CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[Vlajos]

Well, looks like demand for apartments hasn't let up at all.

"People are renting apartments faster than developers are building them, pushing rents at high-end downtown buildings to another high.

The average monthly net rent at top-tier, or Class A, apartment buildings in downtown Chicago rose to a record $3.18 per square foot in the second quarter, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier, according Integra Realty Resources, a consulting firm. The Class A occupancy rate was 94 percent in the quarter, even with a year ago......

But this year, demand has not only caught with supply but is exceeding it. A key measure of demand, absorption—or the change in the number of occupied apartments—totaled 2,995 units in downtown Chicago in the first half of the year, and Integra forecasts that absorption will total 3,500 units for the entire year, a record."

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/comme...boom-continues

[marothisu]

Small, but positive:

Venture-capital firm expanding in Fulton Market

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/comme...-fulton-market

A food-focused Chicago venture-capital firm is tripling its Fulton Market District office space and plans to hire more than a dozen people over the next year.

S2G Ventures, which invests in healthy, sustainable food and agriculture startups, leased 13,000 square feet on the eighth floor of the new office building developer Sterling Bay is putting up at 210 N. Carpenter St., S2G Managing Director Aaron Rudberg confirmed.

The firm, launched in 2015 by OpenTable founder Chuck Templeton, will move early next year to its new office, which is more than three times the size of its current space at 1101 W. Fulton Market. That will make room for new hires, as the firm aims to double headcount over the next 12 months from its current team of 15, Rudberg said.

[the urban politician]

Another good one, a Toronto company comes to Chicago and wants to expand to about 80-100 employees:

https://www.builtinchicago.org/2018/...chicago-office

[marothisu]

^ Good. I posted a few pages back an article from BIC about how something like 3 Canadian companies had just set up shop. Good to see that they're going to hire a fair amount of people for just one company alone.

[the urban politician]

A tech company based downtown planning to add 400 jobs in Naperville:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/john-...ers-naperville

[Randomguy34]

Chicago has been experiencing a flood of tech jobs this past year. Crain's posted recently about the office vacancy remaining tight, and demand for downtown departments overtaking all the new supply. This seems like very encouraging news for all the proposed mega-developments (The 78, River District, Lincoln Yards) to break ground at some point.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

A tech company based downtown planning to add 400 jobs in Naperville:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/john-...ers-naperville

Interesting their reason was about wanting more space..open floor plan. OPO would be perfect for that I think.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Interesting their reason was about wanting more space..open floor plan. OPO would be perfect for that I think.

It's a call center though, so they probably want less expensive real estate.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

It's a call center though, so they probably want less expensive real estate.

I admittedly scanned the article quickly so I definitely missed that.

[TR Devlin]

For my FIRST EVER POST, I’m attaching links to two reports/studies that numbers geeks may find interesting. (I’m a numbers geek and I found these interesting.) As far as I know these haven’t been posted here before.

1. Demographia – United States Central Business Districts (Downtowns)

This report was issued in 2014 and most of the numbers that went into the report are now 8 to 12 years old. But I still found it interesting. For example, the report says that of the people who work in the Chicago CBD, 57% take mass transit. I’m surprised the number’s not higher. I bet if you looked only at people who work in the Loop (a smaller area than the CBD), the percent who take mass transit would be over 70%. But in any case, Chicago’s number 2, behind only New York, where 76% take mass transit.

Compare this to Amazon HQ2 articles reporting that 11% of people who work in the entire Chicago metro area take mass transportation to get to work. This number (11%) seems to me to be irrelevant and maybe even misleading if a company’s thinking about relocating to downtown Chicago.

2. Characteristics of Domestic Cross-Metropolitan Migrants

This article has five charts that
a. compare people moving into a city with people leaving the same city, in five different areas, and then
b. shows how the migration demographics correlate to each city’s housing costs.

On the whole, these charts make Chicago look pretty good but it’s a little tricky. For example, in the chart titled “Education”, Chicago scores higher than Boston. That doesn’t mean that Chicagoans are more educated that Bostonians. What it means is that migration in and out of Chicago is raising the city’s education level faster than it’s raising the education level of Boston.

I hope this works.

[SIGSEGV]

Presumably a fair fraction of people who work in the loop live nearby and walk/bike.

[bnk]

Originally Posted by TR Devlin

For my FIRST EVER POST, I’m attaching links to two reports/studies that numbers geeks may find interesting. (I’m a numbers geek and I found these interesting.) As far as I know these haven’t been posted here before.

1. Demographia – United States Central Business Districts (Downtowns)

This report was issued in 2014 and most of the numbers that went into the report are now 8 to 12 years old. But I still found it interesting. For example, the report says that of the people who work in the Chicago CBD, 57% take mass transit. I’m surprised the number’s not higher. I bet if you looked only at people who work in the Loop (a smaller area than the CBD), the percent who take mass transit would be over 70%. But in any case, Chicago’s number 2, behind only New York, where 76% take mass transit.

Compare this to Amazon HQ2 articles reporting that 11% of people who work in the entire Chicago metro area take mass transportation to get to work. This number (11%) seems to me to be irrelevant and maybe even misleading if a company’s thinking about relocating to downtown Chicago.

2. Characteristics of Domestic Cross-Metropolitan Migrants

This article has five charts that
a. compare people moving into a city with people leaving the same city, in five different areas, and then
b. shows how the migration demographics correlate to each city’s housing costs.

On the whole, these charts make Chicago look pretty good but it’s a little tricky. For example, in the chart titled “Education”, Chicago scores higher than Boston. That doesn’t mean that Chicagoans are more educated that Bostonians. What it means is that migration in and out of Chicago is raising the city’s education level faster than it’s raising the education level of Boston.

I hope this works.

Those are some fine links. Kudos.


Welcome to SSP.

Your first post could not come in any better in my favorite thread.

I look forward to more of your posts.

[marothisu]

Farmer's Fridge will make 70 hires after raising $30M Series C

https://www.builtinchicago.org/2018/...llion-series-c

For the last few years, Farmer’s Fridge has been one of Chicago’s best-kept food secrets. Not anymore.

The company, whose smart vending machines offer healthy alternatives to traditional snack foods, announced a $30 million Series C on Wednesday.

“The round is about two things: continuing our rapid expansion and building out our technology, engineering and product teams,” said CEO Luke Saunders.

[quote]Farmer’s Fridge currently has a headcount of 130 people and expects to be at around 200 employees by the end of 2019. Saunders said the company currently has about 12 engineers and a handful of people on its product team. Those teams will both grow significantly in the coming months.
...

“We’re looking for senior leadership in engineering, product and IT. We’ll probably hire 20 to 30 people just between engineering and product over the next 12 months.”

[LouisVanDerWright]

Devlin, Interesting and welcome!

Originally Posted by the urban politician

A tech company based downtown planning to add 400 jobs in Naperville:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/john-...ers-naperville

Typical Exurban posting things like this!

Originally Posted by Vlajos

It's a call center though, so they probably want less expensive real estate.

And less expensive labor. I was just out at IKEA in Schaumburg last night and was thinking about how virtually everything out there is some kind of insurance processing or call center.

This type of use makes sense for the suburbs and should be relegated to the fringes of the city where space is not at a premium.

[left of center]

How Emanuel’s exit may affect Chicago's bid for Amazon's HQ2
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...904-story.html

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Tuesday announcement that he won’t seek a third term throws a big unknown into the city’s efforts to score Amazon’s second headquarters, which would be the crowning achievement in a line of corporate wins under his leadership.

The city is one of 20 locations in the running for what Amazon has dubbed HQ2, which will bring up to 50,000 high-paying new jobs to the chosen North American location. Amazon has said it will pick a location by year’s end.

Emanuel has been hands-on in trying to woo Amazon to Chicago, touting the city’s growing tech sector, assembling 600 heavy hitters on a committee to support the bid and even hiring William Shatner to narrate a pitch video because Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is a “Star Trek” fan.

The pending exit of the pro-business mayor after eight years creates new questions for corporations that already have a large presence in the city, those considering one and the developers whose cranes dot the downtown skyline. Emanuel is known for being an aggressive pitchman, often picking up the phone himself to call CEOs and tell them why they should consider Chicago.

“I don’t know anybody who could do it better,” said Dennis Donovan, principal at site selection consultant Wadley Donovan Gutshaw Consulting. “He made it known Chicago was open for business.”

...

[the urban politician]

Being #7 on the planet helps:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/finan...ra-rich-people

Don't listen to all the naysayers

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Being #7 on the planet helps:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/finan...ra-rich-people

Don't listen to all the naysayers

After seeing Crazy Rich Asians, I'm surprised Singapore isn't on there...

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

After seeing Crazy Rich Asians, I'm surprised Singapore isn't on there...

I had a little preview of it because of my ex who was from Malaysia. I guess I'll say semi crazy rich. She definitely had friends who fit that category too and of course her. Her dad founded a shipping company and was the CEO - I think very successful. They owned a 6000 or 7000 sq ft home plus a full floor penthouse in a skyscraper in a golf community near Kuala Lumpur..plus between $500K and $1M in cars (due to import fees - high end Mercedes, A6, etc but costs much more there) plus they bought my ex her own condo that was a few bedrooms in a luxury condo building. Probably the 3 homes together were over 20,000 sq ft they owned. They were also looking at buying something in Chicago but didn't (since she did not stay in Chicago). Her mom "retired" at 28 and just spends her time traveling around Asia golfing. She once bought a $1000 piece of luggage so she could carry water around while shopping in Singapore. That was the only reason. When my ex moved from Chicago back to Malaysia, she had to pick and choose what to have and I remember her giving away a bunch of Louis Vuitton stuff like it was no big deal.

The development where their house and penthouse was in was guarded by armed guards with AK-47s. Some of the houses there were legitimately probably the biggest I've ever seen in my life. Some were definitely over 50,000 sq ft. Many I could not fit into view of my cell phone at the time and even then, they had wings that went even further and back. I was able to capture a few houses though - one is extremely gaudy. It's the 2nd home of the CEO of some Chinese company but no idea who exactly:

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...e2&oe=5C28F7B7

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...1f&oe=5C371128

Anyway, I'm not totally surprised Singapore is not on the list. This is by Metro Area too. Singapore is rich, so I'm sure it's not far behind the top 10 and it's not a cheap city but it's not as bad as Tokyo or Hong Kong. I visited Hong Kong for the first time just under a year ago. That might be the most depressing city - did not like it. Cities in Mainland China I visited like Shanghai, Hangzhou, etc are much, much nicer. Imagine Manhattan, but denser although with nicer scenery (mountains, the bays, etc) and skyscrapers everywhere you look. However, imagine some places with buildings that are literally falling apart and the units in those places are literally 100 or 120 sq ft with no windows sometimes. Imagine Rolex and Patek Philip stores everywhere - you can't walk more than 500 feet sometimes without seeing a high end jewelry shop. But at the same time, you have things that look like it's squalor depending on where you are. That's more of the core of the city.

In some places it's pretty depressing and the prices are insane. I stayed in a nice area (Admiralty for anyone familiar) and was curious to see how much a luxury ONE BEDROOM cost in this area. Found one nearby that was furnished. $11,000 per month for a 1 bedroom. I think the 3 bedroom was $30,000 or $35,000 per month. This place wasn't anything special either. It was nice but not out of this world. One day I went to a temple that was over an hour long train ride (with transfer) away just to get to some gondolas that would take you on a 15-20 minute trip to the temple. In this area are a bunch of high rises (per usual). Price for a 1 bedroom? Still $2000 to $3000. This would be like living in Skokie and paying $2000-$3000 per month for a 1 bedroom. The architecture there also is not that nice other than a few showpieces. Since it's in a tropical climate, there's a lot of brutalism there - tons of concrete squares.


Chicago on the list doesn't surprise me. There's a lot of wealth in the area no matter what people think. The people who think otherwise are out of touch with the reality.

[marothisu]

Fulfilling fulfillment: ShipBob lands $40M Series C, opens massive new warehouse

https://www.builtinchicago.org/2018/...llion-series-c

The company, which provides shipping fulfillment and inventory management services to small and mid-size e-commerce companies, has hit the trifecta of scale: announcing a $40 million Series C, the opening of a massive new facility and a hiring push.

This round brings the company’s total funding to over $62 million, following a $17.5 million Series B in 2017. The company will use the new funding to enhance its shipping capabilities and to accelerate the development of its software platform. Co-founder and CEO Dhruv Saxena told the Chicago Tribune the company’s engineering team will double in size.

According a press release, ShipBob’s new 105,000-square-foot warehouse in Cicero is six times larger than its previous fulfillment center and more than double the size of any site across its nationwide fulfillment network, which includes facilities in Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Brooklyn. When the warehouse is fully online in December, the facility will be able to store more than three million units of product.

To staff its fulfillment center, ShipBob will make 60 new hires. That number will grow to 100 during peak season. ShipBob’s current headcount sits at north of 350 people.

---

Construction Tech Startup IngeniousIO Brings in $4M To Build Out Product, Sales Team

https://news.crunchbase.com/news/con...ct-sales-team/

The premise behind the Chicago-based company is the belief that construction workflows are fragmented, especially for a $10 trillion industry built on collaboration. The use of a variety of disparate point solutions only exacerbates the problem, according to IngeniousIO Founder and CEO Nick Carter.

...

The company’s platform uses artificial intelligence to redefine the process of construction projects by creating what Carter describes “a unifying, data-driven approach.”

“IngeniousIO does not intend to disrupt construction,” said Carter, who is also a former Cisco Systems engineer. “The industry is already in pieces, and therein lies the problem. From PMs to sewer subcontractors, many groups have to work together efficiently to complete a building. Digitizing documents only uploads the mess to the Internet. IngeniousIO galvanizes the business of construction by connecting the entire process.”

The 15-person company is planning to use the money raised to accelerate product development and continue hiring to build out its sales and customer implementation organizations. That hiring, Carter said, includes former employees of e-Builder and Textura, which was acquired by Oracle.

[marothisu]

Going global: ParkWhiz targets international expansion after raising $20M Series D

https://www.builtinchicago.org/2018/...llion-series-d

Chicago tech’s great funding week just got better.

Parking technology company ParkWhiz announced today that it has raised a $20 million Series D.

...

“We’ve grown the reach of our marketplace from about three million consumers to 40 million in two years,” said CEO Yona Shtern.
...

ParkWhiz has primarily expanded its reach through partnerships. Shtern said the company’s technology powers parking solutions for over 300 partners, a list which includes the likes of Ford, Madison Square Garden and Groupon. This round will be used to grow that number of partners and bring more drivers onto the platform.

In addition to bringing on more partners, ParkWhiz will grow the number of garages and parking lots on its platform. The company is already in 190 cities across North America, and with this round, it’s planning to go international. Shtern would not provide specifics, but did say an announcement would be made before the end of the year.

While the funding announcement doesn’t come with a significant hiring announcement, Shtern said the team will grow as the business does. ParkWhiz’s Chicago office has a headcount of around 110 people. ParkWhiz was founded in 2006 and has raised $56 million.

“Parking in North America is about a $35 billion industry, and globally it’s about $100 billion,” said Shtern. “This year we’re on track to do $100 million in bookings, and we’re not even scratching the surface.”

---

SpotHero Raises Another $10M

https://www.americaninno.com/chicago...s-another-10m/

It’s been a busy summer for SpotHero.

The parking startup outfitted 500 Chicago parking facilities with new driverless car-enabled technology, announced a partnership with Waze to install bluetooth beacons on Lower Wacker Drive to improve cellphone signals, and is in talks with electric scooter companies to potentially use SpotHero garages as places to park e-scooters when not in use.

That news follows other big partnerships SpotHero announced this calendar year, including deals with Hertz and Google Assistant.

...

This week SpotHero raised an additional $10 million in funding, bringing its total amount raised to $68 million since it launched in 2011. Lawrence said the round was backed by existing investors, though he declined to name the specific backers.

...

SpotHero is one of Chicago’s most promising startups. The company employs more than 200 people and says it has helped park more than 20 million cars to date.