CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Lol, cruel...Has Atl 3000 backtracked from "I'VE SEEN THE SIGNED LEASE!!!!!" yet? I'm legitimately concerned for his wellbeing if it doesn't end up in Atlanta. They've been under the impression that it's going to Atlanta for a while. Atl and Skyscraper were the first to throw punches in the Amazon thread and then cry foul when someone punched back. They both went off on bnk a few times...the insecurity is next level.

Please refrain from mentioning my name out of context in a thread I haven't even posted in (until now).

If you have something to say about me or to me, that's what PM is for.

Thanks!

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

I fully understand what a data center is (look up what my handle means) and that it's not a huge employer (and furthermore will likely not employ many from the neighborhood). I think things like this can make a big psychological difference though. With, this, the UC Arts Block and the new artists residences at Garfield and Michigan, Garfield will be mostly intact between the Red and Green lines.

Yeah I was going to say - data centers don't typically employ many people. But I agree as long as they renovate the thing and make it look better then it'll have positive impact for the area in some way. Just don't expect a noticeable uptick in activity around there once they're done with the construction work.



Now, some other news.
Betts Recruiting Opens Chicago Office

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...300689409.html

Betts Recruiting (Betts Recruiting, Inc.), the leading recruitment firm specializing in revenue-generating talent for high growth companies, today announced the opening of its sixth U.S. location with its new Chicago office.

From this new office, Betts will be able to better service Midwest clients, across Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio and of course be connected with Betts' locations in California, New York and Texas. Betts is the first specialty recruitment firm of its kind to partner solely with full-time professionals in Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success ranging from junior level to VP to help them find career growth with innovative startups in the Midwest.

Betts has been helping companies in Chicago hire top sales talent for a few years now and have received a lot of demand from both clients and candidates. With the recent uptick in startups growing a presence in the Midwest, Betts wanted to expand its offerings for companies based in Chicago or looking to expand into the Midwest and build out a presence so they can grow their revenue teams efficiently with top talent. Some of Betts' Chicago clients include G2 Crowd, Origami Risk, Dynamic Signal, Flexport and RIVS.

"At Betts, we take pride in not just finding the top sales talent, but also helping these companies maintain their company culture as they scale," said Betts Recruiting Founder and CEO, Carolyn Betts Fleming. "Chicago is home to many of the most innovative companies in the country and we will leverage our unparalleled network, industry expertise and decades of collective recruiting experience from day one."

Betts Recruiting's six offices in the US include San Francisco, Palo Alto, Austin, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. These headquarters also cover areas such as Denver, CO, Boulder, CO, Salt Lake City, UT, Provo, UT, Dallas, TX, Phoenix, AZ, Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA, Seattle, WA, and Atlanta, GA.

[marothisu]

U.K. Software Startup Sets Up Chicago Office

https://www.americaninno.com/chicago...hicago-office/

Not huge news, but still good/interesting to see:

With a £3 million investment, a U.K.-based company has kicked off its expansion across the pond.

Based just outside of Glasgow in East Kilbride, SHE Software, a cloud-based business-to-business health and safety software company, quietly opened its Chicago office in April with the goal of tapping into the U.S. market.

SHE Software currently has nine U.S. employees, four of whom work in its downtown office. The company plans to add another two or three hires within the next two to three months, and is considering opening up other offices elsewhere in the U.S., said SHE Software CEO Matthew Elson, adding that it’s “up in the air” where the company will land next.

“We wanted somewhere that was reasonably close in terms of time zone to the U.K.,” Elson said. “Chicago is extremely well-connected. It’s a great hub, because we need quite a lot of traveling. It’s also a great metropolitan for talent.”

[bnk]

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...300686483.html

Skender Announces New Advanced Manufacturing Facility for Modular Building, Creates 100 New Jobs on Chicago's Southwest Side

Chicago-based Skender announced the creation of 100 new jobs in the City of Chicago, made possible with the opening of the new Skender advanced manufacturing facility, … . The new advanced manufacturing operations will be located at 3348 S. Pulaski, on Chicago's southwest side; approximately 100 new jobs will be created related to the production of modular buildings for multifamily, healthcare and commercial buildings. Production is scheduled to start as early as November 2018 for Skender Manufacturing's first project, a six-story, 110-unit, 80,000-square-foot West Loop multifamily building.
…

New Chicago plant, 100 new advanced manufacturing jobs

To host the new operations, Skender recently signed a lease for 105,560 square feet at 3348 S. Pulaski, a multi-tenant industrial facility located on the southwest side of Chicago. Hiring is underway to fill 100 positions at the facility within 18 months, and manufacturing will launch as early as November 2018.

...

[Vlajos]

This is pretty cool.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifest...802-story.html

[the urban politician]

I haven’t posted these but Crains has posted multiple articles about the huge numbers of rehabs going on on some of the most challenged neighborhoods on the south side and south burbs.

We are seeeing a ton of properties being preserved for the next generation, even while yes, many are being lost.

Still, it’s nice to know that there is a highly active, stabilizing force in many areas, and people are actually making money doing this!

Kudos to them, and keep up the great work.

[Halsted & Villagio]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I haven’t posted these but Crains has posted multiple articles about the huge numbers of rehabs going on on some of the most challenged neighborhoods on the south side and south burbs.

We are seeeing a ton of properties being preserved for the next generation, even while yes, many are being lost.

Still, it’s nice to know that there is a highly active, stabilizing force in many areas, and people are actually making money doing this!

Kudos to them, and keep up the great work.

Good post TUP. On this we can most definitely agree And long term, this will really help turn the image around for the entire city.

[SIGSEGV]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/resid...-south-suburbs

Here's one of said articles... How come these guys don't have a show on HGTV? (Maybe they do... my knowledge of HGTV is solely from the dentist's office... but I do have a lot of cavities).

[LouisVanDerWright]

I just started AirBnb in one unit and it's already making about triple what I would be getting in regular rent. Now that's summer, but still quite impressive. Who gives a crap if you don't make as much in fall/spring/winter if you make 3X in the 4 nice months a year? Also then I don't have to deal with any tenants rights bullshit and can just ding their credit card if they break anything.

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/resid...-south-suburbs

Here's one of said articles... How come these guys don't have a show on HGTV? (Maybe they do... my knowledge of HGTV is solely from the dentist's office... but I do have a lot of cavities).

Because HGTV is trash, I actually have gotten calls from reality show producers and none of them are interested in documenting what's going on right now in America's inner cities. Given the rental boom you'd think a show about turning over inner city small multiunit buildings would be a hit. They are only interested in garbage shows that promote the REALTOR TM brand because that's who controls the network and homeownership, i.e. "The American Dream TM", is what they are selling.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

I just started AirBnb in one unit and it's already making about triple what I would be getting in regular rent. Now that's summer, but still quite impressive. Who gives a crap if you don't make as much in fall/spring/winter if you make 3X in the 4 nice months a year? Also then I don't have to deal with any tenants rights bullshit and can just ding their credit card if they break anything.
.

^ I've thought about AirBnb, and have even been approached about doing this, but decided against it.

The city has a lot of rules and regulations about this stuff, and God forbid you get caught without the right permit and get slapped with fines....

[the urban politician]

^ I don’t know, but it’s disappointing that they don’t.

HGTV is oriented around white suburbanites. Screw them

[marothisu]

HGTV is hilarious. I have friends who were the people on an episode of House Hunters in Northern Virginia. The show is all set up. You need to own the home or be closing on it before filming, meaning it's all decided beforehand. The funny thing is that my friends were shown a home that was amazing and perfect, but it was not the one they bought. In the episode, my friend who is hilarious but with a dry sense of humor, brings up a bunch of stupid trivial shit for the show to justify not picking it. You'd be really convinced though they were going to pick that one..but...nope. Chose the one they had just purchased in real life a month before the show. He told me it was perfect and they would have chosen it if they knew about it beforehand.

I guess the only good thing is that the realtor on the show was an actual realtor who they became friends with and ended up using a few years later when they were moving to another house

[left of center]

Isn't it a lot more time consuming as well, as compared to a typical residential rental? I hear from my tenants maybe once every couple of months per building typically (thankfully I have mostly quiet tenants!). With an AirBnB, seems like I'd have to be constantly fielding calls and dropping off keys, answering questions, etc. Whats your experience like, LVDW?

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by left of center

Isn't it a lot more time consuming as well, as compared to a typical residential rental? I hear from my tenants maybe once every couple of months per building typically (thankfully I have mostly quiet tenants!). With an AirBnB, seems like I'd have to be constantly fielding calls and dropping off keys, answering questions, etc. Whats your experience like, LVDW?

It does take a lot more time, which is why I'm only doing it on the first floor of my owner occupied two flat. It's better than tenants because I don't have to worry about their bullshit and I'mm always around to throw the sheets in the laundry or whatever. Owner occupied building also makes the potential government BS easier because the rules are much easier when you live there.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

It does take a lot more time, which is why I'm only doing it on the first floor of my owner occupied two flat. It's better than tenants because I don't have to worry about their bullshit and I'mm always around to throw the sheets in the laundry or whatever. Owner occupied building also makes the potential government BS easier because the rules are much easier when you live there.

I know where you live. I’m calling the city!

[left of center]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

It does take a lot more time, which is why I'm only doing it on the first floor of my owner occupied two flat. It's better than tenants because I don't have to worry about their bullshit and I'mm always around to throw the sheets in the laundry or whatever. Owner occupied building also makes the potential government BS easier because the rules are much easier when you live there.

Makes sense, it would be a hell of a lot easier to live on site and manage an AirBnB apartment. I am not really too close to any of my rentals (they are in the inner west burbs) and fighting traffic on 290 to go to and from there on a regular basis isn't my cup of tea

Potentially could attempt this one day when I acquire an investment property in the city.

Thanks for the info!

[the urban politician]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/comme...wntown-space-0

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by left of center

Isn't it a lot more time consuming as well, as compared to a typical residential rental? I hear from my tenants maybe once every couple of months per building typically (thankfully I have mostly quiet tenants!). With an AirBnB, seems like I'd have to be constantly fielding calls and dropping off keys, answering questions, etc. Whats your experience like, LVDW?

A friend runs an airbnb management business. It is a full-time job no matter how thoroughly you prepare and provide information to guests, and that's before getting into the physical maintenance and repair of the units.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by left of center

Isn't it a lot more time consuming as well, as compared to a typical residential rental? I hear from my tenants maybe once every couple of months per building typically (thankfully I have mostly quiet tenants!). With an AirBnB, seems like I'd have to be constantly fielding calls and dropping off keys, answering questions, etc. Whats your experience like, LVDW?

There are services that will handle everything for you. I am a long-time host, but I live in my listing and only Airbnb my guestroom, not the entire place so my experience is a bit different, but beyond services, there are ways to self-manage that don't require all that much extra effort. Many guests actually prefer it if they can check themselves in, so if you have electronic locks or a good place to leave keys, you can avoid trying to coordinate checkins yourself. I insist on meeting the vast majority of guests myself, so that is what takes the most time in my case, but many hosts don't really spend much time doing that. Even if you don't go the management agency route, you can get housekeepers to do a lot of the prep work. Management or housekeepers eat into your profits, but if it's an investment property you just factor it into the business model and can still earn a nice return. The one downside to renting whole places is that you're more likely to run into inconsiderate or malicious guests. It's still mostly rare, but if it happens, it's far more likely to happen when you're renting out a whole place as an investment and, in the big picture, probably no more likely than having a bad long-term tenant.

[left of center]

Fermilab to upgrade accelerator that will boost particle physics research for years to come
Source: ChicagoTribune

ermilab physicists in Batavia are excited that they have received both federal and international support for an accelerator upgrade project that will provide powerful, high-intensity proton beams to experiments some 800 miles away.

The lab recently received the latest in a series of approvals from the U.S. Department of Energy to proceed with its design of the Proton Improvement Plan II, an accelerator upgrade project that will provide increased beam power to generate an unprecedented stream of neutrinos needed for the next level of particle physics research, according to a Fermilab press release.

The subatomic particles, officials said, could potentially unlock our understanding of the universe and lay the ground work for particle physics research for years to come, officials said.

The accelerator upgrades are a major component of the Fermilab-hosted Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in South Dakota, which is the largest international science experiment ever to be conducted on U.S. soil.

It is the Proton Improvement Plan II that has Fermilab physicists excited because it is the first U.S.-based accelerator project with international partners, officials said.

"We think of PIP-II as the heart of Fermilab: a platform that provides multiple capabilities and enables broad scientific programs," said Lia Merminga, Fermilab PIP-II project director.

...

Fermilab expects to complete the project by the mid-2020s.

Very cool news. Fermilab seemed to amble around looking for purpose ever since the particle accelerator was shut down due to larger ones coming online elsewhere in the world. This project I feel will ensure this huge Chicago area laboratory remains around and active and continue to pull in large amounts of federal dollars for Illinois!