CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[emathias]

Originally Posted by maru2501

smacks of desperation a little

none of the sites is perfect mostly for transit reasons, and the sites near transit are probably too small

It's not a serious attempt to lure Amazon, it's having a little fun with the process. Kind of the opposite of desperation. Desperation would be randomly throwing semi-positive factoids in splatter pattern at anyone who'd listen.

[MayorOfChicago]

Of all the 238 proposals or whatever it was, I bet all but 10-12 are going to have sites where they will just list highway access, "fancy" bus lines or maybe some random light rail stop as their transit.

Hopefully Amazon was serious about the transit item, because at least that's one area that Chicago can snatch at that's a non-starter for a vast majority of cities.

[Steely Dan]

^ yes. the list of US metros with robust rapid transit & commuter rail systems is pretty short:

NYC
boston
philly
DC
chicago
SF
LA

my best guess says that amazon will not be exclusively limiting its search to just those 7 cities. transit will be important, but not that important.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ yes. the list of US metros with robust rapid transit & commuter rail systems is pretty short:

NYC
boston
philly
DC
chicago
SF
LA

my best guess says that amazon will not be exclusively limiting its search to just those 7 cities. transit will be important, but not that important.

I don't know about that list. I think the only cities with real rapid transit/commuter rail are NYC, Chicago, DC, Boston, and Philadelphia. SF does okay inside the City of SF, but that's only 49 sq. miles. The majority of the Bay Area is not transit-friendly. LA's transit is improving slowly, but it's still pretty bad. No where to go but up when you're starting at the bottom

I'd like to think transit is the closer, but I doubt it will be. I'm sure Amazon is going to look at what Dallas and Atlanta have to offer. Maybe not so much Houston. I think the Chicago bid is very competitive as is.

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by maru2501

smacks of desperation a little

Maybe, but I disagree. One thing that's been clear from past relocations is that companies really value a proposal that makes it clear that the company is valued. I read an article a while ago that said something to the effect that tax incentives are asked for as a way to prove that a city is serious and not for bottom-line reasons.

You hear it in college football recruiting and capital sales decisions too--the pitch that makes it clear they really want your decision gets an extra look. It's just like in dating; one of the most attractive attributes a woman can have is an interest in me.

[maru2501]

any woman that has Captain Kirk email you seems like a winner

[marothisu]

Currently in Hong Kong which has made me think of rich people (haha). I looked up a millionaire list which made me come across this study on unhw people ($30M+). They rank the Chicago area as having the 7th most globally. Except increasing 7.6% . Funny thing is that I think it's from the same people who claimed Chicago was losing millionaires. This was from late July. Funny how this didn't make the news in Chicago but the "losing millionaires" did. Oh, and Chicago area has more unhw individuals than every us area other than NYC and LA. Yes, even including the SF area as well as Toronto. If you include San Jose in with SF then it has a little more though.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/27/thes...lionaires.html

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Currently in Hong Kong which has made me think of rich people (haha). I looked up a millionaire list which made me come across this study on unhw people ($30M+). They rank the Chicago area as having the 7th most globally. Except increasing 7.6% . Funny thing is that I think it's from the same people who claimed Chicago was losing millionaires. This was from late July. Funny how this didn't make the news in Chicago but the "losing millionaires" did. Oh, and Chicago area has more unhw individuals than every us area other than NYC and LA. Yes, even including the SF area as well as Toronto. If you include San Jose in with SF then it has a little more though.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/27/thes...lionaires.html

Cool stuff. SF/SJ are split there. If the greater Bay Area posters saw that they'd have a fit. Combined SF/SJ jumps past Chicago, but individually they're not there.

That article was the one thing naysayers would cling to despite it being clearly out of sync with all other data (ACS, housing sales, employment & wage growth, etc.).

Houston has not had a good year.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Cool stuff. SF/SJ are split there. If the greater Bay Area posters saw that they'd have a fit. Combined SF/SJ jumps past Chicago, but individually they're not there.

That article was the one thing naysayers would cling to despite it being clearly out of sync with all other data (ACS, housing sales, employment & wage growth, etc.).

Houston has not had a good year.

They are split because that's how the United States Census does it. There's no bay area MSA. There's only a bay area csa which puts these together. If they get pissed at that then they should literally get pissed at every stat. Funny though because on a few sites, SF uses CSA to make themselves appear more legitimate in various stats where if you did it by MSA, then things wouldn't appear as amazing. Love the cherry picking like this. Kind of sad in a way.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by marothisu

They are split because that's how the United States Census does it. There's no bay area MSA. There's only a bay area csa which puts these together. If they get pissed at that then they should literally get pissed at every stat. Funny though because on a few sites, SF uses CSA to make themselves appear more legitimate in various stats where if you did it by MSA, then things wouldn't appear as amazing. Love the cherry picking like this. Kind of sad in a way.

Yeah...Bay Area boosters and DC boosters are guilty of that. I love how DC boosters use Baltimore to "pad their stats" while simultaneously s****** on Baltimore, lol.

[left of center]

How long until we can do the same with Milwaukee?

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by left of center

How long until we can do the same with Milwaukee?

Well in Milwaukee's Amazon bid, their mayor called us one of their "finest suburbs". Looks like the tables have been turned

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Currently in Hong Kong which has made me think of rich people (haha). I looked up a millionaire list which made me come across this study on unhw people ($30M+). They rank the Chicago area as having the 7th most globally. Except increasing 7.6% . Funny thing is that I think it's from the same people who claimed Chicago was losing millionaires. This was from late July. Funny how this didn't make the news in Chicago but the "losing millionaires" did. Oh, and Chicago area has more unhw individuals than every us area other than NYC and LA. Yes, even including the SF area as well as Toronto. If you include San Jose in with SF then it has a little more though.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/27/thes...lionaires.html

"Losing millionaires" is misleading because it suggests that they are physically leaving. My guess is that more often it means that the same people are simply losing their net worth. Your investments go up: you're a millionaire. They go down: you're not a millionaire any more.

By the way, can you share this data with Greg Hinz? Maybe he will post it on Crains. We need a legit media source to put this out there (although I'm still pissed at Crains for giving media attention to the 5 people who complained about traffic at the One Chicago Square community meeting)

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

"Losing millionaires" is misleading because it suggests that they are physically leaving. My guess is that more often it means that the same people are simply losing their net worth. Your investments go up: you're a millionaire. They go down: you're not a millionaire any more.

By the way, can you share this data with Greg Hinz? Maybe he will post it on Crains. We need a legit media source to put this out there (although I'm still pissed at Crains for giving media attention to the 5 people who complained about traffic at the One Chicago Square community meeting)

Negativity sells. Hinz is surely aware of that. I'm sure he reads through this forum. Probably posts as well

[k1052]

It would seem Sterling Bay and the city also promised Amazon a stadium...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...027-story.html

Curious what other goodies are stocked in the bid package.

[bnk]

Originally Posted by k1052

It would seem Sterling Bay and the city also promised Amazon a stadium...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...027-story.html

Curious what other goodies are stocked in the bid package.

More renders in here



https://chicago.curbed.com/2017/10/3...sports-stadium














North Branch developer pitches Bucktown sports stadium to Amazon

The proposed athletic complex is just one possibility outlined in Sterling Bay’s ‘Lincoln Yards’ HQ2 bid

by Jay Koziarz Oct 30, 2017, 10:15am

[bnk]

Chicago Business Barometer Unexpectedly Rises To Six-Year High In October

October 31, 2017, 10:20:00 AM EDT By RTT News


http://www.nasdaq.com/article/chicag...20171031-01088


(RTTNews.com) - Growth in Chicago-area business activity unexpectedly accelerated in the month of October, according to a report released by MNI Indicators on Tuesday.

MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer rose to 66.2 in October from 65.2 in September, with a reading above 50 indicating growth.
The increase surprised economists, who had expected the barometer to drop to 61.0. With the unexpected uptick, the barometer reached its highest level since March of 2011.

...

...



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ort-cards-show

Even the lesser known Marquette-ISM report on manufacturing in the Milwaukee area improved to an almost three-year high.

The acceleration seen in these regional measures points to another robust print for the widely followed Institute for Supply Management’s nationwide report on October manufacturing, due Wednesday. In September, the ISM’s factory index climbed to the highest reading since May 2004.

In a sign that production will remain firm in coming months, some of the regional reports showed mounting order backlogs. The MNI Chicago index of backlogs reached the highest level in more than 43 years -- a report that covers both factories and non-manufacturing firms --

...

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by bnk

Chicago Business Barometer Unexpectedly Rises To Six-Year High In October

October 31, 2017, 10:20:00 AM EDT By RTT News


http://www.nasdaq.com/article/chicag...20171031-01088


(RTTNews.com) - Growth in Chicago-area business activity unexpectedly accelerated in the month of October, according to a report released by MNI Indicators on Tuesday.

MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer rose to 66.2 in October from 65.2 in September, with a reading above 50 indicating growth.
The increase surprised economists, who had expected the barometer to drop to 61.0. With the unexpected uptick, the barometer reached its highest level since March of 2011.

...

...



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ort-cards-show

Even the lesser known Marquette-ISM report on manufacturing in the Milwaukee area improved to an almost three-year high.

The acceleration seen in these regional measures points to another robust print for the widely followed Institute for Supply Management’s nationwide report on October manufacturing, due Wednesday. In September, the ISM’s factory index climbed to the highest reading since May 2004.

In a sign that production will remain firm in coming months, some of the regional reports showed mounting order backlogs. The MNI Chicago index of backlogs reached the highest level in more than 43 years -- a report that covers both factories and non-manufacturing firms --

...

How good of news is this on a scale of 1-10?

[bnk]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

How good of news is this on a scale of 1-10?

IMO about a six.

Most metro regions in the US reported some degree of growth. Its just that Chicago index outperformed what was expected. The US is in a growth phase right now and we are not lacking in this measurement at least.

The most interesting to me is the Chicago Index backlogs, highest for the longest time in decades.

Any number above 50.01 is growth. But this is also a picture of the general measure of the US and Global economy. Caterpillar and Boeing are also doing well too of late.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by bnk

IMO about a six.

Most metro regions in the US reported some degree of growth. Its just that Chicago index outperformed what was expected. The US is in a growth phase right now and we are not lacking in this measurement at least.

The most interesting to me is the Chicago Index backlogs, highest for the longest time in decades.

Any number above 50.01 is growth. But this is also a picture of the general measure of the US and Global economy. Caterpillar and Boeing are also doing well too of late.

How many Boeing employees are IL based? Isn't most of their workforce in Seattle? Or is this metric just a measure of revenue and not job creation?