CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

There have to be reasonable limits on the dream of "growing our way out of it." Chicago is the capital of the Midwest, which is a relatively very stagnant region and has been for some time - there was a hard inflection point in the 1970s with the shift to fiat (fake) money and the growth of global trade in a low-tariff system, with a minor blip in the 1990s where at least much of the Midwest performed close to the national average. Otherwise, almost the entire region has seen growth (or decline) well below the national average, for the better part of 40+ years now.

The pension fiasco is largely an Illinois-specific problem - some other states have major messes as well albeit with differing important details and history - but the economic growth challenge one is super-regional.

A bipartisan Great Lakes caucus in Congress that was unified in advocating for things like (off the top of my head):

- Winding back imbalanced free trade. Trade with peers Canada, Germany, Japan etc. is good for the Midwest in high-value-add products and services. Trade with Mexico, China, SE Asia has largely decimated the value of much of the existing manufacturing base and its supporting infrastructure.
- Ending ongoing subsidization of the sunbelt, or at least make the subsidies equal. Why don't we get FEMA money after major snow storms and severe cold spells, which cause major damage to infrastructure and buildings and for which we need to eat the full cost? Sure it's a totally predictable weather event, but so are F'ing hurricanes and wildfires and coastal flooding that we're all supposedly obligated to chip in and pay for. Why do freeloaders in Galveston get a new roof every few years but we don't get new tuckpointing and bridge repairs paid for by daddy Fed and its infinite fake money? Cut the midwest in on that party, or cut them out from support for statistically inevitable and predictable events that should be addressed by the private insurance market.
- Re-orient federal infrastructure spending to be overwhelmingly about funding maintenance and renewal.
- A major federal safety and environmental housing retrofit program - to really tackle the legacy costs of old structures like lead paint, lead pipes, poor insulation and fire safety, etc - could be bipartisan, have national benefit, and would disproportionately concentrate on the Great Lakes and Northeast.

just quoting this because i think it is very good.

[the urban politician]

^ Agree 100%

[SIGSEGV]

Well the Midwest benefits from subsidized flood insurance just like other parts of the country.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Well the Midwest benefits from subsidized flood insurance just like other parts of the country.

Crop insurance is a Midwest subsidy as well. That said, I've long believed we need a Rust Belt Marshall Plan similar to what VivaLFuego is talking about. I was hopeful the political will would be there in this administration with all the talk of infrastructure funding and the fact that 3 Rust Belt states (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan) are critical to re-election. Instead, it looks like division and partisanship will rule the day.

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by moorhosj

Crop insurance is a Midwest subsidy as well. That said, I've long believed we need a Rust Belt Marshall Plan similar to what VivaLFuego is talking about. I was hopeful the political will would be there in this administration with all the talk of infrastructure funding and the fact that 3 Rust Belt states (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan) are critical to re-election. Instead, it looks like division and partisanship will rule the day.

As goes Ohio. . .

. . .

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by moorhosj

Crop insurance is a Midwest subsidy as well. That said, I've long believed we need a Rust Belt Marshall Plan similar to what VivaLFuego is talking about. I was hopeful the political will would be there in this administration with all the talk of infrastructure funding and the fact that 3 Rust Belt states (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan) are critical to re-election. Instead, it looks like division and partisanship will rule the day.

If the Democrats were smart they would get an infrastructure deal done with fat handouts to Midwestern and rust belt states that are buying the "bring back the good old days" narrative. Nothing would counter Trump's claims of "the Chinese anf Mexicans took your jobs" than a total rebuild of the crumbling rust belt.

It's amazing how some states seem to have no problem fixing this stuff. You go to Iowa and literally everything is brand new.

[the urban politician]

It’s been a slow news month in economic news.

We need a major new HQ announcement.

How about in 5...4...3....?

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

If the Democrats were smart they would get an infrastructure deal done with fat handouts to Midwestern and rust belt states that are buying the "bring back the good old days" narrative. Nothing would counter Trump's claims of "the Chinese anf Mexicans took your jobs" than a total rebuild of the crumbling rust belt.

It's amazing how some states seem to have no problem fixing this stuff. You go to Iowa and literally everything is brand new.

10 days ago:

Democratic congressional leaders announced Tuesday after a meeting with President Donald Trump that an agreement had been reached on the price tag for a potential infrastructure plan: $2 trillion.

Can't make this stuff up:

Trump told lawmakers he liked the sound of $2 trillion more than something in the $1 trillion-plus range. The larger topline number sounded bigger and better, was how one of the people characterized the President's view.

More specific to the Great Lakes/Rust Belt, a true coalition would be large enough to hold up a bill like this until specific money was dedicated to specific regional needs (lead pipes, water, trains, etc.). Unfortunately, partisanship seems to be stronger than pragmatism these days. Our hopes likely rest on non-extremists like Rob Portman and Dick Durbin to get anything specific done.

[Chi-Sky21]

sounds great but it is not going to happen because they will never agree on how to fund it.

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

It’s been a slow news month in economic news.

We need a major new HQ announcement.

How about in 5...4...3....?

The new abortion law signed in Georgia[/URL] and the rumors of Netflix's interest in a Chicago studio could make for an announcement, although not an actual HQ.

Hollywood backlash:

Hollywood has been outspoken against a controversial Georgia abortion law, and now the heads of three production companies are saying they will not film in the state.

[jpIllInoIs]

First Lady cruises move HQ to downtown Chicago

CHICAGO – Following the launch of the Chicago river cruise season, Chicago’s First Lady Cruises and Mercury, Chicago’s Skyline Cruiseline announces their new corporate headquarters in downtown Chicago on the 15th floor of 303 E. Wacker Drive. The new headquarters is steps away from the cruise lines’ docking area on the city’s vibrant Riverwalk and a convenient walk from Chicago’s First Lady Cruises’ partner, the Chicago Architecture Center. The companies’ move from Palatine, Illinois, demonstrates their continued commitment to the development and growth of the city of Chicago.

The 9,800 square-feet office, designed by Collective Office, features both private and open concept office space and graphics of various vantage points of the Chicago River wrapped on interior walls to reflect the essence of the companies in the space. It also includes a test kitchen for mixing new and creative cocktail recipes available aboard the #1 ranked tour in Chicago based on TripAdvisor user reviews - the Chicago Architecture Foundation Center River Cruise (CAFC) aboard Chicago’s First Lady – and Mercury Cruises’ line of family-friendly tours for all ages.

The companies anticipate bringing an additional 10 jobs to Chicago, with a total of 25 employees working from the headquarters. The cruise lines employ 175 staff members at the height of the river cruise season.

[the urban politician]

^ Uhhhhhh, I saw that news the other day as well and...

Seriously, that is hardly a "scoring" of a HQ

[jpIllInoIs]

^I know its lame, but we needed some news, any news..

[marothisu]

Okay here's better news. A security tech firm is tripling its headcount in West Loop. That should account for close to 100 new jobs there. Not huge,, but certainly better news

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Uhhhhhh, I saw that news the other day as well and...

Seriously, that is hardly a "scoring" of a HQ

is this a big enough score for you?

Uber in talks for massive office in Chicago's Old Post Office redevelopment
Ryan Ori and Ally Marotti


Uber is negotiating a massive office lease at The Old Post Office, where the technology company would have room to add thousands of employees in one of Chicago’s largest buildings.

California-based Uber Technologies is in advanced talks to take about 450,000 square feet in the 2.8 million-square-foot building that’s being redeveloped along the Chicago River, according to people familiar with the deal.

source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...t=oft12aH-1gp2

[marothisu]

^ That's huge. 450,000 square feet is probably somewhere in the 3000 to 4000 employee range. I'm curious how many will be consolidated from other offices in town and how many will be new. Even if it was a consolidation, then it would still be somewhere in the range of 265,000 new square feet of office space, which is probably a new 2000+ employees.


In other funny news - Trump Organization claims a decline in hotel revenue in Chicago is due to the perceived threat of gun violence while in Miami it's because of the Zika virus. LOL - yeah, despite competitors in the area posting revenue increases, as well as Chicago in 2018 having the highest number of tourist visitors it's ever had, a 4.3% increase from the previous year (almost 2.5 million visitor increase).

Anecdotally, I have a cousin who used to stay in Trump Hotel properties anywhere he traveled that had them - he had the top status with them and would stay at Trump International Hotels numerous times per year whether in Hawaii, NYC, Florida, Chicago, etc. One time when he was in Chicago staying, he invited me up to a 2 bedroom suite he got which was great, I think (great Subzero fridge in the room). My cousin also mostly votes Republican and has given money to various Republican politicians. When Trump began to run for President and had various things out there he said, my cousin stopped going to any Trump properties all together because he couldn't stand what he was saying (but he supported other Republican nominees at the time, just not Trump and still doesn't support him). My cousin now stays at other luxury brands, and not Trump anymore, wherever he goes - Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, etc. I don't know how often this same thing happens, but it's possible the decline is coming from all sorts of angles.

[the urban politician]

Just when shit was getting boring, WHAM BAM THANK YOU, MA’AM!

Just Uber and Salesforce alone will have nearly 1 MM SF in the city, a huge bet on Chicago’s workforce.

I have a hunch that the more these companies grow here, the more they will realize how valuable local talent here is, especially for what they are paying.

And in other news, the DPI continues to slowly advance:

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/educ...etwork-expands

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Just Uber and Salesforce alone will have nearly 1 MM SF in the city, a huge bet on Chicago’s workforce.

I have a hunch that the more these companies grow here, the more they will realize how valuable local talent here is, especially for what they are paying.

Yep - though I think Uber would probably be a mixture of many types of jobs - management, operations, sales reps, and probably a little tech but probably more of the others. Salesforce probably more tech related, but I could be wrong. I'm just going off of the open jobs. Hoping that Uber would start (or expand) a large tech organization in Chicago.

In other news, not to take away from this

Keeper Security Planning to Add 100+ Jobs in Six Months, Move to New HQ

https://www.americaninno.com/chicago...ove-to-new-hq/

Chicago cybersecurity software firm Keeper Security is planning a major hiring spree in 2019.

Keeper announced Wednesday that it plans to add 130 new jobs in Chicago over the next six months, tripling its current headcount. It’s also relocating to a new office in the West Loop to accommodate growth.

Founded in 2011, Keeper has created a password management service for consumers and businesses. The company’s offerings also include dark web monitoring, digital file storage and secure messaging.

Keeper had a busy 2018, as it saw triple digit B2B customer growth and now works with more than 7,000 business, the company says. The company has more than 15 million users in over 100 countries who use its password management software.

..

Along with moving to a new Chicago headquarters—a 16,000 sq. ft. space at 820 West Jackson Blvd.—Keeper is also planning to relocate and expand its other offices in El Dorado Hills, California, and Cork, Ireland.

Keeper says its new roles will be in inside sales, enterprise sales, sales operations, sales engineering, product training and customer support.

Not exactly automatically super high paying jobs (though if they have commission structure then who knows) but still probably not terrible paying and positive to see. It's jobs of a decent quality nonetheless.

[Vlajos]

Nothing very surprising in here, but a good read. The report is linked in the article.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/news...s-loop-booming

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Nothing very surprising in here, but a good read. The report is linked in the article.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/news...s-loop-booming

Some facts I see from here:

* The Loop grew by 21,258 residents from 2010 to 2018. Not sure if South Loop is counted in this too but I bet it is. That's a 28.9% increase in population. The median age is 33.7 years.

* 4449 new housing units were delivered to the Loop between 2010 and 2018. Only 640 owner-occupied units have been added to the Loop in this time period - most new units are rentals. Of those units, 3000 units were in new construction. Another 2000 units either U/C or proposed.

* Average rents rose from $2.19/SF in 2010 to $2.93/SF in 2018.

* 80.6% of adults aged 25 and older have a Bachelor's degree or higher in the Loop.


* The average household size in the Loop is 1.7 people versus 2.6 people for the rest of the city on average.

* Median Household Income in the loop is at $105,066.

* Private sector jobs have increased by 64,485 in the Loop since 2010 - a 23.5% increase. It's now at 339,441 private sector jobs in the Loop.

* The number of jobs in the professional, scientific, and technical areas has gone up somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 jobs between 2010 and 2018. Health care jobs have gone up around 15,000, and financial services is about the same as it was in 2010 after dipping a little bit until around 2014 or 2015.

* Apparently there's 3 upcoming projects for Wabash which will add 500 new residential units and a 39 room boutique hotel.

* Between 2013 and 2018, 46 companies moved their HQ or a division of their operations from the suburbs to the Loop.

* Office vacancy high was in 2010 at 17%. The low was at 11.7%. In 2018 it's at 13.2% because of new construction for offices as absorption hasn't kept up with it.

* Overall foot traffic decreased by 5% from 2017 to 2018 (not sure how they measure this through an entire year). State Street had 99 million pedestrians in 2018 which is over 271,000 people per day. Randolph Street had 24.2 million pedestrians for the year (66,300+ pedestrians per day)

* There's 4.37 million square feet of retail in the Loop. The vacancy rate is 12.1%

* Out of the 57.7 million visitors to Chicago in 2018, 75% were domestic leisure travelers (~43.3 million) while 22% were domestic business travelers ( ~12.7 million) and only 3% were international travelers (1.7 million).

* The average domestic traveler spends $1093 on their visit while the average international travelers spends $3100.

* Average daily rate for hotels went up $14.21 from 2014 to 2018. Revenue wise that's something like an increase of $110 million for the hotel market. Revenue per hotel room has increased 6.7% from 2013 Trump and their declining revenues despite this...

Another 505+ hotel rooms to be delivered

And a little more after that

* Airbnb had 500,000 guests in Chicago in 2018 versus 390,000 in 2016. Only 6% of listings are in the Loop.