CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[left of center]

Wow! That's awesome news. Obviously a lot of this is from the economy rebounding post Covid, but hopefully its also indicative of strong undercurrents of the Chicago economy in general. Strong economic growth = jobs = reversing the population stagnation/decline!

[marothisu]

Do any other areas have this indicator or just Chicago? I've only ever seen it for Chicago but it would be good to be able to compare to other areas..

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Do any other areas have this indicator or just Chicago? I've only ever seen it for Chicago but it would be good to be able to compare to other areas..

I believe all states and some of the biggest cities in the U.S. have a PMI survey.

The Chicago PMI is perceived as a good proxy to judge the entire U.S. company, so it’s accompanied by the largest publicity and analysis.

https://meric.mo.gov/data/pmi

[tjp]

Totally anecdotal, but I was downtown this weekend and all the brunch places were packed, and my friend who lives in River North said they've noticed an uptick in tourists.

[the urban politician]

May 05, 2021 12:39 PM UPDATED 22 MINUTES AGO
BMO Harris calls biz bankers back to the office
In the latest plan among large financial services firms, Chicago's second-largest bank will return about 1,000 workers to its downtown headquarters beginning next month.
STEVE DANIELS


Chicago’s second-largest bank is returning its business bankers and associated staff to the office, beginning next month.

BMO Harris Bank’s commercial bankers will come back to downtown Chicago one month before the city’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, is requiring its workers to return to the office. Chase CEO Jamie Dimon announced late last month that all U.S. workers would be expected back in offices in July.

BMO Harris’ plans so far pertain only to its commercial banking staff. Separate plans are in the works for wealth management and other parts of the bank. Many retail bankers already have been working in person.

That affects 2,000 workers nationally, about half of whom are in Chicago, a spokesman said. BMO Harris employs about 7,000 in total in the Chicago area.

Another large downtown employer, Citadel, also is planning to return most workers to the office beginning in June. Between Citadel, Chase and BMO Harris, well over 10,000 workers previously at home will be downtown this summer, at least for portions of the week.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/fina...rs-back-office


10,000 workers right there. Get those trains ready!

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/fina...rs-back-office


10,000 workers right there. Get those trains ready!

Yeah, a few of these are actually hybrid as of now, not fully on 100% back to the office at once (as noted in the last sentence "at least for portions of the week"). I'd say you would get about half of this 10K number on any given week day between these 3 companies to start with, which is still good news.

[Tom In Chicago]

For what it's worth we're back in the office full time now. . .

. . .

[left of center]

Good news for the CBD and all the stores, bars and restaurants down there. Things are slowly moving back in the right direction! City should start seeing a decent increase in sales tax revenues this year as compared to last, although probably not going to match 2019's numbers until next year at the earliest.

[the urban politician]

I think we will book a weekend downtown this summer.

I miss the outdoor bar at Millennium Park on a hot day.

[marothisu]

By the way, this is what I was talking about a few weeks ago in that we'll see more and more announcements soon for this. We will see many return, and a lot in a hybrid sense (and as you can see, both JP Morgan Chase and BMO are doing the hybrid arrangement. Salesforce already talked about it a few months ago). Time will tell if the hybrid model for many companies will stick or if it'll just be a more "temporary" (1-2 year) type of thing. Nobody knows the answer to that, but my guess is that it'll be longer term for certain types of organizations but not others. These types of work arrangements come and go anyway. 20 years ago, people were into "telecommuting". Then about 8-10 years ago, people went more into a full work in the office arrangement. Now COVID-19 hit and has made people in certain types of jobs re-think this. Nothing saying that 5 years from now people will go to some other type of working arrangement.

[Handro]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

For what it's worth we're back in the office full time now. . .

. . .

My girlfriend, who has been nearly fully remote since March 2020, is back full time July 7th (probably 500ish employees in their downtown office)

[Handro]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I think we will book a weekend downtown this summer.

I miss the outdoor bar at Millennium Park on a hot day.

I'm very eager to experience the pent up energy downtown in July/August.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

I believe all states and some of the biggest cities in the U.S. have a PMI survey.

The Chicago PMI is perceived as a good proxy to judge the entire U.S. company, so it’s accompanied by the largest publicity and analysis.

https://meric.mo.gov/data/pmi

Yup, also many indicators like this are tied to Federal Reserve regions because that's how the Federal Resrve reports a lot of statistics too. Chicago is one of the bigger Fed regions so the stats here get a lot of import. Like you said too, Chicago is the economic "capitol" of the heartland and therefore reflects the broader national economy better than just about anywhere else. Obviously you take data from NY (finance) or SF (tech) it's going to be wildly skewed as it would be if you took it from places like Detroit (autos) or Houston (Oil) which are massively skewed to one industry or the other. Chicago has a little bit of everything so it's a great proxy for economists interested in the broader economy.

[the urban politician]

Big electric vehicle plant planned for Joliet, 700 jobs:

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/manu...-slated-joliet

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Big electric vehicle plant planned for Joliet, 700 jobs:

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/manu...-slated-joliet

A new, modern auto factory is good news because even if it this company flops, something is going to be be built there in the future. Combined with the Rivian plant, it would be great if Illinois got some more electric-vehicle-supply-chain stuff as well. I don't know enough about it, but it seems reasonable to hope that if we had a large battery plant here, there might be some synergies with Argonne's large energy storage research division that would provide a spark.

[the urban politician]

^ Definitely.

Crains is now saying that the plant will employ more than 800

EVs are obviously the future (even though ICEs are cooler--see my sig ), and Illinois needs to get as many jobs in this new industry as possible, because we are are going to lose a TON of supply chain jobs related to the move away from the ICE (as we discussed a few months back)

[Halsted & Villagio]

Chicago is prospering. I see it with my business -- revenues better than ever, growing, adding employees - on vacation/about to hit the links here in Florida. There was a time when the pandemic first started when I thought the sky might be falling. But to the contrary, things have been better than ever. And I see it with my colleagues as well. And yes, I want to go back to the little lady Lightfoot because she does not get enough credit for helping keep things chugging along (and even growing) in Chicago -- Lori Lightfoot is doing an amazing job!

Many are fond of overlooking what she is has done. I, myself, was once in that category... but she has won me over -- she has grown into the job... and Chicago is so much the better for it.

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Definitely.

Crains is now saying that the plant will employ more than 800

EVs are obviously the future (even though ICEs are cooler--see my sig ), and Illinois needs to get as many jobs in this new industry as possible, because we are are going to lose a TON of supply chain jobs related to the move away from the ICE (as we discussed a few months back)

This is great to hear! This will be the largest commercial EV plant in the US. This is a hopeful sign that many of the green jobs that will be created the next decade will likely come to Illinois, and specifically Chicago-area

[jpIllInoIs]

More from The Patch

Since 2016, Lion Electric has manufactured medium and heavy-duty vehicles including public transportation buses and school buses at its primary vehicle assembly plant in St. Jerome, Quebec. Vehicles assembled by Lion are 100 percent electric, and that will be true once vehicle production gets underway in Joliet.

The Joliet facility will house manufacturing, research and development and engineering.


Lion Electric will be opening its first electric vehicle manufacturing facility in the United States at the 906,517-square-foot spec building currently under construction in the 3800 block of Youngs Road. The building within the city limits of Joliet has a targeted completion date of August, according to Clarius Park Joliet.

Why would a company in Canada with no current vehicle assembly plants in the United States choose to locate at this particular property in Joliet, Illinois?

Location, location, location.

According to the Clarius Park Joliet marketing brochure, the future Lion Electric vehicle manufacturing plant located at 3835 Youngs Road is:

1.5 miles from the U.S. Highway 6 interchange
2 miles from the Bluff Road interchange
4 miles from the Houbolt Road interchange
3 miles from the Interstate 80/Interstate 55 interchange
13.4 miles from the Union Pacific intermodal
10.3 miles from the BNSF intermodal
42 miles from Midway International Airport
48 miles from downtown Chicago
51 miles from OHare International Airport
Lion Electric calls itself an innovative manufacturer of zero-emission vehicles. The company says it creates, designs and manufactures all-electric class 5 to class 8 commercial urban trucks and all-electric buses and minibuses for the school, paratransit and mass transit segments.

[jpIllInoIs]

This just keeps getting better...
From electrek.co the EV industry site

Lion Electric’s newly announced plant in Illinois
In a press release from the company this morning, Lion Electric has announced plans to erect a medium to heavy-duty manufacturing plant in Joliet, Illinois, about an hour southwest of Chicago. According to the manufacturer, its new facility will represent the largest dedicated production site for zero-emission medium and heavy-duty vehicles in the US. Furthermore, it will serve as Lion’s largest footprint in the commercial EV market.

The 900,000-square-foot facility, for which building ramp-up is anticipated in the second half of 2021, is expected to add a minimum of 745 clean energy jobs to the region over the next three years, with an annual production capacity of up to 20,000 all-electric buses and trucks.

Marc Bedard, CEO and founder of Lion, elaborates:
Lion is the leader in electric school buses and has always been dedicated to the US market, and our commitment to be close to our customers is one of the core values we have as a company. This significant expansion into the US market will not only allow us to drastically increase our overall manufacturing capacity of electric trucks and buses but to also better serve our customers, while adding critical clean manufacturing jobs that will form the backbone of the green economy. I also want to acknowledge the crucial role that P33 and Intersect Illinois, civic groups committed to developing developing a long-term road map for the local tech industry, played in connecting Lion with the Chicago area’s business and civic community to help further commercial traction, as well as engagement with key workforce and supplier partners.

Bedard is referring to P33, a civic group developing a long-term road map for the tech industry in Chicago. Penny Pritzker, former US secretary of commerce and sister to Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, serves as a chair on the P33 board. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) also worked with the state’s economic development partner, Intersect Illinois on the site selection process to develop a comprehensive proposal for Lion Electric. As a result, the Lion Electric plant has also qualified for the Illinois’ EDGE incentive program, which helps support companies making large-scale capital investments that provide a substantial amount of new jobs.

Lion Electric anticipates its new plant will begin rolling its first electric vehicles off the production line in the second half of 2022. You can view the official plant announcement from Lion Electric here:


Electrek’s Take
As a native son to Illinois, it’s encouraging to see another major EV manufacturing facility join Rivian in bringing jobs to the state. From the looks of today’s announcement, Lion is full steam ahead in commercial EVs, and plans to make Joliet its new hub for the US.

The Biden administration is calling for electrified fleets throughout the government and nation, especially electric school buses – a market in which Lion Electric has a prominent history. This facility could seriously expedite the electrification of our nation’s current diesel buses, as well as other commercial vehicles like utility bucket trucks.

The ground is starting to soften in the Land of Lincoln, just in time for Lion Electric to break ground. We promise to keep tabs on the facility’s progress. Perhaps I can even visit it when it’s complete and give you readers a firsthand look. Until then!