Minooka Community High School District 111 officials have pledged their support for an economic development project in Will County that is being touted as bringing 2,500 jobs to the immediate region.
District 111’s board recently adopted an agreement for property tax abatement in association with the Hyundai Translead’s proposal, which has been described by state and company officials as an investment valued at $450 million.
For its part, MCHS officials have agreed to provide Hyundai Translead with five continuous years of tax abatement of 50% of the real estate taxes associated with an existing industrial building on a 40.19-acre site at 3835 Youngs Road, Channahon, as well as a 15.55-acre parcel immediately east of the existing facility.
Doug Pryor, president and CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development, recently spoke to the District 111 board of education about Hyundai Translead’s plans for the area. The proposal had previously been referred to as the North Winds abatement agreement.
“In total, this project would represent roughly 2.4 million square feet of former manufacturing space in this region being put back into manufacturing use,” Pryor said at the March 18 board of education meeting. “At scale, this project would generate roughly 2,500 jobs between two facilities, which would make it one of the largest manufacturing attraction projects in Illinois.”
The tax abatement, Pryor said, comes in exchange for the investment at the property and the overall economic benefit and job creation prospects the project will bring to the region.
“With a workforce plan of that scale, education partners are particularly important,” Pryor said. “I will say Joliet Junior College has been at the table for some time, and they are working to develop specific manufacturing training programs that will serve this and other projects throughout the region.”
When asked more specifically by the board about a potential partnership with MCHS — particularly for its career and technical education program — Pryor described such a proposal as “100% yes.”
“For a project like this to work, we need your students,” Pryor said. “The reality is projects like this are going to be staffed and built by the local workforce. The short answer: Absolutely yes. I think those high school partnerships are enormously important.”
Collaborative endeavors with local schools, Pryor added, work hand-in-hand with a business such as Hyundai Translead as it embarks on recruitment efforts for its workforce.
‘If the local kids don’t know what those opportunities are, and don’t actually have the opportunity to actually get inside and see them, it’s not as meaningful,” Pryor said. “The whole idea of this is to create opportunities for our local kids in these places.”
Speaking more broadly on the impact Hyundai Translead’s investment will bring to the region, Pryor sounded an upbeat tone at the recent District 111 board meeting.
“We’re very lucky in Will County,” Pryor said. “We’re the top job creating county in Illinois and have been for some time.
Board member Bert Kooi voted against the abatement request at the recent District 111 board meeting.