With the opening of a towering hotel, the Wind Creek Chicago Southland casino in East Hazel Crest is offering close-by getaways, gambling and the opportunity to get a little dirty.
The hotel opened to the public Friday, coming just five months after the casino debuted to large throngs with the promise to bring hundreds of jobs and much-needed revenue to several south and southwest suburbs.
The venue has also vaulted to near the top of Illinois’ casinos in terms of visitors and gambling revenue during its opening months.
A restaurant that will open next month on the hotel’s top floor includes outdoor dining situated about 200 feet above the interchange of Interstate 80 and Halsted Street.
Whether inside or outside, patrons of Alto are, on a clear day, offered views of Chicago’s skyline to the north. Closer in, the large footprint of the expansive Thornton Quarry to the east is visible from the restaurant and higher floors of the hotel.
The chance to get a bit dirty comes one floor below the restaurant, with a spa offering massages, facials and soon a mud room with muds from around the world for guests to smear on themselves while perched on seats heated to 98 degrees.
“We’re the only full-service resort in the area,” said Scott Copeland, Wind Creek’s director of hospitality.
He said that with the hotel, Wind Creek hopes to, in part, attract local residents.
“We are trying to attract those travelers who want a weekend away and it’s only 20 or 30 minutes from their home,” he said.
Floors three through 15 are guest rooms, and the hotel has 255 rooms, including 43 suites that vary in size and cost.
Some rooms are still in the process of being finished, but at least 90% of the hotel rooms were expected to be available when it opened to the public Friday, Copeland said.
The hotel had a soft open, with Wind Creek inviting guests the last two weeks to check out the property and give their feedback on any tweaks that might be needed before opening to the public, he said.
The check-in desk and large banquet hall, the Halsted Ballroom, are on the hotel’s second floor.
On the third floor there is a pool, hot tub and fitness center.
Standard hotel rooms start at $289 per night Sunday through Wednesday, then $369 Thursday through Saturday, Copeland said.
If you want to splurge, there are Ultra Suites with a wet bar, living room, dining table and 1½ baths that start at $1,500.
Wind Creek expects the second-floor ballroom, just under 7,000 square feet with seating for up to 500 people when laid out in a banquet format, to be popular for special events such as wedding receptions.
“You don’t have to leave the property,” Copeland said. “You can stay the night and visit the spa or go onto the casino floor and continue the party after the reception.”
By the middle of May, Wind Creek expects to open Alto, the restaurant on the top floor.
“Alto is going to bring that downtown Chicago steakhouse feel,” Copeland said.
The spa, on the 16th floor, is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the week, with services including manicures, pedicures, massages, facials and soon the mud room. Wind Creek also hopes to soon offer hair styling.
Massages and facials start at $200, and a “thermal suite” with a walk-in spa, hot tub and showers dispensing water infused with aromas such as eucalyptus, said spa manager Dennis Norris.
The spa has four stations for manicures and four for pedicures, along with eight treatment rooms for massages and facials.
The mud room, which Wind Creek hopes to open in about a month, will have heated walls and floors, with “muds from different regions of the world, each with different health benefits,” Norris said.
Mud treatments will “help to detoxify and exfoliate the skin,” he said. Afterward, there are oils and lotions guests can apply to rehydrate.
The casino itself is in East Hazel Crest and adjacent parking garages are in Homewood. They occupy what had been the site of other motels. A Sheraton, later the Homewood Hotel, was on the Homewood side and a Super 8 was in East Hazel Crest.
Wind Creek is a subsidiary of PCI Gaming Authority Inc., which manages 10 casinos and other gambling properties on behalf of the Alabama-based Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
It won approval from state gaming operators in December 2021 to operate the casino and construction got underway in September 2022.
Wind Creek previously estimated the casino would be ready for customers by late summer or early fall of 2023, but delays and higher costs for materials pushed back that opening.
To adapt, changes in design were implemented, such as reducing the height of the hotel from the original 21 floors.
The casino floor opened Nov. 11, and went to 24-hour operation March 28.
Large crowds waited outside on opening day, and Wind Creek quickly bolted to among the top of Illinois’ gambling venues.
In March, Wind Creek hit new highs with nearly $16.9 million in adjusted gross receipts — up 25% month over month — and drew more than 219,000 visitors, according to data from the Illinois Gaming Board. Adjusted gross receipts are total revenues after winnings paid to bettors.
Among the state’s 16 casinos, Rivers Casino Des Plaines once again topped the list, at $43.7 million in adjusted gross receipts and 260,000 visitors in March, according to the gaming board.
The 2019 law creating a license for a land-based casino in the south suburbs provides for the host community and 42 other south suburbs to share in 5% of revenue generated by the casino.
In this instance, the two host communities — East Hazel Crest and Homewood — will get 2% of monthly adjusted gross receipts, while another 3% is shared among 41 other south suburbs.
Wind Creek has estimated that $3 million in tax revenue would flow annually to Homewood and East Hazel Crest, and another $4 million a year to the other communities.
Those expected to share in revenue are Beecher, Blue Island, Burnham, Calumet City, Calumet Park, Chicago Heights, Country Club Hills, Crestwood, Crete, Dixmoor, Dolton, Flossmoor, Ford Heights, Glenwood, Harvey, Hazel Crest, Lansing, Lynwood, Markham, Matteson, Midlothian, Monee, Oak Forest, Olympia Fields, Orland Hills, Orland Park, Palos Heights, Park Forest, Phoenix, Posen, Richton Park, Riverdale, Robbins, Sauk Village, South Chicago Heights, South Holland, Steger, Thornton, Tinley Park, University Park and Worth, according to the state.
As part of winning state approval for the casino, Wind Creek established the Southland Public Benefit Fund.
Initially, Wind Creek plans to distribute $150,000 annually during the first five years of operation, with the money providing scholarships to disadvantaged students in the south suburbs and to help bolster access to health care.
Wind Creek said it intends to create a fund of $20 million after five years, with a goal of boosting yearly disbursements to $1 million.
Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld said his village is getting about $120,000 monthly, but an agreement with Wind Creek and East Hazel Crest has each setting aside money for the public benefit fund.
Homewood is taking $60,000 each month from its take of casino revenue for the fund. A board is being established that would determine how money from the benefit fund would be disbursed, and Wind Creek has no say in where the money goes, according to Ken Rohman, Wind Creek’s chief marketing officer.
“We’re committed to the funding of it,” he said of the public benefit fund. “Our goal was to let the board decide on where best to use (the funds).”
mnolan@southtownstar.com
