DuPage economy touted at annual business outlook forum
Once a sore spot in DuPage County's economy, a massive business park in West Chicago is adding more than 1 million square feet of development, an area of growth touted to government and business leaders Wednesday.
The 800-acre campus south of Roosevelt Road has long struggled to find tenants, but it has showed signs of an apparent turnaround with construction projects for new warehouses and company headquarters.
DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin highlighted the momentum at the business park and gains in the local job market in front of a crowd of about 700 Wednesday at the DuPage County Regional Business Outlook forum.
Howard Tullman, the former CEO of 1871, a hub for startup companies in Chicago's Merchandise Mart, delivered the keynote speech, focusing on ways businesses can adapt to the so-called gig economy and consumer demands for speed, convenience and access.
As the owner of the DuPage Business Center, the DuPage Airport Authority originally hoped to draw tech companies to the sprawling property, but it later expanded the list of potential uses and had commercial real estate firm NAI Hiffman market the site. The three companies now moving to the campus represent manufacturing and food distribution industries.
Suncast, a Batavia-based company that makes plastic storage and outdoor furniture, will occupy a 782,000-square-foot building. Norix Group, a West Chicago commercial furniture manufacturer, is moving into a new headquarters at the business park. And Bartlett-based Greco and Sons is building a food processing and warehouse center on 46 acres.
Elsewhere in DuPage, Cronin said, a 170,000-square-foot complex now under construction will bring Wisconsin-based Grove Green Bay Packaging to Downers Grove. Tech company SMS Assist also recently opened offices in Naperville.
"This is a startup that started downtown," said Tullman, executive director of the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
"We're seeing a lot of companies that are growing their workforces, and one of the things people don't understand about technology companies is it's not all engineers. Once you get your first 10 employees, customer service, customer support, all of these other kind of functions become very important."
With a declining industrial vacancy rate in DuPage, demand for industrial space is so high developers are investing in speculative projects, constructing new buildings without first securing tenants.
"DuPage County continues to experience low vacancy rates in the industrial market," said Cronin, speaking at a packed Drury Lane conference center in Oakbrook Terrace. "Our current vacancy rate is 4.5%, down from 5.5% at the same time last year."
Health care is the fastest-growing sector in the second most-populous county in the state, Cronin said. In Oak Brook, Rush University Medical Center and Midwest Orthopaedics opened a surgery and office center this year.
Cronin said a highly educated workforce and "business-friendly" environment have attracted employers to the county.
"Almost one in five people in DuPage County hold a postgraduate degree," Cronin told the gathering. "That is an amazing distinction."
Choose DuPage, the county's economic development alliance, Chicago law firm Ice Miller and Chicago investment firm Mesirow Financial sponsored the forum, now in its 10th year.