Hollywood Casino in Joliet touts new entertainment vision with family focus

Marketing Director Kristen Kronland used the phrase “new Hollywood Casino” several times in a presentation to the Joliet Region Chamber of Cpmmerce & Industry.

“We want people to know we’re not just gambling,” Kronland told the chamber audience at a monthly luncheon on Wednesday.

A new restaurant, banquet space for weddings and business space for meetings are among the features that will be built into the new Hollywood Casino Joliet now under construction.

“We want to be a destination that anybody can enjoy,” Kronland said. “Believe it or not, we want to have a lot of family focus.”

Hollywood Casino is moving from the location where it has been moored since 1992 along the Des Plaines River.

The new location is in Rock Run Collection, a new development in which Hollywood Casino is the most prominent and only major development known to be coming so far.

Kronland noted 180,000 vehicles a day pass the site, located at the crossing of Interstates 55 and 80.

“What better location to have a development like this?” she asked, suggesting there is none other.

So far, no other major projects have been announced for Rock Run Collection.

Kronland said Hollywood Casino is working with Rock Run Collection developer Cullinan Properties to attract at least one major hotel project to the site.

The new casino will not have its own hotel. But Kronland said Hollywood Casino is working with Cullinan on a companion hotel.

“We actually are not going to have an attached hotel,” Kronland said of the new casino. “We are in the process of working with Cullinan in getting a hotel partnership on the property.”

New hotels are among the promises Cullinan has made for the 300-plus acre property at the crossroads of Interstates 55 an 80.

So far, only a few have been announced, including two warehouses.

The new Hollywood Casino, announced in late 2022, is the only major retail project announced for the 300-plus acre site.

Kronland emphasized that the project scheduled for completion by the end of this year is not a gambling-only place for potential visitors.

“We want people to know we’re not just gambling,” she said. “We want to be a destination that anybody can enjoy. Believe it or not, we have a lot of family focus.”

A new Sorellina restaurant being developed by celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis will be located “before the turnstiles,” a phrase Kronland used to indicate Hollywood Casino features that won’t be limited to the 18-and-above crowd allowed into the casino.

A 10,000-square-foot event space will be available for weddings, business meetings and other events that can be held separate from the casino and include non-gamblers, she said.

Kronland said the appearance of the property will change from the art decco architecture and Hollywood memorabilia that defines the Hollywood Casino property now standing in Joliet.

“It’s going to be a whole different feel and vibe,” Kronland said.

Details on just what it will be are still to come out.

The new Hollywood Casino is scheduled to open sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.