Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle launched an unprecedented effort to generate new industrial investment in Chicagoland neighborhoods. The Industrial Growth Zones program will accelerate neighborhood development in seven designated areas over the next three years by removing longstanding hurdles to development and providing a broad set of services to support property owners and industrial businesses. The Industrial Growth Zone program is designed to address the two primary issues landowners and developers cite as obstacles to industrial site investment: vacant or unused land’s environmental conditions, and often-complex government regulations.

Through the program, landowners within Industrial Growth Zones will have access to a new site certification program designed to make information about their land available and transparent and prepare it for faster development. Landowners will also be eligible to receive up to $130,000 in financial assistance for environmental site assessments and remediation, plus free marketing to developers and companies. Landowners interested in developing their property can enroll in the program online starting today. The City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development and Cook County Bureau of Economic Development are collaborating with partners including the Civic Consulting Alliance, McKinsey & Company, World Business Chicago and the Zeno Group on the initiative. For more information about Industrial Growth Zones, please visit GrowthZones.com.