GEDC says things are looking up in Grundy County

The Grundy Economic Development Council held its quarter luncheon Nov. 1, touting the county’s business prospects and population growth as positives heading into the future while outlining some of the challenges it’ll have to face.

GEDC President and CEO Nancy Norton said all of the recent and future developments make it an exciting time to be involved in the Grundy business community.

Grundy County saw a 6.4% increase in its population from 2017 to 2020 and ranks third out of 102 Illinois counties in growth by percentage. On top of its population growth, the county added new jobs in the energy, transportation and logistics, health care and manufacturing fields.

Business Director Monica Schild said this growth and continued diversification in the county’s economy should improve with the help of the Grundy Resiliency Project, which will help gather data needed to pursue other grant opportunities in the future. The project should take about 24 to 36 months, and it entails an economic overview of broadband analysis, decommissioning analysis, and economic resilience and diversification strategic planning.

“It’s a mouthful, but we are excited to report that step one is complete,” Schild said.

The population growth data came from the first step in the Grundy Resiliency Project, which includes an overview of the population’s income, the number of people on SNAP benefits, income inequality and more.

Overall, 9% of Grundy County residents are on SNAP benefits, which is below the national average of 12.5%.

The data Schild uses can be found at resilientgrundy.com.

Schild said Grundy County does better than others when it comes to income inequality. She used data that divided income in the 80th percentile by income in the 20th percentile, which for Grundy County came out to 3.9. This means that those making an income in the 80th percentile make 3.9 times more than those making an income in the 20th percentile.

Grundy County has the third-lowest income inequality ratio in the nine-county region by this metric. Counties involved include La Salle, Livingston, Grundy, Kendall, Kane, DeKalb, DuPage, Will and Kankakee.

Although the county still faces challenges. The housing and rental market is extremely tight, Schild said. Grundy County has a vacancy rate of 2.2%, or three times lower than the national average. Grundy County residents also have seen an 11% increase in monthly rent from 2021 to 2023.

“A third of rental households in Grundy County were classified as cost-burdened, meaning 30% or more of their monthly income is spent on housing costs,” Schild said. “The majority of these nearly 1,800 cost-burdened households have an annual income of less than $35,000, and the University of Michigan’s Economic Growth Institute saw cost-burdened households all the way up to the $75,000-a-year mark.”

Almost half of renter households are cost-burdened, which has negative effects in Minooka, Channahon and Morris.

“While rental costs continue to increase, the feasibility of both living and working in Grundy County may decrease,” Schild said.

Other challenges include the cost of construction on logistics facilities, which Norton said went from costing $24.31 per square foot two years ago to $45.69 today.

On the industrial side of things, Norton said prospect activity is up 115%, and that should continue to grow now that Interstate 80 is expanding to three lanes through Ridge Road in Minooka.

Norton said that she’s seeing a resurgence in interest in manufacturing, data centers and the circular economy. Certain types of jobs are returning to the U.S. because of the supply chain disruptions that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical risks and federal incentives made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act.

She said power demand is way up, too; Norton spoke to someone inquiring about a data center in Grundy County the other day who said they wanted to start out using 300 megawatts of power and could go up to 500 megawatts.

“All those types of facilities need power,” Norton said. “The good news is you have it, and you’re at a tremendous competitive advantage.”

Grundy County is at an advantage because of its proximity to both the La Salle, Braidwood and Dresden power stations.

New manufacturers coming to Grundy County include G.E., which is opening an appliance manufacturer in Morris with a $100 million-plus investment. This manufacturer is targeting a March 2025 opening date.

Norton also provided information on the Grundy Moves Multimodal Transportation Master Plan, which will identify and prioritize key transportation infrastructure improvement projects.

“Given the surge in activity we are seeing, regional transportation planning could not be more necessary or timely,” Norton said.

She encouraged the group to visit grundymoves.com to track the project’s progress and participate in a virtual forum later this year.

Adam Hess, CSX’s industrial development manager, said there are some other issues he sees on the horizon that may stagnate some growth in the Midwest, although he also sees opportunity.

“Everyone’s been talking about electric vehicles and seeing this network built up of these new automotive plants, primarily in the Southeast,” Hess said. “Then the battery suppliers are building plants here in the Midwest. What we’re starting to see is those producers are coming to the conclusion that consumers aren’t buying electric vehicles fast enough, and those businesses aren’t carrying enough profit.”

Hess said he expects to see a slowdown, but he doesn’t expect a stoppage. He just expects the industry to be more cautious in the future.

One area where he expects growth is the circular economy, which would take anything from water bottles to industrial plastics to reuse in businesses.

Hess said hydrogen is an exciting opportunity both for CSX and the Grundy County area.

Illinois is part of a multi-state consortium called MachH2, the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, which was selected by the Department of Energy to create hydrogen hubs across the country. One such hub will be the La Salle Constellation Energy station.