Annual Business Appreciation Luncheon
Each year, the Village welcomes business, community and governmental leaders from around the region to our Annual Business Appreciation Lunch. We get the opportunity to thank these leaders for their continued investment in and support of Franklin Park. By working together, we have been able to keep our industrial areas robust and our commercial areas thriving.
I was pleased to announce that the Village continues to flourish with 1.5 million square feet of new industrial development completed in the last year. In fact, the Village has added 4.2 million square feet of new industrial development over the last 10 years. Since 2018, Franklin Park added new state-of-the-art manufacturing and distribution facilities and modern industrial buildings. But it’s also an exciting time for retail in the Village. We developed new retail opportunities in the Grand and Mannheim area and welcomed AT&T and Sprint. Soon a Jersey Mikes sandwich shop will be opening there as well. We also had six new restaurants open last year and our retail vacancy is down from 4% in 2017 to 1.5% in 2018.
One of the key characteristics that distinguish Franklin Park from other communities is the availability of skilled workers thanks in part to programs offered at the high school and college levels. Over the next decade, approximately 2 million jobs are expected to go unfilled due to the skills gap. A large number of these well-paying and high-tech jobs will be located right here in Franklin Park. By partnering with the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC), we are creating an effort to link Franklin Park employers with job seekers and vice versa. This effort will be the first of its kind for the region and will focus on educating employers working with millennials and educating millennials regarding job responsibilities.
Franklin Park sits at the crossroads of American business with unparalleled connectivity to move goods and services by air, rail and roadway. That locational advantage makes maintaining and improving our infrastructure critical to our continued ability to create and maintain jobs. Rocco Zucchero, Deputy Chief of Engineering for Planning at Illinois Tollway, updated the luncheon attendees on the progress of the Elgin O’ Hare Western Access Project. He also discussed the new I-490 spur which will feature exit and entrance ramps into Franklin Park, will provide quicker routes to and around O’Hare and will connect to I-294, I-390 and I-90. Also speaking at the luncheon was John Yonan, Superintendent of the Cook County Transportation and Highways Department, who made a presentation on the $340,000 ‘Invest in Cook’ grant awarded to the Village to help reconstruct Franklin Avenue.
Also funding this effort is a $22,900,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Franklin Park came in first in the state-wide competition for this award! The Village also secured a $2,040,000 grant from the North Central Council of Mayors bringing the total funding for the Franklin Avenue Reconstruction project to an estimated $29,620,000.
A Fond Farewell
At the May 6 Board Meeting, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Joanne Rosado swore in Village Trustees Bill Ruhl, Irene Avitia, and Gilbert Hagerstrom. I was pleased to appoint Roberta Johnson to the office of Village Clerk and to thank Cheryl McLean and Jimmy Caporusso for their years of service on the Board.
Mayor Barrett Pedersen