As Louisville and Lexington evaluate strategies to strengthen the Super Region’s Advanced Manufacturing-related sectors, innovative thinking may be necessary. In Chicago, a “Planned Manufacturing District” is making one of its economic development visions come to life.
Goose Island, an artificial island in the Chicago River, was a 19th Century industrial site near Chicago’s downtown. Back then, the smoke and flames from the plants were so bad that it was nicknamed “Little Hell,” ultimately driving both residents and businesses to leave the island. The surrounding neighborhood, the Near North Side, was then and continues to be predominantly low-income.
By the 1970’s most of the residential housing on the island had been destroyed, but the growing city of Chicago was looking for new residential opportunities for downtown workers. In the 1980’s developers began drafting visions of high-end lofts and multi-star restaurants, and Goose Island became a heavily debated part of the industrial vs. residential development conflict waged in many US cities at that time.
Goose Island looked likely to become the next trendy neighborhood, when Mayor Daley and the local alderman worked together in 1990 to designate it as a “Planned Manufacturing District,” halting the residential development plans. Planned Manufacturing Districts were seen as a way to help offset the impact of globalization and retain living-wage manufacturing jobs in the city. Zoning a central district of the city for manufacturing could help preserve higher-value jobs and help maintain the diversity of economic output within the city.
The Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Council, a local nonprofit, was also instrumental in creating the Goose Island and three other Planned Manufacturing Districts with the goal of retaining Chicago’s employment base and enhancing the competitiveness of Chicago employers. One of their foci is employment for the low-income neighborhood residents and they work with the island employers to develop customized training for their needs. Some businesses, like FedEx, have even established targets for hiring and training the nearby neighborhood residents.
Since that time, Goose Island has been redeveloped as an industrial site and is home to a Fed Ex distribution center, a light manufacturing business with a completely green LEED-certified plant, and the new Wrigley’s Innovation Center, among others. By late 1997, virtually all the land in one of the industrial parks had been filled. The industrial park is beautifully landscaped with green spaces and walkways for employees – not to mention the great river view.
Bucking the trend of the time, Chicago created an unusual solution to help maintain their city’s economic health: creating an industrial site that offers businesses quick access to downtown for their goods and services, and good jobs within walking distance of residents of the lower-income neighborhoods around it.