Well we did it again. Many like to poo-poo this site. But things are happening and have been for a while in these metrics.
http://www.worldbusinesschicago.com/
should be talking this up and pushing it in the media.
Texas has no problems boosting its image.
https://www.statesman.com/business/2...ic-development
Crain's Chicago should be all over this. But they are not.
The State of Illinois came in 3rd after Texas and closely behind Ohio.
"Texas total of 859 projects is very hard to beat. Second-place Ohio has 448, followed by Illinois (423), Georgia (296) and Indiana (194) to round out the top five."
Chicagoland's dominance in the state is very profound.
416 out of 423.
On an interesting note it remarkable how low California performs in these metrics.
https://siteselection.com/issues/202...way-places.cfm
Ch
icago: Talent, Tech and Equity
“Chicago is winning projects because of talent,” says Deloitte Global Location Strategy Leader Darin Buelow. “In spite of the higher cost of being in Chicago and in spite of the state budget deficits, Chicago being a magnet for talent is overwhelming a lot of other factors.”
Young Midwestern college graduates moving to the big city on the lake is more than a familiar trope. It’s the lifeblood of a metro area that continues to be fueled by tech growth from the likes of Google, Gartner, and San Francisco-based Affirm, which in February pledged to hire 100 at a new office in EQ Office’s 350 North Orleans building in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Google Chicago has doubled in size from 600 to more than 1,200 employees in the past five years. Altogether more than 2,000 jobs are being created by some 20 tech companies.
The world of apps and e-commerce also extends to other neighborhoods, such as the Midway Business District on the city’s Southside, where World Business Chicago (WBC) President and CEO Andrea Zopp joined Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and leaders and staff of Farmer’s Fridge last September to cut the ribbon on a new 170-employee facility. The company expects to double the number of kitchen employees by the end of 2020 to fuel the company’s rapid expansion, hiring many from surrounding neighborhoods.
The Chicago-founded company pioneered touchscreen technology and proprietary software to create a seamless customer experience while minimizing food waste in maintenance-free, low-energy “Fridges” that the company says have become a go-to amenity for businesses across multiple regions.
“As a Chicago transplant, I am deeply grateful to this city for its incredible support of entrepreneurship,” said Luke Saunders, founder & CEO, noting the company’s intent to double its kitchen headcount by the end of 2020. “Based on the powerful local network of talent, resources, mentorship, and investment, we’ve been able to expand Farmer’s Fridge over the past six years from a single location to more than 350 Fridges. Our company has grown from a single employee to 250 people …
Uber Growth
Many of those TIF districts overlap with Opportunity Zones, bringing new layers of true opportunity to those same neighborhoods. Demonstrating the corporate largesse and philanthropy that are almost Chicago’s trademark, Fifth Third Bank in January announced an equity investment of approximately $20 million in Qualified Opportunity Zones in Chicago, aligning with the INVEST South/West initiative.
“What’s exciting for Opportunity Zones in Chicago is that the types of deals we need involve a lasagna of financing layers,” says Mayekar. “Between TIF and Opportunity Zones, you are able to piece together hose pieces of that financing stack that will be incredibly positive for Chicago and for growth.” In addition to aligning with INVEST South/West, the OZ activity is catalyzing private capital mobilization too, he says, from such prominent corporations as BMO Harris, Starbucks and Fifth Third. It’s part of the broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement among institutional investors and multinationals, including the recent Business Roundtable commitment to focus on stakeholders more than shareholders.
“We sense that appetite in our corporate community,” Mayekar says, something that goes all the way back to when companies stepped up to rebuild after the Great Chicago Fire. “The nexus and sinews between companies and the community are so embedded in our ethos, and make Chicago a special place. Companies see this is an ecosystem where businesses are focused on stakeholder value.”
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Asked to spotlight a particular project from the past year, Mayekar points to
Uber Freight’s decision to come to the city’s old post office building, where Pepsico and others have been part of what he calls
“one of the most successful rehabilitation efforts in the country.” He says his team engaged directly with the CEO of Uber as well as with Lior Ron, who returned from co-founding Otto to head up Uber Freight.
“Based on what their team members were seeing in terms of how important Chicago was to their business and growth, you had a sense they wanted to be growing here,” Mayekar says. “Having a hiring pipeline is critical,” which is why the company and area leaders are engaging with the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership going forward.
…
Refurbished Gateway
Zopp says the Uber Freight project shows how economic growth can drive real change and improve cities. She describes the old post office as “this big, hulking, empty building over one of our main highways coming into the city,” closed for decades, and at one time a plant for making Sears catalogs.
“It’s a doorway to the downtown area,” she says. “We’ve been working to develop it for a while. The Rahm Emanuel administration got the ball rolling with a developer who convinced Walgreen’s to move a large satellite office there for its digital team, with 1,800 employees. That led to a number of other companies following their lead, including Home Chef, Ferrero Candy and Kroger’s 8451 data analytics subsidiary. “So you have this incredible energy there now,” she says. “It’s amazing. Now it’s opening up the whole area around it, right by the Willis Tower. It’s a powerful example of why we work so hard.”
A new economic development strategy will focus on the four broad sectors of transportation and logistics; technology; healthcare services and life sciences; and tourism and hospitality, all backed by the region’s traditional strengths in professional services, food production, and manufacturing.
Among the trends pleasing Zopp and her economic development colleagues is the broad scope of the region’s tech community, encompassing fintech, entertainment and cybersecurity, among other niches. Among the thriving firms are Relativity, Snapsheet and SpotHero. In some cases,
“the founders were raised here, went to the Coast, grew their companies, but want to come home, because it’s more cost-effective for their business,” she says. In other cases, tech giants discover the same dynamic. “Google finance moved their whole finance team here, and they’ve expanded to an additional building,” Zopp says, “and Facebook expanded too.”
All communities are challenged with identifying talent in today’s low-unemployment environment,
but Chicago is known for its talent influx. Cue the trope about post-college life. “We’re at the top for Midwest colleges in terms of draw for computer science graduates,” Zopp says. “Talk to the founders. They are finding talent.”
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