Naperville mayor makes pitch for Caterpillar headquarters

While some suburban officials privately work to lure Caterpillar executives to their towns, Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico has made a public pitch for the company's headquarters to relocate to his city.

Chirico and city council members took their seats at a meeting this week with replica Caterpillar tractors and other “paraphernalia” on display. Chirico said the ploy was a signal to the manufacturer of construction equipment that “we're open for business.”

“They're in the earth-moving business, and we say around here that (in) Naperville we move heaven,” Chirico said. “So together, we can move heaven and earth.”

Caterpillar plans to move its Peoria headquarters later this year to the Chicago area. The company will lease offices for senior executives, but has not selected a location, a Caterpillar spokeswoman said last week.

Roughly 300 employees would work out of the offices. Caterpillar CEO Jim Umpleby told the Peoria Journal Star the company wants a “small, lean headquarters team” in the Chicago area “to have better access to flights.”

“Since 2012, about two-thirds of Caterpillar's sales and revenues have come from outside the United States. Locating our headquarters closer to a global transportation hub, such as Chicago, means we can meet with our global customers, dealers and employees more easily and frequently,” Umpleby said in a statement.

County board Chairman Dan Cronin and Choose Dupage, an economic development alliance, both have sent letters to Caterpillar, President and CEO John Carpenter said. The group also has been in contact with the head of the search for offices.

• Daily Herald staff writer Anna Marie Kukec contributed to this report.