The 262-acre site that once hosted Hollywood Casino Joliet is being transformed into a sprawling industrial park, under a new joint venture between Gaming and Leisure Properties and logistics giant Prologis. The plan calls for five warehouse buildings totaling more than 3.8 million square feet at 777 Hollywood Boulevard, with construction expected to unfold over roughly five years in three phases.
Gaming and Leisure Properties, known as GLPI, announced the agreement on Wednesday, according to a news release from the company. Under the deal, GLPI will contribute the Joliet parcel to the joint venture in phases, while Prologis will serve as the managing member and developer responsible for bringing the project to life. Prologis holds options over the second and third development phases, giving it flexibility on how aggressively to build out the remaining buildings.
The casino site has sat empty since Penn Entertainment moved out in September 2025, after opening a new Hollywood Joliet property elsewhere in the city, the release states. GLPI framed the move as an opportunity to put the land to new use. GLPI CEO Peter Carlino said the company sees value in contributing and monetizing its expansive Joliet land parcel, according to the Chicago-based trade outlet Bisnow, which first detailed the deal's terms Wednesday.
A First-of-Its-Kind Move for GLPI
The arrangement marks a notable pivot for GLPI, a company built on gaming real estate. The GLPI release describes it as the firm's first joint venture ever and its first investment outside the gaming sector entirely, a sign of how appealing industrial land along Interstate 80 has become even to companies outside the logistics business. Per Bisnow's reporting, Prologis investment officer Josh Zemon said the site offers exceptional location and access and presents an opportunity to create a modern logistics campus supporting local businesses and the economy.
The project's completion still hinges on one major step: approval from the City of Joliet. GLPI's release confirms the development plan is subject to that municipal review before any of the proposed five buildings can break ground.
A Second Joliet Deal Tied to the Same Stretch of Land
The casino redevelopment follows another Prologis transaction nearby. The Joliet Park District Board voted 5-0 in late September to approve the $6.6 million sale of the long-shuttered Splash Station Waterpark to Prologis, as reported by Shaw Local. The waterpark has sat closed since 2018, and Shaw Local reports that Prologis' plans for the property have not been disclosed. Park district officials said the proceeds from that sale will be used to expand their services.
Shaw Local has described the waterpark property as sitting next to the former Hollywood Casino Joliet site, though it remains unclear whether that parcel is actually part of the 262-acre joint-venture land GLPI is contributing to the Prologis partnership, or a separate adjacent holding. Prologis already has a foothold in the area, with a 409,000-square-foot warehouse at 3501 Corporate Drive in Joliet, the same report notes.
Joliet's Industrial Boom Keeps Rolling
The timing lines up with a red-hot industrial market across the Chicago region, where Joliet has become a magnet for big-box development. Chicago's industrial vacancy rate fell to 4.5% in the second quarter of 2026, according to a market report from JLL, while leasing activity hit 10.6 million square feet that quarter — the fourth straight quarter above the 10-million-square-foot mark. Speculative construction starts also climbed to 2 million square feet, the highest quarterly total since the third quarter of 2024, the same report found.
JLL's research points specifically to Joliet as a hotspot along the I-80 Corridor, where two of the region's largest industrial transactions closed during the second quarter. KeHE Distributors leased 1.2 million square feet of speculative space at Cherry Hill Business Park, while Hyundai Translead locked down a 906,500-square-foot manufacturing facility at Clarius Park Joliet. With more than 14 million square feet still moving through the regional development pipeline and nearly a third of it already preleased, JLL forecasts continued rent increases across the market.
A similar casino-to-industrial project was proposed in Jean, Nevada, roughly 20 miles south of Las Vegas, where Tolles Development Co. proposed a nearly 150-acre industrial park on a former casino site, according to a 2022 report from Engineering News-Record. That project was also planned as a three-to-five-year phased buildout featuring distribution centers and light-industrial tenants, a timeline similar to what GLPI and Prologis now have in mind for Joliet.
