Chicago Once Again Ranked "Top Metro" for New Corporate Investments and Expansions.'Freaking Awesome' City Is Top U.S. Spot in 5 of the Past 6 Years CHICAGO -- Site Selection magazine once again recognizes Chicago as the top city in the U.S. for business investment. Chicago wins the worldwide economic development publication's distinction of "Top Metro" for 2006 with 165 corporate facility projects totaling more than $5 billion in capital investment. This number-one ranking marks the fifth time in the past six years that metropolitan Chicago has led the nation in commercial and industrial capital investment. "Chicago lures young, high-tech talent on the way to becoming the number one metro in America," the magazine proclaims. The story - headlined "'Freaking Awesome' City" -- cites EA Sports' selection of Chicago for its new regional headquarters, a $6 million, 200-job relocation to the River North neighborhood, as a prime example of why Chicago is thriving. EA vice president and general manager of the Chicago office, Kudo ku·do n. pl. ku·dos Usage Problem A praising remark; an accolade or compliment: "Children's book author Virginia Hamilton added another kudo to her prize-laden career" Tsunoda, told Site Selection that the company chose Chicago because "the city is freaking freak·ing adv. & adj. Slang Used as an intensive: Traffic was a freaking nightmare. [Alteration of frigging, present participle of frig.] awesome. It has such a vibe and a pace to itO. The city stimulates creative minds and enables EA to effectively recruit top young talent." "Chicago's economic diversity is a huge strength for our city," said Mayor Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party and current mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. . "We're strong in so many sectors including manufacturing, business services and technology. This, combined with our impressive professional talent pool makes us a truly global competitor." The Chicago economy won the back-to-back title by a wide margin with 165 projects. Washington D.C. came in second with 110 projects, and Atlanta was third with 107. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. did not make this year's top 10. "The city is really on fire. It is rocking and rolling Rocking and rolling (also rock and roll; see Rock and roll (disambiguation)) is a name for cueing techniques used in sound recording and video recording, particularly in analog recordings. ," Site Selection quotes Paul O'Connor, executive director of World Business Chicago. "Mayor Richard Daley's transformation of the neighborhoods is making these areas a great place to live and raise a family, and that in turn has created the highest-end talent pool that is clustered within three or four miles of downtown." "Chicago is filled with cool neighborhoods," says Tsunoda, who grew up in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . "There is something for any kind of lifestyle you're looking to live." Other major projects noted in the story include United Airlines decision to move its world headquarters downtown to 77 West Wacker Drive Wacker Drive is a major street in Chicago, Illinois, United States, running along the south side of the main branch and the east side of the south branch of the Chicago River. and the Big Ten Network's location at 600 West Chicago West Chicago, city (1990 pop. 14,796), Du Page co., NE Ill.; inc. 1906. Mostly residential, the city produces chemicals. . "Our success is largely due to our ability to understand and meet the needs of individual businesses," said Lori T. Healey, Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development. "But it is also about Chicago and all that our city has to offer that makes the people who comprise these companies choose to live, work and play here." "Chicago has demonstrated once again that the 'Second City' moniker (1) A name, title or alias. See alias. (2) A COM object that is used to create instances of other objects. Monikers save programmers time when coding various types of COM-based functions such as linking one document to another (OLE). See COM and OLE. does not apply to its economic development performance," says Site Selection Editor Mark Arend. "Those in the economic development community in Chicago should be proud of this recognition, because their efforts clearly are paying off." Site Selection's annual rankings are considered "the industry scoreboard" for economic development. To be counted, new and expanded facilities have to involve a capital investment of at least $1 million, create at least 50 new jobs, or add 20,000 square feet of new floor area. For the complete list of "Top Metros" or more information on the survey visit www.siteselection.com. About World Business Chicago World Business Chicago (WBC WBC white blood cell; see leukocyte. WBC abbr. white blood cell WBC, n stands for white blood cell. ) is a not-for-profit economic development organization promoting metropolitan Chicago. WBC markets Chicago's competitive advantages, coordinates business retention and attraction efforts, and seeks to enhance Chicago's business-friendly environment. WBC's Board of C-level corporate executives is chaired by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. For more information, visit www.worldbusinesschicago.com. About Site Selection Site Selection magazine is an award-winning trade publication that covers corporate real estate and economic development. With more than 44,000 corporate executive readers, Site Selection provides timely news and analysis on the biggest deals making news in project activity. |
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