The casino is planned for the former site of the Clock Tower Resort, a sprawling hotel that was a regional landmark in northern Illinois for decades. In addition to a 64,000-square-foot casino, the new project plans a hotel and 1,600-seat music venue. The local partners attached to the project include Rick Nielsen, guitarist for the rock band Cheap Trick, which hailed from Rockford and was one of the most successful groups of the late 1970s and early 1980s.