CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[Chi-Sky21]

Originally Posted by marothisu

In no way am I not saying there's not potential indirect benefits. However, I'm saying that expecting Microsoft to hire 500 software devs on Chicago because they're opening up a massive data center in Elk Grove Village is not something you should actually expect..

That was not my point to begin with so I think we are kinda on the same page, just pointing out different aspects.

[marothisu]

Building permit was issued 2 days ago to start building out the Discover call center on the south side at 8560 S Cottage Grove Ave in Chatham. It will have 1000 jobs with a starting wage of $17.25/hr.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Building permit was issued 2 days ago to start building out the Discover call center on the south side at 8560 S Cottage Grove Ave in Chatham. It will have 1000 jobs with a starting wage of $17.25/hr.

Now that's positive news. 1,000 residents that can be given a decent stable job that mainly requires training and not necessarily a degree. If we could build a dozen more employment nodes like this around the South and West side it would put a noticible dent in the powerty trap.

[Randomguy34]

Discover’s Chatham call center notching company’s highest customer ratings

For Aaron Curtis, getting a job as a coach at Discover Financial Services’ new call center in his Chatham neighborhood chopped his one-hour commute to 10 minutes.

That means more time for the husband and father of two to spend with his 9-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. He rarely saw them while commuting to his job as a call center supervisor at a downtown telecommunications firm for the past three-and-a-half years.

“In the morning, I’d rush out to get to work on time. And in bad traffic, the commute was an hour and a half. Add that to an eight- to 10-hour shift, and that’s your whole day,” said Curtis. “When I came home, it was either time to go to bed, or the family was already in bed,” said the 30-year-old, who has an associate’s degree in computer science.

Curtis is among 100 employees hired — so far — by the Fortune 500 company at its newest office, which last week passed the 100-day mark. The milestone isn’t the only thing being celebrated by its staff.

The employees are predominantly Black and Latino, and 79% of them living within 5 miles of the call center, at 8560 S. Cottage Grove. That office is a bit of a unicorn, situated as it is in a disinvested community — but it’s also a big success.

The Chatham center is beating all other Discover call centers nationwide in customer satisfaction, as gauged in surveys, and is at the top in staff retention, as well.

“That tells me we made a great decision,” Discover CEO and President Roger Hochschild told the Chicago Sun-Times. Those ratings are based on early data coming out of the office.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/busines...y-credit-cards

[marothisu]

^ Had no idea some of it already opened. That's great. I hope they can ramp up the other 900 hires in the next year.

[Randomguy34]

Two great pieces of news in this short article

‘Sundays on State’ concludes with a $12 million economic booster

Turning a stretch of State Street into a pedestrian mall with attractions and activities once a week had a direct economic impact of at least $12 million on businesses and landmarks in the Loop, according to the organizer of the eight-week event.
....
At 32 percent of normal, CLA says office occupancy in the Chicago area is the highest in the nation.

https://www.loopnorth.com/news/sundays0920.htm

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

At 32 percent of normal, CLA says office occupancy in the Chicago area is the highest in the nation.

I think Loop North misunderstood the occupancy statistics. In August, Chicago was among the highest of ten major office markets tracked by Kastle Systems, but nowhere near the highest. In September, LA, DC, Philly, Dallas, Houston and Austin are higher.

At 32 percent of normal, Chicagoland’s office human occupancy leads the nation, along with Texas and the Philadelphia metro area, despite dropping 4 percentage points compared to July.

https://loopchicago.com/in-the-loop/...rations-report




https://www.kastle.com/safety-wellne...-back-to-work/

[Chisouthside]

great news. im glad there werent any major crime incidents that could've gotten turned into negative national media fodder.

[the urban politician]

Key McDonald's vendor close to Fulton Market HQ deal

Havi Group is nearing a deal to follow the fast-food giant from the west suburbs to the former meatpacking district and bring what could be hundreds of jobs downtown.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/comm...dor-havi-group

Approx. 500 jobs

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Key McDonald's vendor close to Fulton Market HQ deal

Havi Group is nearing a deal to follow the fast-food giant from the west suburbs to the former meatpacking district and bring what could be hundreds of jobs downtown.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/comm...dor-havi-group

Approx. 500 jobs

An ag tech firm called Hazel Technologies just signed a 50K sq ft lease for 320 N Sangamon right near this too. At year end they're shooting for 70 employees in their company and a 50K sq ft lease could signal more beyond that.

They are moving from IIT's tech park

[bnk]

A Billion dollar warehouse deal in Wilmington Illinois


https://www.chicagobusiness.com/comm...eal-wilmington

[left of center]

Neat! That's a heck of an investment!

Here is a free-to-read article that talks about that development:

https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2021...strial-market/

[marothisu]

Nearing in on Chicago having another unicorn. Maybe next year at this rate. Counting everything at least to my knowledge, Chicago area is now over $5.2B in known VC funding for the year. There are obviously rounds of unknown amounts. I'm guessing that Lanza fuel startup got tons of money, but it wasn't disclosed.

Provi Announces $75M In New Funding On $750M Valuation To Take The Alcohol Industry Online

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...301381087.html

Provi, the leading online ordering platform for the beverage alcohol industry, announced today that it has raised $100M in funding in 2021 between two rounds, including $75M in Series C funding at a valuation of $750M, led by D1 Capital Partners with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Nosara Capital and CPMG, and $25M in Series B funding earlier this year, led by CPMG, with participation from Bessemer and Nosara Capital. The Series C includes participation from former Instacart President Nilam Ganenthiran, who was appointed to Provi's Board of Directors, and represents a 3.5x valuation growth in six months.

Provi's online marketplace streamlines the beverage ordering process between retailers and distributors via its robust communication platform. Provi allows restaurants and bars to order all their beverages in one place, instead of ordering via phone or paper invoices from 8-20 distributors, which saves each on-premise establishment 20 staff hours per month on average. Uniquely, Provi is also the only company that has a complete picture of on-premise/retailer beverage data.

..

Amidst the hospitality industry facing a labor shortage and an annual doubling of products on the market, Provi has experienced 3x growth over the past year and with this latest investment, the company predicts that it will increase its revenue by 20x in the next 12 months.

..

Provi has raised $125M to date and is the industry's largest B2B beverage marketplace, currently servicing 10 percent of the bars and restaurants in the US market, on track to grow to 25 percent of the market by the end of 2022. The company has relationships with 85 percent of major US distributors, including Breakthru Beverage and Empire Merchants, and has retail customers across the United States. As Provi continues to expand throughout the market, the growth capital will be instrumental for hiring and scaling its platform.

[galleyfox]

Expect news soon on a Texas company relocating to @chicago - deal was recently signed!
https://twitter.com/chicagosamir/sta...751826958?s=21

So, apparently the advertisements in Texas produced something. Huh.

[Randomguy34]

^ there's a chance it's Salesforce. They're already planning to expand in the city, and they announced today they're helping move employees to other states


EXCLUSIVE: Marc Benioff talks Dreamforce, relocating Texas employees in wake of abortion law

Benioff also talked about his decision to relocate any Texas Salesforce employees who are upset about the new abortion law in the Lone Star state.

"If somebody's calling me and saying, 'hey I'm being oppressed or discriminated against with this crazy law,' or whatever it is, then I'm like, 'hey where would you rather live?" Benioff explained, continuing that he wants them to stay with Salesforce,

He says he's already had plenty of takers and the company is working to ensure all of its employees are living in an environment where they feel safe.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ex...9?fr=operanews

[Handro]

f

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

^ there's a chance it's Salesforce. They're already planning to expand in the city, and they announced today they're helping move employees to other states


EXCLUSIVE: Marc Benioff talks Dreamforce, relocating Texas employees in wake of abortion law

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ex...9?fr=operanews

That was actually announced a couple of weeks ago when the law took effect. And since Salesforce already has an office here and their HQ is in California, I don’t think it’s them.

[sentinel]

I'm so curious now to know what company it is..

[marothisu]

That's quite interesting - I hope it's a sizable company and not some 40 person company that nobody's ever heard of, with $10M in revenue every year. If that's the case then it's non news because that sort of thing happens quite a bit with relocations around the country.

[left of center]

Wow, very cool and interesting ... and how long is "soon" exactly? Wonder when they are going to announce it.

[bnk]

Finally poaching an out of state deal, esp from texas. Much better than relocation of suburban jobs that often net the region no major new jobs.


Out of state and international is where World Business Chicago should be focusing more of its efforts and ads. The ad funding for relocations and travel is anemic at best now.

Although with such a small amount of money dedicated to doing just that, Chicagoland still does well at least in business relocations and expansion. I'd love to see a better infusion of cash for both travel and business.


http://www.worldbusinesschicago.com/


They could also improve their website IMO.