CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[the urban politician]

I think it was in 2015 it was declared that the Loop had its highest employment since they've been keeping records. There have been no signs yet of a recession and no major company defections thus I would presume those numbers are only continuing to climb.

When the doomsayers predict an apartment glut I often wonder if they are assuming that all other factors are remaining the same. Job growth downtown is continuing to fuel the demand. But, of course, I'm sure they are taking this into account--they aren't idiots.

[ithakas]

Why Cat won't be the last Chicago-bound HQ

Caterpillar's Jan. 31 decision to move its headquarters from Peoria to the Chicago area follows on the heels of similar moves by ADM and ConAgra—and ramps up recruiting pressure on downstate's other big corporate fish, Deere and State Farm, as well as out-of-state companies like Kellogg and SC Johnson, which remains headquartered in its historic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed campus in Racine, Wis., despite announcing plans in November 2015 to move approximately 175 white-collar workers to Chicago. SC Johnson's move came just days after Kraft Heinz confirmed it would transplant the headquarters of its Oscar Mayer unit from Madison, Wis. to Chicago's Aon Center.

Within a 300-mile radius of Chicago lie such tantalizing targets as Steelcase of Grand Rapids, Mich., Eli Lilly of Indianapolis or Fiserv of Brookfield, Wis. Could Chicago hope to capture such deeply entrenched out-of-town players?

Source: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/arti...d-headquarters

[MayorOfChicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I think it was in 2015 it was declared that the Loop had its highest employment since they've been keeping records. There have been no signs yet of a recession and no major company defections thus I would presume those numbers are only continuing to climb.

When the doomsayers predict an apartment glut I often wonder if they are assuming that all other factors are remaining the same. Job growth downtown is continuing to fuel the demand. But, of course, I'm sure they are taking this into account--they aren't idiots.

Yes, the downtown area has been booming the past few years for sure:

Downtown Chicago peaked around 2000, then slid for a few years, gained almost all of it back by 2008, took a quick nosedive, then rebounded greatly up to a peak that's almost 50,000 jobs above its previous peak. Adding almost 100,000 jobs since 2010, around 27% of all jobs gained by the metro during that time:

1998: 512,108
2000: 528,868
2002: 505,866
2004: 481,875
2006: 499,421
2008: 520,409
2010: 479,199
2012: 513,533
2014: 541,752
2016: 574,217

City of Chicago hit a peak in 2001, then slowly wafted down by around 150,000 jobs through 2010, but in the past six years has gained back all of those 150,000 jobs:

1998: 1,136,809
2000: 1,155,978
2002: 1,101,827
2004: 1,061,748
2006: 1,089,347
2008: 1,096,131
2010: 1,011,151
2012: 1,071,227
2014: 1,107,326
2016: 1,155,332

Cook County hit a peak in 2000, then actually slid straight through 2010 before getting back to a peak not seen since 2001 at least:

1998: 2,322,716
2000: 2,340,639
2002: 2,216,958
2004: 2,149,402
2006: 2,185,786
2008: 2,176,935
2010: 2,004,132
2012: 2,073,558
2014: 2,131,857
2016: 2,224,707


http://www.ides.illinois.gov/LMI/Whe...0Work/2016.PDF

[the urban politician]

If Illinois got its financial house in order I salivate at how much the region could be booming right now.

[rgolch]

Johnson Controls is a definite no for the near future. They are probably going to build a signature highrise headquarters in Milwaukee. And Fiserv seems bent on staying in Brookfield, even dismissing the idea of going downtown Milwaukee.

I could see SC Johnson having a deeper connection to Chicago. Their having a satellite location in Chicago shows the understand the need to tap a larger talent pool. State Farm and Deere have the best odds of a Chicago move. Who knows about the others.

[the urban politician]

I remember about a year ago reading that Dow Chemical was mulling a Chicago move

[bnk]

There is no way Eli Lily is leaving its HQ in Indi and its sprawling manufacturing/research campus east of Indi.

Dow Chemical would be huge as well as Monsanto but the latter just made a public statement on hiring and say they are committed to St. Louis.

http://www.southwestfarmpress.com/re...bayer-monsanto


But I can see Dow happening someday. They already have a presence here.

https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/e...obstochic.html



I would much rather get a HQ relocation outside of 300 miles and particularly from places Chicagoland companies relocated to back in the 90's like Waste Management, Rubbermaid ect.

Likely never to happen getting but id love to get back the over seas losses, BP Amoco, and tax evaders like Aon.

Lets Think outside of a 300 mile bubble.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by bnk

...
Lets Think outside of a 300 mile bubble.

What I'd like to see focused on is snagging North American headquarters for fast-growing Asian and African companies. Leverage our centrality and transportation prowess. I think Chicago tries for that already, but continued pushes for regional headquarters of companies we've never even heard of would be good. American headquarters for new Chinese or Malaysian or Indian or Indonesian or African companies. We get the economic boost, more global ties, and incentive for ever more delicious ethnic foods!

[Arch City]

Just an FYI, there's no way Monsanto/Bayer's R&D and Ag division would leave St. Louis.

They have already recommitted to St. Louis. Plus, a $700-million new campus is nearing completion. Monsanto/Bayer's Global Seeds & Traits and North American commercial division will be HQ'd in St. Louis.

In addition, Pfizer is confirmed to be be building a $200-million campus (no renderings yet) nearby because the two firms usually work together on discovery.

• Video Link

"Bayer and Monsanto reiterated that the combined company’s global seeds and traits R&D and agriculture North American headquarters would be based in St. Louis, with additional research and commercial locations throughout the U.S." Source

The division in St. Louis will focus on the plant sciences and research - not the North American conglomerate functions.

Bayer is a big company, obviously, with pharma etc., which I believe is based in New Jersey.

Chicago cannot compete with St. Louis in the plant sciences and plant science R&D - only RTP and San Diego come close.

The infrastructure in St. Louis is too extensive for Monsanto/Bayer to abandon.

Also, St. Louis is already nailing down plans for a 575-acre Plant Science Innovation District. St. Louis currently has more PhD plant scientist than other city in the world and a world-class plant science center - the largest private in the world. Then Missouri Botanical Garden, the world's leading research botanical garden, and research schools like Washington University and University of Missouri-St. Louis are well-known for their plant science research.

Now Chicago might be able to pick off another St. Louis company, but not Monsanto/Bayer. This company is way too entrenched in St. Louis.

It basically built plant/ag in St. Louis.

[Justin_Chicago]

I think you are missing the argument. The corporate functions and R&D will likely always remain in St. Louis but the executive team and support staff (Investor Relations, Corporate Development, Treasury, Corporate FP&A) could be attracted to Chicago in the near future due to globalization. This is exactly what happened with Caterpillar. Plant scientists do not need access to O'Hare airport for a direct flight to Australia or Southeast Asia.

I personally doubt Monsanto (even an executive office) will ever leave St. Louis. The city has a lot of great stuff going for it, such as strong universities (Washington Univ), a good presence of fortune 500 companies (AB InBev, Express Scripts, Ameren, Reinsurance), and decent airport access (#32 busiest). Minneapolis also shares similar attributes. I think Chicago will attract companies with global ambitions from the next tier of cities and start-ups looking for readily available tech talent, support structure, robust B2B ecosystem, and capital.

[Justin_Chicago]

SIM Partners raises $5 million

Marketing-technology company SIM Partners raised another $5 million from investors River Cities Capital Funds in Cincinnati and Chicago-based Jump Capital.

SIM's software helps companies improve mobile search advertising. Clients include Advocate Health Care, American Family Insurance, ATI Physical Therapy, Costco, Red Wing Shoes, Save-A-Lot, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and U.S. Bank.

The new funding will help SIM expand faster into health care, which is fueling the company's growth.

Article: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...p-river-cities

[MayorOfChicago]

Here are the peaks and valleys over the past 26 years for various Illinois metro areas. They're specific to each metro during the two main recessions and recoveries over this period. For instance some areas like Carbondale grew from 1990 right through 2007 before shifting course:

Bloomington:
1990: 80,147
1999: 98,385
2004: 89,094
2010: 97,397
2016: 92,828

Carbondale:
1990: 53,185
2007: 65,670
2013: 53,981
2016: 55,713

Champaign:
1990: 106,910
2007: 116,469
2016: 113,128

Chicago CSA
1990: 4,011,176
2000: 4,559,774
2003: 4,344,274
2007: 4,644,986
2010: 4,358,407
2016: 4,673,495

Danville:
1990: 38,755
2016: 32,721

Davenport/Quad Cities:
1990: 179,456
1998: 193,328
2003: 184,104
2007: 197,330
2016: 178,637

Illinois piece of Quad Cities:
1990: 104,081
2007: 111,778
2015: 98,815

Decatur:
1990: 56,438
2016: 46,447

Elgin:
1990: 203,709
2007: 313,996
2010: 288,213
2015: 303,637

Kankakee:
1990: 45,815
2007: 52,393
2015: 52,248

Lake County:
1990: 340,155
2007: 434,729
2009: 404,607
2015: 430,958

Peoria:
1990: 175,473
1998: 191,152
2003: 169,492
2007: 194,558
2015: 172,838

Rockford:
1990: 151,453
1999: 166,477
2003: 148,824
2007: 165,348
2015: 159,269

Springfield:
1990: 106,179
2015: 106,872

Illinois piece of St Louis:
1990: 301,300
2000: 321,181
2003: 307,360
2007: 333,230
2009: 310,760
2015: 322,824

Illinois is fairly stagnant except for Chicago, but even that isn't going above and beyond its previous peaks outside downtown Chicago.

Just looking at a few cities in Iowa doing well, they have definite momentum that Illinois just doesn't.

Iowa City:
1990: 65,926
2016: 95,017

Cedar Rapids:
1990: 111,117
2016: 140,100

Des Moines:
1990: 230,261
2016: 332,303

One that's good to see is Detroit finally waking up. They had a slow burn from 2000 straight through 2007, then a bust through 2010, but finally are gaining back jobs:

Detroit:
1990: 1,945,607
2000: 2,216,021
2004: 2,050,260
2007: 1,998,781
2010: 1,772,626
2016: 1,950,213

Michigan in general is recovering:
1976: 3,618,361
2000: 4,976,322
2007: 4,658,939
2010: 4,194,041
2016: 4,612,036

Illinois:
1976: 4,808,498
2000: 6,211,404
2007: 6,334,010
2010: 5,937,047
2016: 6,197,757

[Justin_Chicago]

I love Arch City's fire. Midwest versus the world.


Software firm raises $25 million, names new CEO

SpringCM, a fast-growing cloud software company, raised another $25 million for expansion and named a new CEO.

Crestline Investors, a fund based in Fort Worth, Texas, led the investment in SpringCM, which is best known for its contract-management application built on top of the Salesforce platform. Dan Dal Degan, a veteran software exec from Chicago who joined SpringCM's board last year, becomes CEO. Founder Greg Buchholz will be president and chief operating officer.

The company, which has about 120 employees, is expecting a boost from government customers. It's also expanding beyond its Salesforce roots, selling the underlying document-management software as well, Dal Degan said. Recently the company signed new or expanded deals with Uber, IKEA, Valvoline, S-Three, Nationwide and Accenture.

Article: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...ets-25-million

[Justin_Chicago]

Fraud analytics firm Rippleshot raises $2.6 million in funding

Chicago-based Rippleshot, which uses machine learning and data analytics to help banks and credit unions spot fraudulent activity, has raised $2.6 million in new funding.

The company, started by CEO Canh Tran, Yueyu Fu and Randal Cox in 2012, so far has worked with banks and credit unions to identify which customers have had likely had credit or debit cards compromised and might need a new card, and help card issuers mitigate fraud in other ways.

Now, Rippleshot plans a merchant-facing product, which will use data to help determine whether a payment method used at a retailer actually belongs to the customer.

Rippleshot employs 10 in its offices at Catapult Chicago.

The funding round was led by Chicago-based venture capital firm KDWC. CMFG Ventures, the Madison, Wisc.-based venture capital entity of CUNA Mutual Group, also came on board as a strategic investor.

Article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesk...207-story.html

[marothisu]

Telecom firm ready for hiring spree in new River North HQ

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...er-north-hq-32

Telecommunications firm Nitel is moving its headquarters to the former Apparel Center, with plans to add at least 100 new employees in the coming years.

Nitel has subleased 32,115 square feet in River North Point, the building along the Chicago River that was formerly known as the Apparel Center, the company said. Nitel is subleasing the space from advertising technology firm Rocket Fuel, which is moving to smaller space on Michigan Avenue.

[Justin_Chicago]

Facebook Will Boost Chicago Presence in 2017

Facebook is growing its Chicago office, hiring for 30 new roles in 2017 with plans to grow the team in years to come.

The new roles fall under the Partner Management (PM) team, which helps small and medium-sized businesses use Facebook’s services, such as Pages and advertising, to grow their business. Open roles include Partner Manager, Team Lead and Manager and the company will be hiring through 2017. Facebook’s PM team is usually located in Austin, Texas, but Facebook said Chicago’s “talent pipeline and attractiveness to new candidates” is the reason they’re expanding here.

"We made the decision to expand to Chicago because it gives us another really strong market that has a rich talent pipeline, rich community, and a very broad agency and client ecosystem," said Katherine Shappley, Facebook's SMB (small and medium business) regional director for North America to Chicago Inno. "This expansion is really going to compliment the work that my team does across the country, and with the team in Austin. We believe that in making this investment in a new market, we can increase the support for both our agency and advertising partners."

Article: http://chicagoinno.streetwise.co/201...sence-in-2017/

[Justin_Chicago]

Canadian firm moving HQ to Chicago

A Canadian engineering and architecture firm will be the latest company to move its headquarters to downtown Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office said today.

EXP, now based in the Toronto suburb of Brampton, Ontario, will formally announce the move tomorrow, the mayor said in a statement. The company plans to add 150 new jobs in Chicago, joining 230 employees already in the downtown office.

The firm's work in Chicago, according to the mayor's office, has included infrastructure projects involving Lake Shore Drive, the Museum Campus, Wacker Drive reconstruction, the 35th Avenue pedestrian bridge, CTA train stations and an air traffic control tower at O'Hare International Airport.

Article: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...-hq-to-chicago

[the urban politician]

^ Not a major global concern, but still a hefty player which is great to see

[HowardL]

Not HQ news but ancillary news which is good too.

I am the big booster of this city as the one and only global center of financial derivatives but McCormick Place, though having taken some licks from drought belt and swamp belt convention centers, is still a global monster. Nice to see some Loop office space being occupied due the big Lakefront showcase.

Willis Tower upgrades set the table for National Restaurant Association lease

[Randomguy34]

Surprised these two weren't mentioned yet

KPMG plans to add 500 more Chicago jobs

By CLAIRE BUSHEY
KPMG promised Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012 that it would hire 500 professionals within five years, a quota it met last year when its Chicago headcount hit 2,331. Now the firm says it will add 500 more to bring its staff to 2,800 by 2020.

Despite the expansion, the firm's growth in the Chicago market has lagged behind that of competitors PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young, according to Crain's data. The number of local professionals has increased 27 percent at both KPMG and Deloitte since 2012. At PwC and EY, the spike is nearly double: 50 percent and 52 percent, respectively.

A KPMG spokesman declined to comment on the hiring pace.

Professional services has been one of the hottest sectors in Chicago for half a decade now. Accounting firms have been using their brand recognition to move aggressively into consulting and advisory services, said Todd Shapiro, CEO of the Illinois CPA Society. "They're growing dramatically, especially in non-audit and tax areas, and that's driving a lot of the hiring," he said. "Some firms actually have more non-CPAs working for them than CPAs."....

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...gnews-20170223

GE Healthcare moving hundreds of jobs from Barrington to Chicago

By Meg Graham
GE Healthcare says it's moving hundreds of jobs, primarily in technology, from Barrington to Chicago.

The General Electric subsidiary, which announced last year it was moving its headquarters from the U.K. to Chicago, plans to move its Barrington operations to the downtown office where GE Transportation is also headquartered.

The 500 W. Monroe St. office is currently home to 600 employees, including GE Healthcare’s executive management team and GE Transportation’s Digital Solutions business.

GE Healthcare is the latest in a line of suburban companies moving downtown, including ConAgra Brands, Kraft Heinz and Motorola Solutions, which also moved into the 500 W. Monroe St. building last year.

The company would not disclose the exact number of jobs moving downtown from Barrington, but said the move will ultimately bring GE’s total employees at 500 W. Monroe St. to over 1,000. The positions moving to Chicago include software engineers and developers, data scientists, product managers and other roles....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesk...223-story.html