Spotlight On: The Northwest Industrial Corridor

Why the Northwest Industrial Corridor

Chicago is a food city and the Northwest Industrial Corridor, located on the Northwest side of the city is a perfect spot if you are a food manufacturer. Comprised of an increasingly competitive commercial property market with vacancy rates falling from 21.1% in 2010, to less than 3% in 2018, the available sites in Northwest Corridor provide flexible, cost-effective options for new or growing businesses, surrounded by a thriving industrial business community.

The largest employers in the area include:

• Midway Moving
• Freedman Seating
• Alpha Baking
• Zema Systems
• Chicago Beverage Systems

Who Should Locate Here?

This location is ideal for food manufacturing and distribution companies with potential to focus on small batch, craft food manufacturing, food & beverage distribution and food R&D. In fact, food manufacturing employment has been growing rapidly at 6% rate in Chicago compared to 5% nationally. This location is less than two miles from new food incubator, The Hatchery, helping to brand this growing area as a food innovation district.

Key sites in this area provide room to grow with:

• Over half million-square footage of existing space available.
• Zoned PMD offering flexibility in use and design

Distribution and warehousing employment is growing nationally (3%). The rise of e-commerce and “same day delivery” expectations make this area’s close proximity to some of Chicago’s fastest growing population centers ideal for urban-style distribution centers.

Cost-Effective Relocation and Ease of Transition

• TIF and Enterprise Zone incentives in place
• Key sites located within a federally designated Opportunity Zone.
• Through Chicago’s Industrial Growth Zone Program, firms also gain access to a dedicated concierge to serve as a single point of contact to expedite all permitting and governmental assistance.

Access to Transit

• Excellent access to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Green line and multiple bus routes

Highly-Skilled Workforce

• Chicago has a robust workforce pipeline for food & beverage manufacturing and TDL
• Chicago ranks #1 in the country in food manufacturing employment with an established workforce of 57,000 in the industry. Transportation and transit assets in NW provide premiere access to commuters across the metro area.
• Access to the largest trucking workforce in the nation and the 2nd largest warehousing market with a combined TDL workforce of over 190,000 people in the Chicago metro.
• Second largest manufacturing labor shed in the U.S.
• Nearly $100 million in investment currently being deployed in higher education facilities to help produce the highly-skilled professionals needed to meet future manufacturing and TDL related workforce demand.

Top Sites

Site 1: 1830 N Kostner

• Up to 137,000 sq.ft. of contiguous space
• Industrial space with up to 35’ clear ceilings
• Four miles from I-90/94
• Centrally located in the Northwest part of the city

Site 2: 4348 W Lake St

• 78,000 sq.ft., three-story, solid brick flex building
• Newly renovated interior
• 0.5 miles from both Cicero and Pulaski CTA Green Line Stations

To learn more about the Industrial Growth Zone sites and business development opportunities please visit www.growthzones.com or contact Dennis Vicchiarelli at dvic@worldbusinesschicago.com.