Hollywood Casino boosts Joliet crossroads plan

The announcement this week that Hollywood Casino is moving gives new vitality to a Rock Run Crossings project that promises to be but had not produced much evidence that it will be.

Hollywood Casino is not the first project announced for the 309-acre development designed to be what developer Cullinan Properties calls a “super-regional” draw at the crossroads location of Interstates 55 and 80 in Joliet.

Cullinan hints that many more developments are in the works.

But until the Hollywood announcement Monday, the announced developments for Rock Run Crossings were:

• A Regal Cinemas movie theater that looked more promising when it was announced more than three years ago than it does today with Regal’s parent company in bankruptcy and construction on the theater yet to start.

• An Ecolab warehouse that will be good for a major employer in Joliet but adds another logistics facility to a city where many are growing weary of more warehouses.

• And a 760-unit apartment complex that has raised concerns because of its size and would require the city to loosen density standards for rental housing.

Hollywood Casino’s move to Rock Run had been rumored since late last year. But neither casino owner Penn Entertainment nor Cullinan would comment on the rumors, and a worsening economy left the possibility that it might not materialize.

Now, Cullinan is pointing to the casino as an example of what Rock Run Crossings will become.

“This tenant encompasses our vision for the project that will feature a variety of dynamic uses throughout the site,” Cullinan CEO Mathew Beverly said in a written statement. “We look forward to continuing to work with the city of Joliet, prospective tenants and current partners to bring the Rock Run Crossings project to life.”

Cullinan has billed Rock Run Crossings as a place where people will live, work and play. The plan is to build stores, restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues and office buildings along with the apartments and warehouses already announced.

The casino still has a ways to go to reality.

Penn said construction will start late next 2023 pending regulatory approval. An opening date for the casino has not been targeted.

But it’s not the only development at Rock Run Crossings said to be waiting in the wings.

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk said anticipation of what’s to come is why the city was willing to agree in August to a $103 million bond issue to fund infrastructure improvements for the Cullinan project.

“We couldn’t say much at the time,” O’Dekirk said, noting confidentiality agreements he had signed concerning the Hollywood Casino and other prospective developments at Rock Run Crossings.

The city will need more development at Rock Run Crossings to pay off the bonds.

Council member Larry Hug, chairman of the council’s Economic Development Committee and one of two council members who did not vote for the bond issue, said the Hollywood Casino project “absolutely goes a long way to pay off those bonds but it’s not all of it.”

Penn has estimated the cost of the casino project at $185 million, which will generate new property tax revenue at Rock Run that can be used to pay off the bonds.

Meanwhile, the state is building a new I-55 interchange at Route 59, which will provide access to Rock Run Crossings that both the developer and city officials said was needed before tenants would sign on for the project.

The announcement that Hollywood Casino is coming at least builds anticipation that more will follow.