{"id":17074,"date":"2025-06-26T19:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T19:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/17074\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T19:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T19:25:09","slug":"universal-plans-horror-experience-near-chicago-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/17074\/","title":{"rendered":"Universal plans ‘horror experience’ near Chicago casino"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBCUniversal will open a horror-themed attraction across from Bally\u2019s Casino<\/a>, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Thursday afternoon in what would be the brand\u2019s first entertainment venue in the Midwest.<\/p>\n

The \u201cyear-round immersive horror experience\u201d will be titled Universal Horror Unleashed and sit in the vacant 114,000-square-foot building at 700 W. Chicago Ave., according to city officials. It is slated to open in 2027 and will receive tax credits from a state program.<\/p>\n

Johnson cast the development as one that \u201cwill also uplift and revitalize a dynamic neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis venue will not only bring growth with new visitors to this community, but it will also create 400 \u2014 400 \u2014 permanent jobs for Chicagoans, which ultimately grows our local economy,\u201d Johnson told reporters. \u201cI\u2019m very excited about this announcement, and I have no doubt that fans of this genre will flock to our city for these memorable experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s office said the project will offer haunted mazes, themed bars and restaurants as well as a shopping space with special branded merchandise, with construction scheduled to start early next year.<\/p>\n

The agreement includes incentives from the state\u2019s Economic Development for a Growing Economy, which grants annual corporate tax credits to businesses who decide to locate in Illinois. Qualifications depend on job creation and dollars invested, with the credit equal to half of the income tax withholdings of the new employees, or 75% if the project is located in an \u201cunderserved area\u201d in the census tract. More credits are available for covering training costs.<\/p>\n

City officials said the horror venue is expected to create more than 400 permanent jobs. A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity said the total estimated value of the tax credit will be $7.2 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cUniversal\u2019s decision to make such a significant investment in Illinois is a testament to the state\u2019s unmatched entertainment sector, renowned workforce and strong infrastructure,\u201d Gov. JB Pritzker<\/a> said in a statement. \u201cUniversal choosing Illinois didn\u2019t happen by accident \u2014 we were proud to support this project through our EDGE incentive program, which has helped fortify a positive business climate that draws world-class companies to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project\u2019s announcement follows the first Universal Horror Unleashed opening in Las Vegas this August.<\/p>\n

Page Thompson, president of New Ventures at Universal Destinations & Experiences, said the project will be one that is \u201cdeeply connected to this city and to our riverfront location\u201d \u2014 and also provide \u201cbone-chilling scares.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all fear all year, because horror isn\u2019t just for Halloween,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cChicago is a great location. It\u2019s one of the biggest cities in the United States, obviously the third-largest tourism market in the country, and we\u2019ve done some research and found that Chicago has pretty high affinity for horror concepts.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2022, Rhode Island-based Bally\u2019s won a heated competition to build Chicago\u2019s first casino on the 30-acre Tribune Publishing printing plant site in River West. The $1.7 billion 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.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Bally\u2019s demolished the 43-year-old Freedom Center to begin making way for the casino complex, which is slated to open in September 2026. Bally\u2019s Chicago launched a temporary casino at Medinah Temple in September.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: June 26, 2025 at 12:28 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBCUniversal will open a horror-themed attraction across from Bally\u2019s Casino, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Thursday afternoon in what…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5404,171,5386,1818,1370,728,50,80,1072],"class_list":{"0":"post-17074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-cook-county","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114751309295267033","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}