CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[sentinel]

I really do not believe this will do anything to combat homelessness, as is claimed by BJ. In fact, it will do the opposite as home sales will inevitably decline, as well as diluting property values. I sincerely hope voters will give a resounding 'NO' to this, otherwise, *shrug*.

Transfer tax wins key City Council vote

"The measure will likely head to voters in a 2024 referendum."

https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2023...-council-vote/

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by sentinel

I really do not believe this will do anything to combat homelessness, as is claimed by BJ. In fact, it will do the opposite as home sales will inevitably decline, as well as diluting property values. I sincerely hope voters will give a resounding 'NO' to this, otherwise, *shrug*.

Transfer tax wins key City Council vote

"The measure will likely head to voters in a 2024 referendum."

https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2023...-council-vote/

This will be getting a big NOPE from me even thought it would actually cut my taxes. No plan on what to do with the money raised other than generic platitudes.

[ardecila]

I didn't realize that, but it is just inexplicable. If they're not willing to make a plan for the money and how they will actually address homelessness, then they clearly just see it as a slush fund for the nonprofit industrial complex.

[Coastal Elitist]

A FAANG has been silently expanding its presence in Chicago. It leased an additional two floors in a high-rise in The Loop a few months back and renovated them with a tasteful art deco theme. All of the engineering teams have been moved to that floor, and they plan to make Chicago a core hub for some organizations within the company.

Compensation is equivalent to that of the west coast so entry-level engineers are paid $180k in salary, bonuses, and RSUs, and it only increases from there for more senior engineers and for management.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Coastal Elitist

A FAANG has been silently expanding its presence in Chicago. It leased an additional two floors in a high-rise in The Loop a few months back and renovated them with a tasteful art deco theme. All of the engineering teams have been moved to that floor, and they plan to make Chicago a core hub for some organizations within the company.

Compensation is equivalent to that of the west coast so entry-level engineers are paid $180k in salary, bonuses, and RSUs, and it only increases from there for more senior engineers and for management.

Hmmmm, I suspect you are referring to the Zuck's site, maybe..only because I know they already have a big presence in a newer Loop highrise.

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by Coastal Elitist

A FAANG has been silently expanding its presence in Chicago. It leased an additional two floors in a high-rise in The Loop a few months back and renovated them with a tasteful art deco theme. All of the engineering teams have been moved to that floor, and they plan to make Chicago a core hub for some organizations within the company.

Compensation is equivalent to that of the west coast so entry-level engineers are paid $180k in salary, bonuses, and RSUs, and it only increases from there for more senior engineers and for management.

Gotta be Amazon. I recall that Chicago came out on top when Amazon presented their case for what city should get HQ2. Bezos overruled it. Can't be Google because they aren't doing anything here quietly. Apple and Netflix sound wrong for some reason. Facebook seems possible.

[Coastal Elitist]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Hmmmm, I suspect you are referring to the Zuck's site, maybe..only because I know they already have a big presence in a newer Loop highrise.

Nope, it's the one that shares their name with a rainforest in Brazil.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Coastal Elitist

Nope, it's the one that has the name of a rainforest in Brazil.

Aww, snap!

HQ3?

Or is it 4 or 5 now?

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Coastal Elitist

Nope, it's the one that shares their name with a rainforest in Brazil.

Oooh interesting...I didn't know Mata Atlantica was a company in Chicago! ( I'm kidding, I crack myself up with stupid stuff).

Interesting that they're expanding in Chicago..maybe not that surprising, but I would have thought more focus would have been placed in HQ2 in Alexandria, than expansions in other US cities. But I guess 2 floors in an existing building in a major North American business center where office space is relatively cheaper than other comparable cities does makes sense.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Coastal Elitist

A FAANG has been silently expanding its presence in Chicago. It leased an additional two floors in a high-rise in The Loop a few months back and renovated them with a tasteful art deco theme. All of the engineering teams have been moved to that floor, and they plan to make Chicago a core hub for some organizations within the company.

Compensation is equivalent to that of the west coast so entry-level engineers are paid $180k in salary, bonuses, and RSUs, and it only increases from there for more senior engineers and for management.

Probably Amazon. I have a friend at Amazon in Chicago very very high up in the company. I asked him a couple months ago when Amazon was going to expand in Chicago. He said they have been and return to the office was why. As Chicago is really the only midwest hub, they told a bunch of remote workers all over the midwest they have to move to Chicago because they need to be in the office physically some days per week. He also told me he personally convinced some execs from the coasts to move to Chicago for Amazon. I also interviewed a couple people this year who were working remote for Amazon and moved to Chicago this year for it.

[Chisouthside]

In case anyone is able to get behind the paywall
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/econ...america-report

I feel like during the 2016-2019 when all those yearly estimates were predicting huge population losses for chicago, there was alot of data points and observations that made those numbers seem suspect.

Ive definitely noticed alot of newly hired junior employees at the company i work for are recent transplants, rents are up the ass all over the city, traffic feels worse on side streets, the city seems more crowded. Granted I can be off but i wouldnt be surprised if the city is approaching close to 2.9 million, especially if we've had an estimated 50k ukranians/south americans arrive in the last year.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by Chisouthside

In case anyone is able to get behind the paywall
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/econ...america-report

I feel like during the 2016-2019 when all those yearly estimates were predicting huge population losses for chicago, there was alot of data points and observations that made those numbers seem suspect.

Ive definitely noticed alot of newly hired junior employees at the company i work for are recent transplants, rents are up the ass all over the city, traffic feels worse on side streets, the city seems more crowded. Granted I can be off but i wouldnt be surprised if the city is approaching close to 2.9 million, especially if we've had an estimated 50k ukranians/south americans arrive in the last year.

Obviously the banks don’t actually have the fine tuned population data, but a lot of Chicago transplants are switching employers when they move to the area and getting salary increases.

Bank of America

The report also found workers who moved to Chicago last quarter saw, on average, roughly a 7% increase in their annual salary. For established residents of the city who did not move, that number was closer to 2%.

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

Obviously the banks don’t actually have the fine tuned population data, but a lot of Chicago transplants are switching employers when they move to the area and getting salary increases.

Bank of America

This is MSA and not "city" so Chicago has by far the biggest magnitude here. The total numbers of people listed in Chicago would be 2- to 4x more people than the other cities in the top four.

[marothisu]

Chicago has always attracted people moving there. Those who think "nobody moves to Chicago because the population [apparently] is decreasing" is a complete fool. I have moved many people to Chicago in the last 2 years and many of my peers have too, plus many others at my company. Most units in my building (small) moved here in the last few years too mainly from the coasts and 1 internationally and on my block too. My former co-worker/friend just moved to Chicago in the last 2 months from NYC with his spouse. They already closed on a condo and moved in. He used live here but his spouse never has. Both are foreign born and both are executive level workers who make $$. We also know of a large handful of families who have relocated here from NYC, LA, Boston and SF in the last year thru my kid's day care/my wife's Chinese social network. Also know a family who moved here last month from Italy.

It's hard to count people (I'm serious) but it's amazing to me with how far off the Census has been in estimates and unchanged methodology that studies by legitimate companies still fail to realize this and put a caveat when they talk about population changes. Same thing as in NYC. It's hard to get a read on Chicago right now, but it will not surprise me one bit if the Census is still wrong (they haven't changed methodology yet afterall).

[moorhosj1]

Originally Posted by Chisouthside

Granted I can be off but i wouldnt be surprised if the city is approaching close to 2.9 million, especially if we've had an estimated 50k ukranians/south americans arrive in the last year.

2020 Census had Chicago at: 2,746,352

2020 Census correction had Illinois under-counted by 250,000. Let's say 50% of this is in Chicago (likely more due to who was under-counted), so we add 125k.

2020 UPDATED Census has Chicago at roughly: 2,871,352

Add 30,000 Ukrainian refugees to the area. Let's just assume 25k are in Chicago.

Post-Ukrainian War refugees Chicago population: 2,896,352

Now we add in the 25,000 Venezuelan refugees to the area. Let's say 20k are in Chicago.

Current Chicago population: 2,916,352.

This doesn't include the upwardly mobile professionals the discussion started with, but gives a rough view. Could we hit 3 million by 2030?

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Chicago has always attracted people moving there. Those who think "nobody moves to Chicago because the population [apparently] is decreasing" is a complete fool. I have moved many people to Chicago in the last 2 years and many of my peers have too, plus many others at my company. Most units in my building (small) moved here in the last few years too mainly from the coasts and 1 internationally and on my block too. My former co-worker/friend just moved to Chicago in the last 2 months from NYC with his spouse. They already closed on a condo and moved in. He used live here but his spouse never has. Both are foreign born and both are executive level workers who make $$. We also know of a large handful of families who have relocated here from NYC, LA, Boston and SF in the last year thru my kid's day care/my wife's Chinese social network. Also know a family who moved here last month from Italy.

It's hard to count people (I'm serious) but it's amazing to me with how far off the Census has been in estimates and unchanged methodology that studies by legitimate companies still fail to realize this and put a caveat when they talk about population changes. Same thing as in NYC. It's hard to get a read on Chicago right now, but it will not surprise me one bit if the Census is still wrong (they haven't changed methodology yet afterall).

Because you've always provided hard, concrete data figures for a slew of different topics, I take your personal/anecdotal posts as being more factual than most media reporting out there. Thank you

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

2020 Census had Chicago at: 2,746,352

2020 Census correction had Illinois under-counted by 250,000. Let's say 50% of this is in Chicago (likely more due to who was under-counted), so we add 125k.

2020 UPDATED Census has Chicago at roughly: 2,871,352

Add 30,000 Ukrainian refugees to the area. Let's just assume 25k are in Chicago.

Post-Ukrainian War refugees Chicago population: 2,896,352

Now we add in the 25,000 Venezuelan refugees to the area. Let's say 20k are in Chicago.

Current Chicago population: 2,916,352.

This doesn't include the upwardly mobile professionals the discussion started with, but gives a rough view. Could we hit 3 million by 2030?

This is absolutely not unreasonable. As an immigrant myself, I was fortunate enough to have a family+community that earnestly embraced assimilation because they knew that what was possible in the US was far and away better than what they left...and even though the culture and history they left behind never went away, they always looked forward, not back. Immigrants made America and will continue to do so in the future, but it will only be successful if clear, concise, easy and efficient methods of assimilation into US society are available.

[VKChaz]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Oooh interesting...I didn't know Mata Atlantica was a company in Chicago! ( I'm kidding, I crack myself up with stupid stuff).

Interesting that they're expanding in Chicago..maybe not that surprising, but I would have thought more focus would have been placed in HQ2 in Alexandria, than expansions in other US cities. But I guess 2 floors in an existing building in a major North American business center where office space is relatively cheaper than other comparable cities does makes sense.

Job listings on their site can give a sense of where the hiring is and for what functions.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

Could we hit 3 million by 2030?

It could happen.

But I wouldn't think it's likely.

We still have the strong demographic headwind of black flight to overcome.

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

This doesn't include the upwardly mobile professionals the discussion started with, but gives a rough view. Could we hit 3 million by 2030?

Once construction returns to pre-pandemic levels, that should boost us past 3 million. There actually seems to be more South Lakefront development since 2020 than prior. Woodlawn Central will have a major announcement soon regarding development partners. The South Lakefront will rapidly densify this decade, that's all I'll say.

IMO, 3.3 million is optimistic but not impossible given the current circumstances.