Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development

The agenda will start off with a slew of appointments to various Special Service Areas–local tax districts that fund improvements ranging from trash cans & street decorations to festivals. SSA Commissioners are unpaid and appointed by the mayor. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/special_service_areasandproviderlist.html

After a couple items relating to tax incentives for developments in the Loop and West Loop, a subject matter hearing will be held on “rebuilding Chicago as a technology and innovation hub.” 💻

This hearing comes on the heels of @chicagosmayor’s trip to San Francisco, where she met with its mayor & various leaders in tech, startups & venture capital to try to “raise awareness of Chicago’s tech ecosystem”–though some criticized the trip’s timing
https://news.wttw.com/2021/07/08/lightfoot-woos-tech-companies-during-visit-san-francisco-even-city-reels-violence

This committee is chaired by @gilbert36ward and comprises 19 other council members. You can watch the livestream at 10:00 here: https://livestream.com/accounts/28669066

Ald. Villegas calls the meeting to order at 10:04 from his car. https://t.co/kdspG7ZjOD

We have quorum. The May monthly report is approved without comments or questions.

No one has signed up for public comment. We move on to the SSA appointments.

One of the appointees, Jessica P. LaMacchia to the Greater Ravenswood Commission, has asked to have her application withdrawn.

Chair Villegas asks if any of the appointees have any remarks to give; none do.

Ald. Hadden expresses her thanks & support to the appointees in her ward, as does Ald. Reilly for his ward.

Alderpeople move to accept the nominees and move them forward to the full City Council

Next is Ordinance 2021-2871, “Class C tax status for brewery properties at 221 N Wood St to Great Central Properties II LLC” in the 27th Ward. Aaron Dorsey, a financial planning analyst for @ChicagoDPD, is here to make a presentation about this.

This is for a real estate tax incentive “for the remediation of contaminated properties.” The site contained environmental hazards, the cost for the brewery to clean it up was more than $100k, so the city will grant a favorable tax status to help make up for that cost.

Here is the brewery. https://t.co/8efVGJy3eb

Here is why the DPD supports this tax incentive: https://t.co/6t1I9wtiK4

27th Ward Ald. Burnett says he supports this development, and says this is a good business that has hired folks from the local community.

This item passes.

The next item is Ordinance 2021-2873, “Support of Class L tax incentive for property(s) at 208 S LaSalle St (former Continental and Commercial National Bank Building) for rehabilitation by RCP Hotel Owner LLC” in the 42nd Ward. Dijana Cuvalo from DPD is here to present on this

This historic building was constructed in 1914 and designated as a Chicago landmark in 2007. The owner wants to rehabilitate & renovate some floors/part of the building’s interior & exterior, to operate it as a luxury hotel

An example of some of the exterior work needed to preserve this building: https://t.co/1w1TAS44Pf

The owner has applied for Class L classification (basically, it’s a historic landmarked building & would be used for commercial/industrial purposes) to make it eligible for certain real estate tax incentives and this ordinance would grant that.

This item passes.

Now on to the subject matter hearing on rebuilding Chicago as a tech hub.

We’re joined by Michael Fassnacht from the economic development arm of the city of Chicago, World Business Chicago https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-world-business-chicago-ceo-michael-fassnacht-20210512-wvlsb7lzn5d7xbz4o7qinddb3m-story.html

Fassnacht says World Business Chicago is leveraging 5 tools in its work. https://t.co/F3AvjOBDhx

How do we build equitable economic development after the pandemic’s end? Fassnacht asks. Priority opportunities include healthcare and life sciences, food & ag, manufacturing

“We positioned Chicago as the next big thing in life sciences,” Fassnacht says. One of our constraints has been not enough lab space for companies. But in the last 12 months some of these companies have moved here or expanded aggressively. https://t.co/H8je1YbRXb

Chicago is the “food innovation capitol of the world,” his presentation proclaims.

We have the most Fortune 500 food & beverage HQ’s in the nation.

We seem to be doing well in TDL innovation & manufacturing as well. https://t.co/WnYyqXk2RO

Finally, quantum information science. I have not a clue what that entails, but Fassnacht thinks we can make Chicago a quantum technology center over the next couple years

“This year, 2021, will be our best year ever in our history for tech,” Fassnacht says. That’s not just Uber and Facebook; nowadays, every one of our industry sectors has become digitized. Tech jobs make up a large # of tech jobs in other fields too.

That concludes Fassnacht’s presentation. Chair Villegas says this is important because the news doesn’t always cover the good developments, the investments and innovation, happening in Chicago.

Ald. Burnett asks how Chicago’s restaurant sector is doing. Fassnacht says restaurants are roughly back at 80% of prepandemic numbers, based on OpenTable data. Problem is restaurants don’t have enough workers. Have to do better at connecting talent with open positions.

Conventions are lagging, but 2022 looks very promising. Business travel is coming back slightly faster than expected.

Burnett asks if we have the space (buildings, infrastructure) to take in more businesses.

Fassnacht says the industry sectors where we need more space/capacities are 1) lab space for life sciences and 2) movie/film studios for production

Burnett says he’s “bumping heads with residents with height and things like that” with new developments like Lincoln Yards. What can we do to address that?

Fassnacht says zoning is out of his purview. Burnett asks how does a life science development, for example, affect our economy, so he can translate that to residents preoccupied with how new developments will effect their views?

Fassnacht says these developments create jobs, including those for people who don’t hold a 4-year college degree. And the money created is brought back into the Chicago economy. It’s a “self feeding organism and structure.”

Burnett says he thinks Chicago’s affordable living helps bring companies to this city. “We encourage affordable housing with residential developments…have we thought about encouraging affordable housing with commercial developments” so workers can have affordable places to live

No one else has any questions for Fassnacht. That concludes the subject matter hearing. That was pretty brief! The meeting adjourns at 10:50.

Check out http://documenters.org later on for full notes from today’s meeting. #ChiDocumenters