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| PARTNERSHIP SPURS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHICAGO | |||||||||||||||||
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The 1970s saw a dramatic decline in manufacturing jobs in Chicago and other rust-belt cities. The accompanying loss in wages totaled hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars each week and threatened the economic base of each and every neighborhood. Something needed to be done to slow the hemorrhaging or the neighborhoods would bleed to death. In Chicago, it was the Chicago Association of Neighborhood Planning Organizations (CANDO) that resuscitated the neighborhoods. For 20 years CANDO and its members have been the catalyst for industrial retention and attraction. One of the primary ways this has happened is through the Local Industrial Retention Initiative (LIRI), a one-on-one industrial outreach program developed and piloted by CANDO in association with the Chicago Department of Economic Development to bring additional industrial investment in Chicago's neighborhoods. There are currently 16 LIRI organizations working throughout the city. They act as the city's eyes and ears in the community, serving as liaisons between city departments and local employers. This early warning network has retained thousands of industrial jobs and attracted hundreds more by marshalling resources and services on behalf of the communities in which they work. Strong organizing is the key to the success of these organizations. For example, organizing efforts on Chicago's Near North Side have stabilized the economy and zoning integrity of the North River Industrial Corridor. In the face of speculative residential and retail development along the Clybourn corridor and Goose Island, CANDO members organized local firms and established the first ever Planned Manufacturing District (PMD) in Chicago. The PMD establishes a unified zoning designation and protects industrial areas from conversion to high-end residential development. There are now three PMDs in the North River Corridor and one in the Kinzie Corridor on the Near West Side. |
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Scott Sonoc, AIA, of Sonoc Architects & Associates, designed the Finkl Steel campus on Goose Island. This industrial campus is an excellent benchmark for industrial corridor planning and design. |
Carl Murrain, Executive Director, and Mike Holzer, Director of Industrial Development, the New City YMCA/LEED Council, in front of the Republic Windows factory on Goose Island. LEED Council led the policy fight for Goose Island's Planned Manufacturing District status, and helped companies like Republic Windows locate and expand here. | ||||||||||||||||
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CANDO also recognized the need for
geographically based redevelopment strategies,
and partnered with the city to create the Model
Industrial Corridor Initiative. Through this
initiative, LIRI groups manage and conduct
strategic planning for 12 of the 22 industrial
corridors in Chicago. The groups address the
corridor's safety concerns; accessibility by
truck, rail and transit; functionality of site
and buildings; overall attractiveness; and
general manageability.
The success of Goose Island, with more than $110
million in investment and 1000 jobs created,
proves that there is still plenty of opportunity
for industrial development in Chicago and urban
areas throughout the U.S. Creative partnerships
like the one between CANDO and the City of
Chicago are the very foundation of any
successful urban industrial redevelopment
strategy.
Chicago's experiences offers several lessons for other urban areas:
For more LIRI [Local Industrial Retention
Initiative] information, go to:
General Information
For more on Chicago's Model Industrial Corridors:
General Information |
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