A $440 million casino resort has been open on Homewood's northeast edge since November 2024. Homewood's piece of it is expected to produce about $1.5 million in incremental property tax this year. Almost none of that money will reach a homeowner's bill any time soon. Ninety-five percent of it is pledged to pay off a $70 million note that Homewood and East Hazel Crest issued together, and the payoff is estimated for 2034.
Through the next decade, Wind Creek doesn't change what a Homewood house costs to own. A Homewood tax bill still runs on the same machinery as in any other south-suburban village: the county's reassessment, the levies set by local taxing bodies, and the appeals that move value from one class of property to another. That machinery is running this fall. The Cook County Assessor mailed Thornton Township reassessment notices on October 8, 2026, and the appeal window stays open until November 23, 2026.
Homewood holds the parking garage, not the casino floor
The Wind Creek Chicago Southland site covers 24 acres at 174th and Halsted Streets, and the village line between Homewood and East Hazel Crest runs through it. The casino building is in East Hazel Crest. The parking garage is in Homewood. In March 2026, Village Manager Napoleon Haney told the H-F Chronicle that the casino accounts for about 80% of the property's value and the Homewood garage for the remaining 20%.
| Piece of the Wind Creek site | Village | Share of property value | Who gets the incremental property tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casino and hotel | East Hazel Crest | About 80% | 95% to Wind Creek, 5% to East Hazel Crest |
| Parking garage | Homewood | About 20% | 95% to Wind Creek, 5% to Homewood |
The split in the last column comes from the redevelopment agreement the two villages signed with Wind Creek. Each village shares 95% of the incremental property taxes from its portion of the project, and Haney said the 5% each village keeps is meant to help pay for the extra municipal services the casino creates.
The total value that split applies to is also fixed for now. The Cook County Assessor valued the property at $199 million for 2025, and Wind Creek's own appraisal came in at $130 million. The Homewood Village Board approved a four-year settlement at $135 million, and the 95/5 structure stayed as it was. Village Attorney Chris Cummings said that rejecting the deal could have meant long litigation and a possible need to pay back some of the increment the Northeast TIF had already received.
Why the garage's taxes stay in the TIF
The garage sits in Homewood's Northeast Tax Increment Financing District. Under the agreement, it runs as its own subdistrict, separate from the rest of the TIF. As the H-F Chronicle explained when the agreement passed, a TIF freezes the assessed value that taxing bodies such as schools and parks can draw on. Growth above that frozen base goes into the TIF fund to pay for redevelopment costs. For the garage, the base was set at the point construction finished.
In practice, almost all of the garage's new value is increment, and the deal has already committed almost all of that increment. Here is the timeline SB Friedman's Emma Bonanno-Lynch presented to the village board, as the H-F Chronicle reported in September:
- 2026: The casino deck is projected to generate about $1.5 million in incremental property tax.
- Through about 2034: 95% of that goes to repaying the $70 million joint note, and Homewood can use 5%.
- 2035 onward: Once the note is repaid, 100% of the deck's increment becomes available.
Even in 2035, "available" refers to the TIF and the village, and it does not lower the rate on a homeowner's bill. Homewood's money from the casino arrives mostly through a separate channel. The village's draft FY2026–27 budget forecasts $2,000,000 in gaming tax revenue, listed apart from its real estate tax and TIF receipts. Under the casino's revenue-sharing arrangements, 42 south suburban communities also receive 3% of adjusted gross receipts, and Homewood and East Hazel Crest get an additional share.
The empty Walmart is waiting on the same money
The small slice of casino increment Homewood does control already has a likely use. The former Walmart on Halsted Street has been empty since 2023. Noah Schumerth, Homewood's director of economic and community development, put the lost sales tax revenue at about $3.5 million. At the September 8 board meeting, according to the H-F Chronicle, Trustee Phillip Mason called the site "the biggest blight that we have in the community" and added, "there's a lot to think about, because at what cost?"
The building sits in the North Halsted TIF, which Homewood created in 2025. The district covers about 236 acres and is set to expire in February 2048. SB Friedman's analysis found North Halsted's increment insufficient by itself to fund redevelopment. The adjacent Northeast TIF looked more promising because of the village's share of casino deck revenue.
The timing works against a quick fix. The property is owned by Agree Central LLC and still leased to Walmart, and Bonanno-Lynch estimated the lease could run another 9 or 10 years. She laid out two paths: wait for the lease to end, or try to acquire the property sooner. Mayor Rich Hofeld said the owner was interested in selling at one point but then changed its mind.
Most of the casino increment repays the casino note through about 2034, and what's left is the money the village is weighing for its largest vacancy. Neither use touches the typical homeowner's bill. Homewood now runs at least eight TIF districts: Northeast, Downtown Transit-Oriented Development, Dixie Highway/Miller Court, Kedzie Gateway, East Central Business District, 183rd West, North Halsted, and the newer Harwood TOD. Every one of them follows the same rule: growth inside the district is held back from the general tax base until the district ends.
What the late 2026 bills showed
The tax-year 2025 bills were the first full picture with the casino open. They came out two months late. Cook County attributed the delay to its property tax technology overhaul, and payment was due October 1, 2026. The Cook County Assessor announced that the second-installment bills were released on September 1, 2026.
The Cook County Treasurer's tax-year 2025 analysis, published in August 2026, found that total taxes billed in Homewood rose 5.1%. Next door in East Hazel Crest, the total tax bill jumped 49.1% to $12.5 million. The completed casino drove East Hazel Crest's commercial assessments up 82.8%, and most of the casino's bill there goes into that village's TIF district. The Treasurer found that Homewood's increase was nearly as large in dollars, but it came to only 5.1% because Homewood's tax base is six and a half times bigger.
For comparison across the south and southwest suburbs, the median residential tax bill for tax year 2025 rose 3.4% to $6,468. Flossmoor and Worth rose 8%, and Ford Heights fell 8%. The Treasurer's report does not give a median residential bill for Homewood itself, so any Homewood-specific median figure would have to come from a different source.
This fall's reassessment matters more than the casino
The bigger property-tax event for Homewood in 2026 is the triennial reassessment. The south and west suburbs are being reassessed this year, which feeds the following year's bills. Homewood sits partly in Thornton Township and partly in Bloom Township. As of the Assessor's October 8, 2026 calendar update, Thornton had opened, and Bloom and neighboring Rich had no notice dates posted yet. Two homes in the same village can therefore be at different points in the cycle this fall.
The last south-suburban cycle shows what can happen after notices go out. In the 2023 reassessment, residential property made up 67% of assessed value after the Assessor's valuations and appeals. After Board of Review appeals it made up 71%, and nonresidential assessed value fell $950 million, just over 18%, at the Board stage. According to the Assessor's office, homeowners' share of assessed value rose after Board of Review appeals in every one of the 17 reassessed townships. On the bills from that cycle, the Treasurer found that the south and southwest suburban median homeowner bill rose 19.9% to $6,117, while commercial taxes fell 7.8%.
Another rule applies to every bill. Cook County assesses residential property at 10% of market value and business property at 25%. A higher assessment changes a property's share of each taxing district's levy. Local levies and the total assessed value set the rate, so a higher assessment does not automatically mean a higher bill.
Quick answers
Did Wind Creek get a Class 8 tax incentive? Homewood's August 13, 2024 agenda memo says Wind Creek planned to apply for Cook County's Class 8 incentive and asked the villages to support it. We did not find a public record confirming that the county granted it.
Is the casino's assessed value locked in? The March 2026 settlement fixed the value at $135 million for four years. It covers the property in its current condition only, and improvements during that period could change the valuation.
Where can a Thornton Township owner see the appeal dates? The Cook County Assessor's assessment and appeal calendar lists each township's notice date and last filing date. For Thornton, those are October 8 and November 23, 2026.
If you own in Homewood and a new reassessment notice is on your counter, or you're comparing south-suburban homes where the tax line is part of the budget, it helps to know what the market says your home is worth. I Sell Chicagoland can put together a free home valuation from current local sales so you have a market-based number to set beside the Assessor's estimate. If you'd like to talk it through, schedule a consultation with Christina.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
