, acknowledge the crowd at a "Daley for Mayor" rally at Medinah Temple on North Wabash Avenue in Chicago on Feb. 2, 1983.John J. Kim / Chicago TribuneBloomingdale's, once housed in the Medinah Temple, owned by Friedman Properties, is seen in the Near North neighborhood on June 13, 2019, in Chicago.Friedman PropertiesThe Medinah Temple is shown in this undated photo. Once owned by Friedman Properties, Bloomingale's department store was a tenant of the space, in the Near North neighborhood.John J. Kim / Chicago TribuneThe Bloomingdale's store, housed in the historic Medinah Temple, owned by Friedman Properties, in the Near North neighborhood is seen on June 13, 2019, in Chicago.Antonio Perez / Chicago TribuneThe Medinah Temple is seen on Sept. 30, 2022.Antonio Perez / Chicago TribuneThe historic Medinah Temple in Chicago is seen on Sept. 30, 2022. The city is releasing a study — paid for by the city's chosen casino developer — on the potential traffic impact of putting the temporary casino at the site.Chris Sweda / Chicago TribuneA Bally's casino hiring notice is posted on an exterior door to the Medinah Temple on Feb. 23, 2023.An artist's rendering shows the proposed Bally’s Chicago casino, hotel and entertainment complex at the site of the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center, located on the corner of Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street.(Bally's/SCB)Gerry Souter/Chicago TribuneWorkers compile election returns in the basement of the Medinah Temple on Nov. 3, 1964.Gerry Souter / Chicago TribuneWorkers compile election returns in the basement of the Medinah Temple on Nov. 3, 1964. The workers are students from Northwestern University, NBC staff, Moore Girls Employment Service and Northwestern University staff.John Irvine/Chicago TribuneThe Medinah Temple is seen on Jan. 4, 1990.Nancy Stone/Chicago TribuneTwo-year-old chimpanee Saboo holds on to his owner, Pamela Rosaire Zoppe, onstage at the Medinah Temple on March 4, 1999, as they prepare for the final Shrine Circus performances at the venue.Carl Wagner/Chicago TribuneA 1999 view shows the 42,00-seat auditorium that was inside the Medinah Temple.Phil Greer/Chicago TribuneThe exterior of the Medinah Temple is seen in 1998.John J. Kim / Chicago TribuneA bartender works in the Ivy Room at Tree Studios, owned by Friedman Properties, in the Near North neighborhood on June 13, 2019, in Chicago.Antonio Perez / Chicago TribunePedestrians stroll past the Medinah Temple at Wabash Avenue in Chicago on Sept. 30, 2022.Rick Musacchio / Chicago TribuneEd Asner, actor and political activist, helps distribute Mondale-Ferraro signs for a rally at Medinah Temple on Oct. 30, 1984, in Chicago.Scott Strazzante/Chicago TribuneA January 2003 view from the top floor looks down into the atrium and the elevator of the Bloomingdale's Home Store inside the Medinah Temple in Chicago.John J. Kim / Chicago TribuneRugs are on display at Bloomingdale's, housed in the historical Medinah Temple, owned by Friedman Properties, in the Near North neighborhood on June 13, 2019, in Chicago.John J. Kim / Chicago TribuneReal estate developer Al Friedman describes the stained-glass renovations he made for the Bloomingdale's store, housed in the historical Medinah Temple, owned by Friedman Properties, in the Near North neighborhood on June 13, 2019, in Chicago.Friedman PropertiesThe Medinah Temple once housed an auditorium, as seen in this undated photo. Once owned by Friedman Properties, Bloomingale's was a tenant of the space, in the Near North neighborhood.John J. Kim / Chicago TribuneFurniture items are on display at Bloomingdale's, housed in the historic Medinah Temple, owned by Friedman Properties, in the Near North neighborhood on June 13, 2019, in Chicago.Antonio Perez / Chicago TribunePeople walk and bike near the Medinah Temple at Wabash Avenue and Ontario Street on Sept. 30, 2022. The four-story Moorish Gothic building was built in 1912 and originally owned by the Chicago chapter of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine — the Shriners. The onion-domed building once contained a 4,200-seat auditorium that hosted everything from political rallies to the Shrine Circus. The building was renovated and a Bloomingdale's home furnishings store opened in the structure in 2003.Chris Sweda / Chicago TribuneThe historic Medinah Temple is distinguished by its onion domes, shown Feb. 23, 2023.Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago TribuneThe Medinah Temple at 600 North Wabash Avenue, March 14, 2023, in Chicago.Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago TribuneThe Medinah Temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave., March 14, 2023, in Chicago. The building is scheduled to be the home of a temporary casino that Bally's hopes to open this summer.Show Caption1 of 51Stephen Meyer, a volunteer coordinator with the nonprofit Urban Rivers, cleans up perlite, a white insulation material used in construction, from the bank of the Chicago River at Division Street on Dec. 18, 2024, after demolition work Saturday at the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center sent debris into the water. Videos shared on social media showed a crane bring down a wall, causing white granular material to spill into the river and bring protective netting down with it. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Expand