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(ABOVE) The Chicago Sun-Times recently moved into its new $100 million production facility
on Chicago's Southwest side. The plant was designed and built by Chicago-based McClier.

Development Continues
In Collar Counties

A variety of groups are working to spur development outside the city limits as well. Enterpriz Cook County, for example, was recently formed to encourage economic development in all of Cook County.

Cook is the second-largest county in the United States, says Enterpriz President Donald Petkus, "and while there were many different economic development agencies working individually throughout the county -- local groups, chambers of commerce -- there was no one organization working to increase the efficiency of development throughout the county." The group will work with these existing organizations, as well as on its own, to market the county and aid business development.

Enterpriz, a public-private partnership, partially funded by the Cook County Board, is particularly interested in business retention, Petkus says.

"There's lots of effort put into attracting businesses, but perhaps not as much on those who want to stay. We see companies operating in older, close-in locations who see the need to modernize. They could move out, but they don't have the desire, because they'd have to move their work force out as well, so there's a renewed interest in constructing facilities close in." Petkus also sees companies who have moved farther out from the city that are interested in coming back in toward the city -- particularly those heavily dependent on city-based professions such as law, accounting and advertising.

Other areas of the six-county collar region of Chicago have drawn substantial projects as well. In west suburban Naperville, a package of state and local incentives has helped fund an expansion for Tellabs, which designs and manufactures telecommunications equipment. The 800,000-sq.-ft. (74,320-sq.-m.) facility -- the company's second major expansion in DuPage County -- will create as many as 2,300 new jobs. The incentive package included EDGE tax credits, infrastructure and job training assistance, municipal sales tax rebates and a High Impact Business designation, which provides investment tax credits and tax exemptions for the purchase of building materials and manufacturing equipment.

Sprint PCS cited Illinois' central location and the quality of its work force when the company announced it was locating its first Midwest customer care center in southwest suburban Bolingbrook, creating 1,200 new jobs. The 105,000 sq.-ft. (9,755-sq.-m.) facility opened last December.

Quad Cities:
Rolling On the River

The Chicago area won't be the only part of the state to show its strengths in the e-commerce arena. The Quad Cities, for example, will play an important role in another link in the e-commerce chain -- distribution.

"In terms of e-commerce," says Rob Lamb, vice president of the Quad City Development Group, "there's going to be tremendous growth in warehouse distribution to meet demand -- and not only from e-companies, but also from traditional brick and mortar stores who have gone into e-commerce to compete." The Quad Cities are poised to meet the challenge, he adds, citing the fiber-optic ring that circles the area, the convergence of three interstates in the cities, and the Quad Cities' proximity to major Midwest markets. "It's a foreign trade zone and a U.S. Customs port of entry as well," says Lamb. "All the mechanisms are in place, and we should have a tremendous advantage in warehouse distribution."

RailTech Development LLC, a consortium of local businesses, is planning to capitalize on the Quad Cities' access advantages with the construction of a $14 million intermodal rail facility on 130 acres (53 hectares) of an abandoned Rock Island switching yard near Silvis. The Quad City Railport, scheduled to open in September, will serve as a truck-rail transfer yard and is planned to be the largest in the Midwest outside of Chicago; it will also hold a container storage yard and a maintenance facility. RailTech says that more than 500 new jobs will be created from the project. The developers have also planned a $3 million-$4 million rail-served industrial park on an additional 180 acres (73 hectares) of the parcel.

Transportation access -- as well as efforts by the state, the Quad Cities Development Group and the city of Rock Island -- also played a major role last year in helping the Quad Cities retain a major corporate resident. Barjan Products announced that it would build a new 200,000-sq.-ft. (18,580-sq.-m.) corporate headquarters, marketing and distribution center in Rock Island. Barjan's headquarters had been in East Moline, but when it was unable to expand at that location, it considered sites in Kansas and Iowa. The company markets and distributes travel-related merchandise to truck stops, so good interstate access is key to its location; the new state-of-the-art distribution facility will also decrease turnaround times to the company's customers, Barjan CEO Steve Huber said when the company announced the project. The move keeps 200 jobs and may add 50 more in the Quad Cities area.

On 25 acres (10 hectares) in the same southwest area of Rock Island, Indianapolis-based Lilly Industries has planned construction of a $10 million-$15 million plant. The company, which manufactures liquid-metal coatings for farm and construction equipment, will move into the new facility in the next two years from a 70,000-sq.-ft. (6,500-sq.-m.) production space in Moline.

"The Quad Cities have proximity to larger markets without the cost," says John Gardner, president of the Quad Cities Development Group. Aside from the advantages for distribution in the area, Gardner adds, he also sees potential for metals manufacturing; a steel mini-mill has been built across the Mississippi River in Iowa, so facilities that do first-phase steel handling operations could work well there -- particularly in light of the number of farm machinery manufacturers and suppliers in the Quad Cities.

New Business
In the South

At the opposite end of the state, in rugged hills of southern Illinois, communities that were once the bastion of coal mining are now mining new areas for business development. Three local economic development groups, for example, have joined forces to attract business to the south central Illinois region. Carbondale, Herrin and Marion have linked up to form the Route 13 Growth Corridor, named for the state highway that runs through the area.

One main thrust of Corridor communities is the growth of the plastics industry in the area. Two companies are in operation there, and area development executives hope to attract more (see plastics sidebar on pg. 539). As other areas of the state are doing, the group is capitalizing on its location.

"Distribution is critical in plastics because of volume and weight," says John Linehan, executive director of the Carbondale Business Development Corp. The corridor, he says, is one day's drive to about 80 percent of the plastics market. Interstate 57 runs through Marion; Interstate 24 starts about eight miles (13 km.) south and I-64 ("a major corridor for the auto industry," says Linehan) is about 40 miles (64 km.) north. Route 13 itself runs east-west from the Ohio River nearly to the Mississippi.

The location lends itself to distribution of other products as well; Circuit City recently opened a 700,000-sq.-ft. (65,000-sq.-m.) distribution center in Marion with expansion potential to one million square feet by 2003. A $6 million package of state and local incentives helped seal the deal. By the time the expansion is complete, the center should offer about 150 full-time jobs and 20 part-time.

But as in other parts of the state, it's not just a question of location. "We feel our work force is one of our major strengths," says Linehan. "The coal business has been our main industry, but over the last 10 years many mines have closed, so unemployment is high." He gives high marks to John A. Logan Community College, in nearby Carterville, one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the country (and ranked No. 5 in the country by Rolling Stone, Linehan points out) for helping to produce trained employees for regional businesses. The school offers a wide variety of industrial training programs, including custom-designed programs through DCCA. "They're the best partner an economic developer could have," Linehan says. He adds that area businesses could also tap research resources of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Also in southern Illinois, Pinckneyville's Universal Music and Video Distribution, which produced CDs, has partnered with Matsushita. The new venture, Matsushita Universal Media Services (MUMS), will produce DVDs as well as CDs at the Pinckneyville plant. MUMS will invest about $76 million in plant upgrades and will add about 500 new jobs, in addition to the 400 employees already working in the plant.

Both Pam McDonough and Linehan also point out southern Illinois' potential for tourism. McDonough notes that manmade attractions such as a riverboat casino and a racetrack have already drawn travelers' interest to the area; Linehan is quick to mention the area's natural charms. "We've got Shawnee National Forest, lakes, plenty of outdoor sports such as fishing, hunting, hiking," he says, as well as a new crop of wineries making a name for themselves. "It's the part of the state that no one knows about," he says. "It's the best-kept secret in Illinois."    SS

-- Sarah Hoban is a freelance writer based in Barrington, Ill.