Will County Center for Economic Development
Celebrates 25 years—An Amazing Journey

Frank Turk, Jr. knew what he had to do. Joliet, his hometown, was in trouble. A wave of factory closings eliminated thousands of jobs and a ripple effect created an economic disaster, the worst since the Great Depression.

By 1983, Joliet would set a national record: 26.5% unemployment. Long before that happened, Turk rallied fellow business leaders to figure out what happened, make sure it never happened again and rebuild the local economy.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Joliet evolved from strictly an agrarian economy, to a supplier of high quality limestone used in the construction of buildings, to a major steel, refining and manufacturing center. Joliet was home to industrial icons like U.S. Steel, Texaco, Mobil Oil and Caterpillar, Inc.

There were cyclical recessions that resulted in layoffs, to be sure, but these always ran their course. That is, until the late 1970s. That’s when U.S. Steel closed its doors in Joliet for good, sending shock waves through the community. On the heels of this body blow came the closing of the Texaco Refinery and the GAF plant. Other factories closed or sharply reduced employment levels. Idle workers stopped buying homes, health care, cars, and furniture.

This was a pattern sadly repeated in hundreds of cities throughout the Midwest. Folks were complacent. The factories would always be there, would always produce lifelong jobs and fuel the local economy.

No one saw the disaster coming.

A CALL TO ACTION

The pressing problem, in Turk’s mind, was to stem the economic hemorrhage and rebuild. The second generation to run a successful family furniture business, Turk recalled that during the Great Depression, his father rallied local business leaders to back scrip to make sure teachers were paid and kept on the job.

It was time to rally the business community again. Turk approached his friends, Lou Peyla, Jr., Tom Feehan and Bob Thornton, who shared his vision. They were joined shortly thereafter by other businessmen and leaders like John Barrowman, Kevin Reardon, and Mayor John Bourg. Together, they and their peers invested a total of $100,000 in 1982 to create an economic development program called Greater Joliet, Inc.

“We made 51 calls in a matter of days and had only one turn down,” Turk recalled. “Community leaders accepted the challenge then and have never missed a beat since.”

NEW TERRITORY

The founders of Greater Joliet, Inc. knew nothing about economic development, however, and it was clearly time to bring in an expert. In 1985, Ruth Calvert Fitzgerald was recruited from Spartanburg, South Carolina, where she had established a national reputation as an economic developer. She wasted no time in building consensus.“Ruth was a master at pulling state, county, and city resources together. She also had the unflagging energy to convey the vision,” said Russ Slinkard. Slinkard, then an Illinois Bell executive, was one of Turk’s early recruits. He later served on the Board of Directors, including two terms as chairman. Today, Slinkard is president and CEO of the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Another early recruit was Bob Rogina, president of Rogina and Associates, a civil engineering firm, and a CED board member. “Ruth had imagination—always pushing us to the next level and prompting us to tackle the tough issues.”

OFF AND RUNNING

Within days of landing in Joliet, Fitzgerald was back in the air to the East Coast to convince corporate decision makers of a structural steel construction technology company, Dywidag Systems International, why they should maintain their Will County plant when they wanted to close it. She succeeded.

With that fire put out, Fitzgerald and the board concluded that Will County was in trouble because it had not diversified its economic base, relying almost entirely on heavy industry. When industry went down, there was nothing else to keep the economy moving.

Secondly, despite the wave of factory closings, Will County possessed key business assets that had never been packaged and promoted. These included rail, air and surface transportation, location, room to grow and a quality workforce.

Fitzgerald needed to restore badly eroded public confidence and develop a realistic but aggressive business plan. That she did. The four-year plan was called Breaking New Ground! It carried a price tag of $2.5 million, more than had ever been raised in Will County. The community responded enthusiastically, pledging more than $3 million, most of it from the private sector.

Breaking New Ground! was crafted from the findings of an assessment of the county’s strengths and weaknesses and identification of target industries best suited to the county’s business assets. Besides attracting new businesses to, Fitzgerald wanted to make sure that no one else left. A business retention component was added to address and resolve local issues before a company called for a moving van.

A national public relations and media blitz began to produce results. Based on a story in a national trade publication, Crosfield Chemical Company purchased a shuttered chemical plant in Joliet, rebuilt and reopened it.

One very creative promotional idea produced numerous leads. The CED captured a captive audience by placing multi-page business inserts in the in-flight magazines of airlines catering to executives traveling to Florida in the middle of winter.

Fitzgerald also recognized the Breaking New Ground! needed the support of the entire county, including the public sector, if it were to succeed. Along with a new plan came a new name. Greater Joliet, Inc. evolved into the Joliet/Will County Center for Economic Development (CED), with the support of county government and every Will County municipality.

MOVING ONWARD

The economy rebounded by the end of the decade and Will County’s remarkable comeback story was well known, thanks to the national media blitz. Most importantly, Will County’s business assets were also being recognized by commercial/industrial brokers, developers and corporate site selectors.

The CED was already hard at work to entice business park developers because ready-to-go business parks are an important consideration for businesses exploring new locations or expansions. Two development opportunities emerged: one at Interstate 55 and Weber Road at Romeoville, the other at Interstate 80 and Houbolt Road in Joliet.

Convincing the State of Illinois to build two interstate interchanges to accommodate these developments, while facilitating matching funds from local government and the developers, is one of the CED’s major success stories. Major business parks are located at those interchanges today and there are 120 countywide.

Another CED success story began with the end of the Cold War, when the federal government elected to dispose of the 23,000 acre Joliet Arsenal. The CED helped to facilitate discussions with many disparate groups who all wanted pieces of the property and ensured that two prime industrial sites were included in the final redevelopment plan approved by Congress.

One of those sites is the location of the CenterPoint Intermodal Center with the massive, state-of-the-art Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad intermodal rail yard serving as the core anchor adjacent to millions of square feet of industrial space occupied by marquee companies.

EXPANSION

The decade of the 1990s was also a period of expansion for the CED. Three Rivers Manufacturers’ Association (TRMA) affiliated with the CED, providing closer coordination with major industrial employers. The CED and TRMA also partnered to create new business/education initiatives to enhance workforce development.

The Will County Chamber of Commerce was created as a stand-alone organization to provide a voice for business in the public legislative and regulatory arenas. As with education, much of what occurs in government directly affects the attraction and retention of jobs.

The Will County Chamber and TRMA have weighed in on several regulatory issues. The chamber also created a number of grassroots organizations to advocate on behalf of specific projects or issues.

For example, when the City of Chicago attempted to corner the riverboat casino industry, the Will County Chamber created the Rivertowns Coalition. The coalition aggressively reminded legislators that the casino enabling legislation was created as an economic development tool for distressed river communities. Chicago was successfully held at bay so that the industry could mature and provide real benefits in the host communities.

The Will County Chamber created Southern Alliance For Extension (SAFE), a grassroots organization of business, labor and community representatives to push for the I-355 extension when the project stalled in Springfield. After a seven-year battle, construction began in 2005.

Most recently, the chamber created a business/labor coalition representing four counties to insist on a place at the table where the third airport project is being debated and negotiated.

THE PRESENT

John Greuling joined the CED as president and CEO in 2001. A 30-year economic development professional, Greuling has worked at the community and state levels and as a consultant to businesses. His experience as the State of Colorado’s point person for construction of Denver International Airport and a Fed Ex hub at the airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, are invaluable to Will County on the third airport issue.

Greuling initiated new efforts to build trust and partnerships with the people who decide where companies locate and expand: brokers, developers and site selectors. He strengthened relationships with local municipalities and the county who play a critical role in the site selection process by creating Will Economic Network (WEN). WEN is a consortium of local economic developers and community representatives who work closely with the CED. Greuling also presents regular economic development updates to audiences throughout the county.

Under Greuling’s watch, Will County has emerged as a major player, especially in logistics and distribution. The logistics industry is a major growth industry since the manufacture of so many consumer goods moved to the Pacific Rim. Those products have to get to markets in the U.S. Arriving in shipboard containers on the West Coast, the merchandise is taken by rail to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe intermodal yard at Elwood, where it is either broken down and trans-loaded for markets in the Midwest or handed off to an east-bound railroad.

Will County’s location at the nexus of the nation’s rail, aviation and surface transportation systems, the presence of the intermodal operation, available industrial land and a workforce position it to become the world’s next Global Trans Center.

The CED is also creating marketing initiatives for target industries identified in two customized reports by international consultant and research firms.

THE FUTURE

The CED’s ability to continue to attract and retain jobs may well hinge on issues beyond its control. The Strategic Policy Council, comprised of CED investors who contribute a minimum of $10,000 annually, was created to identify these issues and recommend solutions: a public/private “think-tank” for Will County.

The two most pressing problems being addressed by the council are education and transportation. Education affects the quality of people entering the workforce and transportation allows traffic to move efficiently.

And that is a beyond a doubt a critical issue, according to James Roolf, president of First Midwest Bank’s Joliet Banking Center and a CED board member and two-term former chairman.

“The challenges to infrastructure are huge,” said Roolf. “Will County will soon be the second largest county in Illinois and cars and trucks travel throughout our area to local, regional and national destinations.”

A LEGACY

That the CED has succeeded is beyond question. It is a model of successful economic development, of how a community can bootstrap and reinvent itself in hard times.

The community has underwritten the CED’s work by millions of dollars over the past 25 years. In turn, the CED directly influenced creation of 40,000 primary jobs and induced $10 Billion in capital development.

The CED has the respect of the brokerage and development communities. Site Selection Magazine on three occasions cited the CED as one of the top 20 economic development organizations in the U.S.

The CED also won the respect of legislators and the executive branch at all levels of government. “The CED has the vision, the leadership and the passion to get things done in Will County,” says Illinois State Senator A.J. Wilhelmi. “As a senator, I rely on the credible information provided by the CED leadership to help me make informed decisions.”

The bottom line is that “if you want to locate your business in Will County, if you want your business to grow, the CED is recognized as an invaluable resource,” said Jeff Pfeiffer, CED chairman and vice president and general manager of Argosy’s Empress Casino Hotel Joliet. “You can count on the CED.”

LESSONS LEARNED

Why has the CED been so successful? The community’s key leaders serve on the board of directors and key committees like the Strategic Policy Council. They are decision makers who can make commitments on behalf of their companies and organizations.

The CED hires the nation’s top economic developers to run the organization with the direction of the board and the help of a professional staff. The CED is collaborative with its key stakeholders. The CED creates and executes a bold vision through solid, aggressive business plans that people felt comfortable investing in.

“It is rare for an economic development organization to reach a 25-year milestone without several iterations,” says Greuling. “The CED helps define our role, sets the pace and establishes the template for Will County to become a significant force in the Chicago metropolitan area.”

Will County has come a long way since Frank Turk, Jr. surveyed the economic wreckage in his community in 1982 and picked up the telephone to do something about it. Indeed, it has been a remarkable journey.

116 N. Chicago St., Ste. 101, Joliet, IL 60432, 815.723.1800,
info@willcountyced.com