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Carbondale and the Route 13 Corridor

Another up-and-coming area in southern Illinois is the Route 13 Growth Corridor, which includes the cities of Carbondale, Herrin and Marion.

"Route 13 is a state highway that runs east and west and links up with the interstate system," says John Linehan, executive director of the Carbondale Business Development Corp. (www.carbondale-cbdc.org). "The three cities are collaborating to market this corridor." One of the communities' targeted industries is plastics, which already has a sizable presence in Carbondale (see plastics feature on pg. 326).

In Carbondale, home of Southern Illinois University and its 22,000 students, officials are laying the groundwork to accommodate more growth.

"We have just invested in a new 40-acre (16-hectare) business park on the east side of town that complements our fully serviced industrial park on the north side of town," Linehan reports. "The new park is intended to be a kind of light industrial or back-office type of business park. We also have an option on an additional 60 acres (24 hectares) directly across the road from the new park, so it'll be a 100-acre (41-hectare) park by the time we're done."

Although Carbondale officials only bought the property in mid-1999, the park already has its first tenant. Midwest Internet, an Internet service provider, is building a 30,000-sq.-ft. (2,787-sq.-m.) multi-tenant facility in which it will occupy 20,000 sq. ft. (1,858 sq. m.). "The company will bring about 250 jobs to the site, and well over 200 new jobs will be created," Linehan says. "We think this park will be a strong magnet to attract additional high-tech companies."

Another new initiative in Carbondale (pop. 27,000, not counting the Southern Illinois students) is the "Carbondale to Cyberdale in the 21st century" program. "It's a consortium of people that meet for breakfast each month to talk about all the issues connected with e-commerce or e-business," Linehan explains. "We have people from Southern Illinois University, as well as the business sector. We're finding it to be an excellent forum to discuss these critical issues, and we're taking a very proactive stance as far as making sure we have adequate infrastructure to support new business from a technology standpoint." SS

ComEd's High-Voltage Help for Business Electric utilities have long been key players in the facility-location equation, and Chicago-based Commonwealth Edison is no exception. In fact, it's now ratcheting up its suite of programs and services to help both new and existing customers. For instance, Comm-Ed has launched a proactive business retention program, in partnership with the municipalities in its service territory. "Along with the municipality, we select business customers to call on to discuss whatever is of importance to them," Director of Economic Development George W. Lofton says. The utility has also begun a new program to redevelop brownfield sites. The initiative will place special emphasis on brownfields within energy renewal zones -- "areas in the delivery system that have underutilized facilities," Lofton explains. Comm-Ed is also expanding its international business development activities. "What that amounts to is developing business opportunities for small and mid-sized customers, working with the state of Illinois' international trade centers," Lofton says. "Being in the heart of Chicago, we are surrounded by every foreign embassy there is, and we want to work with them to develop opportunities for our customers." For example, Comm-Ed recently co-sponsored (with the Chicago Manufacturing Center) a matchmaking project that paired automobile parts manufacturers with similar companies from South Africa. "We worked with the South African consulate on that project," Lofton reports. "We assumed a sponsorship role and worked together to bring customers to the initiative."