Bad Bet for Birds?

by Robyn Detterline

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has ended her hunt for a Chicago casino proprietor. On Thursday she announced that the winning bid is Bally’s, whose proposed River West site will include a $1.7 billion “destination casino, entertainment, and hotel offering.”  Tax revenue from the casino will help the city fund its police and fire pensions, and despite opposition from residents, and ultimately Alderperson Walter Burnett Jr. (27th), Lightfoot is adamant on moving forward with her plan.

While much has been said about the union jobs, crime, and traffic congestion that may or may not come with a casino, little has been said about the environmental impact this development would have on the city’s local ecosystems; of particular concern is their impact on resident and migrating birds.

Its location on the lake within the Mississippi Flyway means that Chicago attracts millions of migrating birds each year, and with millions of birds comes thousands of deaths. Infamously named the most dangerous city for migrating birds, Chicago can ill afford another illuminated glass structure on its riverfront.

But that’s exactly what the Bally’s casino would mean for Chicago. The Bally’s proposal would include the casino, a hotel tower, an entertainment center, and a museum venue. Additionally there will be an outdoor music venue and public green space. Landscaping and reflective glass are a deadly mix: the greenery draws birds in, and the reflection of trees in the glass confuse birds, leading to strikes. Transparent glass, as depicted by the company’s renderings, is also problematic, as it gives the illusion of safe passage through a structure where none exists.

An artist’s rendering of the proposed Bally’s casino center, showing a public park adjacent to a reflective glass building and transparent glass railings. (Bally’s)

There are many questions regarding how much Bally’s developers will consider the impact of its building on migratory birds, if at all. The Bally’s proposed site is the Tribune Publishing center on the riverfront, which is an important path and resting stop for birds. According to Annette Prince, director of the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM), the group finds hundreds of dead and injured birds each year from the area around the intersection of Chicago and Halsted where the casino would be. A good model for how this situation will pan out without considering bird-friendly design is another glass building on the riverfront, the Apple Store in Pioneer Court. CBCM volunteers began finding dead birds at the building since the day it opened.

An artist’s rendering of the proposed Bally’s casino center, showing a transparent riverfront building creating a fly-through effect, similar to the deadly Apple Store in downtown Chicago. (Bally’s)

Unfortunately, there’s no indication that bird-friendly design is remotely on the minds of Bally’s developers. During the April 6 town hall in which the company pleaded its case to the public, architect and COS board member Claire Halpin asked what plans Bally’s had for mitigating bird strikes, and Soo Kim, chairman of Bally’s corporation, passed responsibility onto the city, claiming that the company’s original “low-slung” design was nixed by city architects who said that Chicago needed “something more exciting than this.” (It’s important to note that the height of a building does not factor into whether it will be deadly for birds; buildings between 1 and 11 stories tall account for up to 592 million deaths a year.) While Kim mentioned looking into possibilities with “bird-visible glass,” he also indicated that “everything we do is not going to please everyone,” suggesting that he did not take the issue of bird collisions seriously. Bally’s has indicated that their development will be built for LEED certification, although such certification has no impact on bird strikes unless companies seek the optional LEED Pilot Credit #55: Bird Collision Deterrence.

A Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker killed by a collision with a glass building along Chicago’s riverfront on April 13, 2022. (Robyn Detterline)

The Bally’s casino is not a done deal; the next step is approval by the City Council, and it’s not guaranteed the mayor will have the votes she needs to move her plan forward. Alderperson Brian Hopkins (2nd) is leading the opposition to the selection. He and other council members appear to favor the Rivers 78 proposal on the river in the South Loop; however, no matter where a casino is built it has the potential to impact birds, and so the best hope for conservationists is that the mayor and Bally’s get the message that this is a serious issue with broad environmental impacts and thus incorporates bird-friendly design to lessen the blow. Now is the time for concerned citizens to drive this issue to the forefront of the discussion. A town hall is scheduled for the evening of May 12. We encourage COS members and all Chicagoans concerned about the casino’s impact on birds to register to attend this public forum and lend your voice to those stakeholders who cannot speak up for themselves, and who have the most to lose.