Elk Grove village weathers manufacturing job losses

With manufacturing job losses in the Chicago area at an all-time high, suburban industrial hub Elk Grove Village is seeing a spike in vacancies in its business parks.

"Our vacancy rate is probably the highest we've ever had, about 14 percent for the business parks," Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said. "We were about a 4 percent vacancy rate 4 or 5 years ago."

Manufacturers' News Inc., an Evanston-based publisher of manufacturers' directories since 1912, released data earlier this month showing Illinois lost 51,925 industrial jobs and 709 manufacturers between November 2008 and November 2009.

Elk Grove, which has the third-largest industrial base in Illinois after Chicago and Rockford, now has 22,077 manufacturing jobs, 6.5 percent down from 2008, according to Manufacturers' News.

At its peak, Elk Grove had 100,000 people working in its business parks housing more than 100 million square feet of industrial space within 5.5 square miles, Johnson said.

"We've had almost 3,800 companies in Elk Grove," Johnson said. That number is now down to between 3,600 to 3,700, he said.

"The numbers of (manufacturing) losses are not strictly based on the economy," Johnson said. "What we're seeing is a lot of businesses morphing into other areas. We've had numerous tear downs. Now we've got a lot of high-tech (companies). We've got data centers."

Elk Grove's industrial commission is presently working on its second 10-year plan. The focus will be bringing more green industries/companies to town, Johnson said.

"That's why we did a green village hall," Johnson said. "We wanted to show the business community in Elk Grove and around the area that it makes economic sense for the private sector to do it. We've got programs together where we can help companies change the buildings to make them more efficient to what they are doing. A lot of these buildings were built 40 or 50 years ago and don't meet today's technology needs."

Johnson said one of the fastest growing companies in Elk Grove Village is Lime Energy, an environmental company offering energy solutions to help commercial, industrial and public institutions reduce operating expenses, and improve appearance, safety and functionality of their buildings.

"I think you are going to see more companies take advantage of the green environment and energy efficiencies, and they make sense," he said.

Johnson said once the proposed western bypass around O'Hare International Airport linking I-90 and I-294 to a completed Elgin O'Hare Expressway gets built, it will help the town's businesses transport goods faster.

"Every day, 100 million pounds of freight is moving out of this business park," Johnson said. "It's done by roadway and railway. That's why any improvement we can do to the roadway is a plus."