Prologis is setting up to redevelop the former site of the Hollywood Casino in Joliet into a massive industrial campus in partnership with a casino-oriented real estate investment trust.
The San Francisco-based industrial giant is planning to build a five-building warehouse and distribution park that's set to span over 3.8 million square feet.
Gaming and Leisure Properties will be involved in the redevelopment as well. It formed a joint venture with Prologis and will be providing the land for the development, according to Bisnow. Prologis will be developing the 262-acre site at 777 Hollywood Boulevard.
For Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based GLPI, it's the first time it's ventured outside of the gaming sector and the first time it's set to be involved with a major redevelopment. The sweeping overhaul of the site is expected to run at least five years and cover three phases. Prologis will have options over what it builds in the second and third phases.
In addition to getting the GLPI land to build on, Prologis bought the site of a water park that's been shut down since 2018 last month. The water park site, which sits adjacent to the Hollywood Casino site, ran them $6.6 million.
The Hollywood Joliet site was vacated by Penn Entertainment in September 2025 in order to set up shop at 1401 Gateway Boulevard. The move was predicated by a 2019 law that allowed riverboat casinos to be relocated onto firm ground. The old Hollywood Joliet site was a riverboat-based location and sits right on the bank of the Des Plaines River.
Typically, GLPI acquires real estate to be leased to casino and gaming operators. This is the company's first foray into development. Josh Zemon, SVP and investment officer at Prologis, said in a GLPI press release that the site is well located with access to the Des Plaines River and I-80.
The Chicago industrial market has been a solid bet recently as companies are trending towards wanting larger spaces they can centralize their operations in. In years past, the I-80 corridor held the key to the suburban industrial market. Prologis, specifically , has been a major player in new industrial warehouse developments coming to the region, it's also transforming a former radio transmission site into two warehouses totaling 454,000 square feet.
— Hunter Cooke
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This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.
