CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by twister244

Wow - Thanks for the list articles there......

I agree - Symbolic blow to Illinois, but in the long run for Chicago, probably not as big of a deal as some people are making it out to be.

Yeah, mostly terrible for Peoria I imagine, but the usual suspects (including local newspapers) won't miss an opportunity to beat up on Chicago. Who knows though, Cat might move elsewhere in 5 years...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/La...!4d-96.9588229 looks like my worst nightmare. I guess they're interested in talent with no taste. (Not that Deerfield is any better, really).

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Yeah, mostly terrible for Peoria I imagine. Who knows though, Cat might move elsewhere in 5 years...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/La...!4d-96.9588229 looks like my worst nightmare. I guess they're interested in talent with no taste. (Not that Deerfield is any better, really).

A few years ago I had to travel to this part of Texas for work pretty frequently. Pretty difficult to find something pleasant about the environment.

Notice how close this site is to DFW, which together with ATL is the closest peer ORD has in the U.S. They didn't move to Charlotte or Phoenix, but to another site adjacent to a huge airport hub. Dallas and Chicago are the two best cities to fly out of in the country. Chicago is going to continue to benefit from that asset.

Like the Boeing move, this HQ is moving to a location where they are going to be close to their customers. Texas is where extractive industries like mining and oil-and-gas are located in the U.S. and they are the companies Cat needs to talk to day in and day out. Wish they would do this from Illinois, but there's obviously some sorting going on. Chicago is going to get Chicago stuff and Northern Virginia is going to get Northern Virginia stuff.

It does highlight how Chicago doesn't benefit from having huge and concentrated industry. L.A. has entertainment. Boston has biotech. Houston has oil-change businesses and parking lot developers. NYC has finance. S.F. has tech. Chicago benefits from a diverse economy, but diversity has some downsides too.

[ChiMIchael]

^ The problem with some "diverse ecomonies" is it doesn't mean that much if they entail mostly 2nd/3rd tier industries.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by OrdoSeclorum

A few years ago I had to travel to this part of Texas for work pretty frequently. Pretty difficult to find something pleasant about the environment.

Notice how close this site is to DFW, which together with ATL is the closest peer ORD has in the U.S. They didn't move to Charlotte or Phoenix, but to another site adjacent to a huge airport hub. Dallas and Chicago are the two best cities to fly out of in the country. Chicago is going to continue to benefit from that asset.

Like the Boeing move, this HQ is moving to a location where they are going to be close to their customers. Texas is where extractive industries like mining and oil-and-gas are located in the U.S. and they are the companies Cat needs to talk to day in and day out. Wish they would do this from Illinois, but there's obviously some sorting going on. Chicago is going to get Chicago stuff and Northern Virginia is going to get Northern Virginia stuff.

It does highlight how Chicago doesn't benefit from having huge and concentrated industry. L.A. has entertainment. Boston has biotech. Houston has oil-change businesses and parking lot developers. NYC has finance. S.F. has tech. Chicago benefits from a diverse economy, but diversity has some downsides too.

Dallas does have direct flights to Australia, which is probably no small consideration.

I guess the nice thing about Las Colinas is you can get on a flight somewhere nicer quicker .

[F1 Tommy]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Dallas does have direct flights to Australia, which is probably no small consideration.

I guess the nice thing about Las Colinas is you can get on a flight somewhere nicer quicker .

Chicago is due to have a direct flight to Australia and would have one already but for Covid shutdowns wich were much worse in Australia. I don't think that was the reason for leaving, although DFW has come back stronger than ORD this year for passenger flights. Infact DEN is UAL's biggest hub now, so Chicago better do something better and soon.

[F1 Tommy]

Word on the street is that NASCAR would like to add a street race in downtown Chicago in 2023 or 2024. I guess with Miami adding an F1 race downtown and Las Vegas adding a
F1 race in a year the idea is getting popular again. I myself prefer race tracks like Road America, but the idea and spectacle of the race might be worth it.


This week we get race boats on Navy Pier, maybe next year NASCAR. Things are trying the reload after Covid.

[Chi-Sky21]

F1 through lower and upper Wacker then shooting up and down LSD would be awesome.

[BrinChi]

Would NASCAR pay for some resurfacing? Or do they not care about potholes?

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by BrinChi

Would NASCAR pay for some resurfacing? Or do they not care about potholes?

NASCAR has designed new vehicle models that should handle rough terrain like city roads better.

But they’ve been working on this for years now, scanning the roads, programming iRacing simulations.

NASCAR has basically hit the limit in rural areas and are trying to find city markets to break into.

Chicago simply has wide downtown adjacent roads with a scenic city backdrop that are not too close to businesses and structures in an area that is already used to shutting down for parades and events .

For NASCAR, which has little experience on city streets, Chicago is the easiest city to begin. And converting a stadium parking lot like at Miami is not dramatic enough to make a splash.

For Chicago: “Oh, you need some roads to speed on? Okiedokie, we shut down Lakeshore and Columbus every other weekend. Fan parking is underneath Millennium. The CTA is also an option. Hotels are across the street. Finish line bleachers go at Buckingham Fountain. Trucks go wherever. Find some empty fields for the NASCAR concessions and fanfest. Awesome! Just don’t crash into Michigan Ave. If you drive into the lake, that’s your problem.“



• Video Link
https://youtu.be/KX4OsQIUrTg

[marothisu]

^ Quite interesting that they're trying to do an F1 thing? Admittedly I'm not a huge racing fan and would prefer F1 over this for an international lean, but I could see it getting a ton of fans in to watch it.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by marothisu

^ Quite interesting that they're trying to do an F1 thing? Admittedly I'm not a huge racing fan and would prefer F1 over this for an international lean, but I could see it getting a ton of fans in to watch it.

Nothing like competition to change things up, but it’s an interesting racing market right now.

F1, Indycar, and NASCAR have all come to the conclusion that urban U.S. racing fans are up for grabs and rural fanbases are declining.

But unlike Europe there are no viable historic F1 track circuits in the U.S., and new tracks in optimal urban locations like Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina are unrealistic.

The trouble with street races like Monaco is that the competitive racing tends to be very poor. (Monaco has been a pageant more than a race in the past few decades. Great visuals though.)

So for Miami, F1 did a pop-up course in a stadium parking lot with a focus on celebrities and partying instead of a good race. Las Vegas is coming up but that’s also a parking lot race with a drag race down the strip to spice it up.

Indycar has Long Beach with the same problems as Monaco, and Belle Isle isn’t really that much of an urban race.

NASCAR is tricky because the cars need more space, and it doesn’t have the international star power to get large crowds to a parking lot race.

However, a Chicago Grant Park track could plausibly offer spectacular TV visuals as well as a competitive race.

https://0-i2--prod-dailystar-co-uk-0...dium-Miami.jpg
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dai...n-26885968.amp

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/03/30/22/56023933-0-image-a-30_1648675097514.jpg[/IMG][url]https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/03/30/22/56023933-0-image-a-30_1648675097514.jpg

https://sportshub.cbsistatic.com/i/r/2021/06/02/3477ab77-3546-4124-ba2a-6887b946e6bb/thumbnail/1200x675/b1864bd1d9ce6edfc06b27df43680f56/2021march24-iracing-chicago-main.jpg

[twister244]

The idea of aerial footage of race cars going down LSD along the lake does kinda sound amazing. Not just for the visuals, but it would give Chicago great exposure via media.

[DetroitMan]

After the loss of Boeing and Caterpillar, Chicago will gain a F500 company. Kellog is splitting into 3 separate companies and move their HQ to Chicago...

Kellogg to split into 3 separate companies, move HQ to Chicago

Battle Creek-based Kellogg Co. plans to split itself into three separate companies and move its corporate headquarters to Chicago.

The global packaged food giant said Tuesday that it would spin off part of its cereal business and its business focused on plant-based foods into separate publicly traded companies.

The rest of the company, representing about 80 percent of the company's revenue, would consist of its business focused on snacks, and includes Cheez-It crackers and Eggo waffles.

The cereal and plant-based businesses would remain headquartered in Battle Creek, the company said. The global snacks business would maintain campuses in Battle Creek and Chicago, with Chicago being the corporate headquarters.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/manufa...arters-chicago

[marothisu]

^ The CEO bought a big mansion of over $6M in Lincoln Park like 3+ years ago. I am pretty sure I made a post about it back then on how I questioned whether they're moving here or not. I'll have to dig it up.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/real-...717-story.html

Tribune also wrote about it and questioned it but Kellogg denied it at the time.

But yeah, good. Contrary to popular belief, the sky is not falling here.

[Handro]

Having NASCAR fans--which I maybe unfairly imagine overlap pretty significantly with right wing media consumer--see that Chicago is a beautiful city where it is possible to exist without getting shot might be helpful in starting to combat the political narrative that Chicago is a "hellhole" (-Ted Cruz)

Agree that F1 would be a little more exciting for the international attention-grabbing but this would still be a cool spectacle

[galleyfox]

Many of the Abbott employees have decided they want to work downtown.

Abbott opening big Willis Tower office
The health care company is not moving its headquarters into the building.

Abbott Laboratories is opening a big new office at Willis Tower that could bring as many as 450 jobs downtown, a move meant to provide a remote work option for employees away from its north suburban headquarters.

The company has leased more than 100,000 square feet on two floors in the city's tallest skyscraper, according to an internal memo to employees.

Abbott will build out the new space on the 25th and 26th floors an open it the third quarter of 2023, according to the letter from Abbott CEO Robert Ford.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/comm...s-tower-office

[SIGSEGV]

There's some joke here about Abbott and Formula 1 racing...

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by marothisu

^ The CEO bought a big mansion of over $6M in Lincoln Park like 3+ years ago. I am pretty sure I made a post about it back then on how I questioned whether they're moving here or not. I'll have to dig it up.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/real-...717-story.html

Tribune also wrote about it and questioned it but Kellogg denied it at the time.

But yeah, good. Contrary to popular belief, the sky is not falling here.

Did they copy and paste the hand-wringing from Chicago newspapers in https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...ek/7685675001/ ?

[twister244]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

Many of the Abbott employees have decided they want to work downtown.

Abbott opening big Willis Tower office
The health care company is not moving its headquarters into the building.


https://www.chicagobusiness.com/comm...s-tower-office

This is awesome! Another anecdotal piece of evidence suggesting people actually want to be in the city, even if they are working remotely. Would be cool if HQ's out of state do something like this moving forward too.

[Randomguy34]

Lol Crains has big stories today for two major office announcements, downtown rents are record high, and Illinois hospitals bracing for out-of-state doctors, but the 1st story they have for their front page is "Chicago's housing boom is over"