Elk Grove Village has reinvested in its industrial properties over the last 10 years, and it’s paid off.
In 2016, the northwest suburb’s industrial vacancy rate hit 3.98 percent, the lowest among Cook County municipalities in the O’Hare Industrial Market. Since 2010, the vacancy rate has dropped more than 65 percent after starting at 12.49 percent. The village also maintains the highest absorption rate at more than 275,000 square feet.
Elk Grove’s industrial market is largely driven by its Business Park, which has been heavily invested in by the village with almost $60 million put into park improvements over the last decade, including new street lights, rehabilitation, new signage and sewer improvements.
The park stands at nearly 6 square miles, which is the largest consolidated business park in North America, Mayor Craig Johnson said at a village board meeting on Tuesday.
“We invested financially in our infrastructure, worked hard to become a business friendly destination and marketed ourselves to precision manufacturing firms,” Johnson said in a statement. “Overall, we have worked diligently to become a national destination for business activity.”
Meanwhile, Elk Grove said it has also seen a significant boom of 121 businesses moving to or expanding to the village in 2016. The village also reported that around 2.4 million square feet of industrial space was also occupied last year, with private sector construction investing nearly $145 million. Large companies like Creative Werks and MC Machinery also are working on moving their operations to Elk Grove.
The village continues to see a boom in growth already in 2017, issuing permits valued at $66.5 million for new constructions in the spring. Johnson attributed the village’s growth to its commitment to strengthen its properties throughout the last decade — even amid the Great Recession in 2007.
“While other communities were content to ride out market trends with little investment, Elk Grove chose to do much more and go beyond what was expected,” he said. “We were willing to spend now for future investment. Now, the private sector has taken notice and responded with a wave of expansions, relocations and new developments. It’s all evidenced in the abundant business activity taking place in Elk Grove Village.”
