Bally’s Casino Site Sold for $250M but Appraised for $43M

Bally’s future Chicago casino site traded for as much as $250 million. On the tax rolls, it’s worth a fraction of that.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi pegged the 13-acre Freedom Center site at $43.5 million for the 2025 tax year — roughly 17 percent of its most recent sale price. For property tax purposes, the assessed value is lower still: about $5.1 million, reflecting the county’s 10 percent assessment level for vacant industrial land, according to Crain’s.

The gap is raising eyebrows as homeowners complain about rising tax bills, and as Kaegi faces a March Democratic primary challenge. Critics argue the disparity exposes either a flaw in the system or a lack of transparency around how high-profile commercial sites are valued.

The site, at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street, is slated for a $1.7 billion casino and entertainment complex by Bally’s Corporation. In 2022, Bally’s and a partner acquired the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center in a $200 million sale-leaseback deal. Two years later, amid demolition and financing activity, the land traded again in a $250 million deal.

Yet the assessor’s market value barely budged, according to the publication. In 2022, when the property sold for $200 million, it was appraised at $36.4 million. By 2025, it had risen modestly to $43.5 million.

Kaegi’s office said the explanation is procedural, not preferential. Under Illinois law, so-called “sales chasing” — automatically resetting an assessment to match a recent purchase price — is illegal. Assessments must be uniform across comparable properties. In 2021, when the land functioned as a lightly used printing plant during the pandemic, the office said it valued what existed at the time, not what it might become.

The assessor also notes the site was not up for triennial reassessment when the Bally’s deals closed. That contrasts with the 2022 purchase of the former Arlington International Racecourse by the Chicago Bears, when the office moved to match its valuation to the $197.3 million sale price during a scheduled reassessment cycle.

Still, skeptics aren’t convinced. Civic Federation President Joe Ferguson told the outlet that he questioned how much discretion the assessor has to discount the purchase price. Lyons Township Assessor Pat Hynes, Kaegi’s primary opponent, blasted what he called inconsistency that shifts the burden onto other taxpayers.

Kaegi’s office said that will soon change. Under a 2024 policy on new construction, the land’s value is expected to be updated as casino construction advances. A spokesperson declined to say by how much.

— Eric Weilbacher