CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[the urban politician]

Nobody reporting this?

Uber to hire 2000 at the OPO, reported today.

Largest office outside of the Bay Area. Nearly all engineers!

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Nobody reporting this?

Uber to hire 2000 at the OPO, reported today.

Largest office outside of the Bay Area. Nearly all engineers!

I think I (and others) had predicted around this number. They had 1200 already in Chicago and signed on for 463K sq ft. Minimum that's 3000 people so the number makes sense. I thought maybe they'd go up to 4000 or 4500 total, but around 3200 is great. Grand total of 2000 new hires is a great thing especially if they get paid well. That's another few high rises. I wonder with all this news how soon the next Riverline building will go U/C

[the urban politician]

^ Gotta love our local media taking a bit of a shot at Dallas (is this claim true?) from today's article in Crains:

Uber has been expanding outside San Francisco for a while, building up its presence in Toronto and, more recently, bringing back-office jobs to Dallas.

[bnk]

https://news.url.google.com/url?sa=j...d_kSKdRKKeD-IQ.


What Uber Freight’s move to Chicago means


John Paul Hampstead, Associate Editor • 5 hours ago

Uber Freight, the digital freight brokerage division of Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER), announced Sept. 9 that it is moving its global headquarters to Chicago from San Francisco. Uber Freight will maintain offices in San Francisco and Amsterdam.

...

In our view, Uber Freight’s move to Chicago is significant for two reasons. First, Uber is making a long-term commitment to growing its digital freight brokerage business. Second, Uber has realized that it will need the expertise of a large number of logistics professionals in order to manage its increasingly complicated operations, which have expanded to Europe and may soon include flatbed.

...

Just as importantly, Uber Freight seems to have realized where that growth will come from over the next few years: Chicago’s deep bench of freight brokerage talent, which is available at a scale that is unique in North America. Official statements characterized Chicago as a “tech hub,” but while that may be true to a certain extent, it is not the case that more high-end tech workers are available in Chicago than San Francisco. What Chicago has to offer is an army of freight brokers who can grind on a floor and generations of leaders who have rapidly scaled logistics businesses.





In our view, by moving from San Francisco to Chicago, Uber Freight is embracing its destiny as a serious, technically sophisticated logistics company. The move accords with our thesis that digital freight brokerages will grow to resemble traditional brokerages more closely by finding ways to use people to create value for their customers.


...

[the urban politician]

^ Crains also reporting that Uber received no incentives for this expansion

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Gotta love our local media taking a bit of a shot at Dallas (is this claim true?) from today's article in Crains:

That's hilarious either way.

Originally Posted by bnk

Uber Freight, the digital freight brokerage division of Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER), announced Sept. 9 that it is moving its global headquarters to Chicago from San Francisco. Uber Freight will maintain offices in San Francisco and Amsterdam.

I was under the impression that Chicago was already the HQ for Uber Freight. If not then that's even more positive. It makes sense though - SF doesn't make much sense to house freight operations for something hoping to be really big.

I think the article points out of the obvious about tech. I don't think it'll be all tech but a lot. Sure you need industry people for freight and logistics but their statement about hiring tech workers mean they're going to be trying to scale big time and be making a lot of new stuff.

[marothisu]

Also if what I'm seeing on levels.fyi is right then some of these jobs will be very nicely paying. Reading from an article about Dallas, it implies that the average compensation would be $133,333 for the 3000 new employees in Dallas. I'm pretty sure the average comp in Chicago will be more than that.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by marothisu

the average compensation would be $133,333 for the 3000 new employees in Dallas. I'm pretty sure the average comp in Chicago will be more than that.

^ ....and without the millions of dollars of incentives paid for by the taxpayer, to boot.

Come to think of it, besides the Amazon HQ2 shitshow, when is the last time Chicago had to fork over major incentives to get a company or jobs moved here? I don't believe that was needed for the Salesforce expansion.

It seems like we've crossed a threshold here...

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ ....and without the millions of dollars of incentives paid for by the taxpayer, to boot.

Come to think of it, besides the Amazon HQ2 shitshow, when is the last time Chicago had to fork over major incentives to get a company or jobs moved here? I don't believe that was needed for the Salesforce expansion.

It seems like we've crossed a threshold here...

I should clarify too before - when i say comp I really meant payroll. The Dallas article said it would generate $400M in payroll revenue for 3000 new workers. The new jobs there I'm sure will be some tech but I think a lot more operations types of jobs. Tech pays more than that - would be good to see these 2000 new jobs have an average salary of closer to $150K or higher in Chicago, not counting bonuses or stock option.

However, it says for Chicago Uber will only invest $200M/year so I'm hoping that doesn't equate to only $100,000 for average comp. That wouldn't fall in line with some things I see as far as salaries go in tech for them.


Regarding the incentives, it's really great that Chicago doesn't even have to offer incentives much right now. That really says a lot about the current state.

[the urban politician]

^ The article specifically says that this will be a major engineering office.

Obviously that doesn't mean 2000 new engineers. Perhaps salaries will average out at $100k with engineers being higher paid and others lower. Definitely possible.

Also, keep in mind that all 2000 new people won't be hired in 1 year.

To be honest, none of us really knows what the hell they mean when they say they will "invest" $200MM per year. But I'm pretty sure that the engineers, at least, will be making a lot more than $100k per year

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ The article specifically says that this will be a major engineering office.

Obviously that doesn't mean 2000 new engineers. Perhaps salaries will average out at $100k with engineers being higher paid and others lower. Definitely possible.

Also, keep in mind that all 2000 new people won't be hired in 1 year.

To be honest, none of us really knows what the hell they mean when they say they will "invest" $200MM per year. But I'm pretty sure that the engineers, at least, will be making a lot more than $100k per year

Different articles say different things. Read the Chicago Tribune article and they do mention tech/engineering but also mention other things before it. I mean that makes sense - if you're an engineering hub then you need product there too usually if building out products, especially if you're all about co-location. They aren't true tech people, though they work with tech people to develop various software. That was really my initial thought when I heard about this. You're making it a tech hub and HQ of one of your lines of business. You're going to have a lot of product management there too, along with some of the management to make it all run, and then a number of tech type of people. Will probably run the full spectrum of people even from content/writer type of folk to visual designers to software developers to QA to pure management to product managers. Maybe the lines are blurred between QA and software developer, but yeah - you get the point. Big operation. Should be a lot of nice paying jobs that could fuel a few more luxury towers downtown (or areas like Logan Square or West Loop) easily.

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ It's not going to fuel anything new in Logan Square, that's for damned sure with the commies running the place. All it's going to fuel up there is every last two flat being converted to a mini mansion.

It will fuel stuff further out on the Pink and Blue lines though, you know, out where same Aldermen still exist.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

^^^ It's not going to fuel anything new in Logan Square, that's for damned sure with the commies running the place. All it's going to fuel up there is every last two flat being converted to a mini mansion.

It will fuel stuff further out on the Pink and Blue lines though, you know, out where same Aldermen still exist.

Maybe it'll fuel some as of right projects or something - who knows. And yeah, it probably WILL fuel some tear down "mansions" there or somewhere like Lincoln Park, Lakeview, etc. But very sure it'll fuel some new high rises downtown no doubt.

Then think about the fact that Facebook, Salesforce, and Google are probably adding around or more than 3000 more employees on top of this..

[BrinChi]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ar...inking/597544/

To see what’s more deeply afflicting these metros, it’s useful to understand the plight of Chicago, whose growth after the Great Recession was just a blip in an otherwise long period of decline. Some of Chicago’s problems are unique among large metros. It sits on the far hip of the Rust Belt, hundreds of miles from the coastal economic juggernauts, and it has a homicide rate twice that of New York or L.A.

But in many ways, Chicago’s problems make it a canary in the metropolitan coal mine. Immigration to the area has declined by half since the early 2000s. High earners have swarmed the Chicago River banks, revitalizing the downtown area, but the more diverse middle class, especially the city’s African American population, is evacuating Chicago’s suburbs. During the Great Migration of the 20th century, when millions of black Americans moved to northern cities, the population of Chicago went from 4 percent black in 1920 to nearly 40 percent black by 1990. But this century has seen a “Reverse Great Migration,” as the metro black population is on pace to halve from its peak of 1.2 million by 2030. This could reflect a flight from high-crime neighborhoods and the racist legacy of redlining throughout Chicagoland. Less pessimistically, it might be a sign that a lot of young black families would just rather live where they can afford more house, like in the suburbs of Atlanta and Houston.

Each of these Chicago phenomena—declining immigration, revitalized downtowns coinciding with a middle-class exodus, and the specific decline of the black population—has spread from the heartland to America’s largest coastal metros.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by BrinChi

Each of these Chicago phenomena—declining immigration, revitalized downtowns coinciding with a middle-class exodus, and the specific decline of the black population—has spread from the heartland to America’s largest coastal metros.[/I]

You gotta love the whiny and provincial media out in NYC. Of course the problems Chicago is facing "started" in Chicago and "infected" everyone else.

[the urban politician]

The real reason to cheer Uber's move

This is why Uber Freight is coming here, and it’s good news for a city still struggling to find its place in a 21st century economy defined by digitization.

JOE CAHILL

You can’t disrupt the freight shipping industry from Silicon Valley.

That’s the most important takeaway from Uber Technologies’ decision to move its fast-growing logistics business to Chicago. San Francisco-based Uber on Monday announced plans to fill more than 450,000 square feet of space at the Old Main Post Office with 2,000 workers.

Sure, it’s a big coup for the real estate developers who transformed the hulking structure astride the Eisenhower Expressway into downtown’s hottest new business address. And it’s another chance for city leaders to tout a high-profile corporate transplant.

But Uber isn’t coming here because it loves Art Deco architecture, or exchanging platitudes with local pols and plutocrats. It’s coming here because it’s serious about the freight business. Anybody who’s serious about the freight business has to be in Chicago.

Chicago has been the hub of cargo transit in the United States since a bunch of Irish immigrants dug a canal connecting Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River system back in the 1840s. The country’s rail, highway and air transport networks converge here.

That convergence gave rise to an industry that orchestrates the movement of goods among various transportation modes. Now called logistics, that industry generates nearly $200 billion annually in the U.S., according to research firm IBIS World.

No wonder Uber wants in. But Uber won’t achieve its goals in logistics without steady supplies of industry-level expertise. Unlike in Uber’s ride-hailing business, a smartphone app alone won’t turn logistics upside down.

Uber doesn’t even have the kind of technological edge in logistics that it enjoyed over traditional taxi companies. As my colleague John Pletz has written, local logistics firms pioneered the application of digital technologies to the intricacies of choreographing continuous flows of freight around the country. Uber has plenty to learn from companies like Coyote Logistics (now a unit of UPS), Echo Global Logistics, Four Kites and Project44.

What better way to tap the expertise of leading logistics companies than to set up shop in their hometown and offer some of their top talent lucrative job opportunities that don’t require a cross-country move?

“Chicago is a significant talent hub,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on Monday. “It's a business-friendly city and a city with a significant logistics talent base.”

To succeed in logistics, Uber needs people who know logistics. And it’s not looking for sales reps to market technologies created elsewhere. It’s recruiting software engineers who know how to build digital systems for logistics. Chicago is the place to find them.

That’s why Uber is coming here, and it’s good news for a city still struggling to find its place in a 21st century economy defined by digitization. Uber’s move confirms that industry knowledge matters as much as digital dexterity in creating technology-based business models. You can’t upend an industry unless you understand it.

Uber is implicitly acknowledging that Silicon Valley has no monopoly on the capabilities needed to drive digital transformation. Places like Chicago have unique expertise essential to digitizing significant sectors of the economy.

Chicago likely won’t ever become a hub for information technology or social media. But it has a strong presence in large markets ranging from packaged foods to pharmaceuticals and futures trading. Chicago companies can lead the technological evolution of those industries, if they follow the lead of local logistics innovators.

As for logistics, a big battle is shaping up between Uber Freight and established rivals. Uber comes with some advantages, including access to deep wells of capital and an apparent willingness to lose money for as long as it takes to win. But grabbing customers from logistics providers won’t be as easy as separating passengers from taxis. Longstanding logistics companies have advantages of their own, such as deep understanding of shippers’ needs and tight relationships with carriers.

Whatever the outcome, Chicago looks like a winner.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/joe-...eer-ubers-move

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

You gotta love the whiny and provincial media out in NYC. Of course the problems Chicago is facing "started" in Chicago and "infected" everyone else.

Yeah - it's pretty funny and a bit crazy. Based on the analysis I did a few months ago, it was pretty obvious that international net migration going down was a main factor in population in places like NYC reducing of late. And anecdotally I have had a number of friends and co-workers here in NYC from other countries have to leave the US and go back to their countries semi suddenly.

Originally Posted by the urban politician

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/joe-...eer-ubers-move

I think it makes sense to anybody who's ever worked on real client facing software. These things aren't created tech-wise in a vacuum. There needs to be product people there to guide how this stuff should work in the first place more from a requirements perspective (and also legal compliance/regulation, etc etc etc). And what's even better is that there could be tech people who have worked in logistics for a long time who also know how this stuff works. Same as every industry though basically.

It basically seems that Uber wants to house the majority, if not all, of the development of Uber Freight in Chicago. It's more than just the headquarters where the heads sit - seems like the entire operation down to the development.

[the urban politician]

A Downers Grove tech company opening a downtown office to hire tech talent:

https://www.americaninno.com/chicago...e-tech-talent/

[the urban politician]

No big announcements, but updates on efforts to expand Chicago’s biotech/life sciences community

https://www.bisnow.com/chicago/news/...00779?rt=71497

[the urban politician]

Thought this was neat. Due to the booming TV/film production going on down in Douglas Park, a company involved in camera and digital prep called PRG is opening a new facility in the area near Cinespace. It will involve rehabbing and modernizing an older building

https://www.prg.com/news_media/news/...cc123ace103e72