Economic indicators

Development directors help bring business to growing communities

Ask any economic development director in Kendall or southwestern Kane county what's new, and be prepared to pull up a chair.

For Lynn Dubajic, executive director of the Yorkville Economic Development Corporation, the lengthy list only starts with a new office at 207 Hillcrest Avenue.

Plano Economic Development Director Whitney French just started her job six months ago and already has developed an action plan for the community.

Former Sugar Grove Trustee Perry Clark became the first executive director of the Sugar Grove Economic Development Corporation in January and has started the wheels rolling in an effort to better market the growing community.

In Montgomery, the first executive director of the Montgomery Economic Development Corporation is expected to be hired by April.

And Oswego, the first municipality in Kendall County to have an EDC, continues to see an influx of new businesses.

Oswego Commons, at Douglas Road and Route 34, will be fully leased with the impending announcement of who will fill the final three outlots of more-than-500,000-square-foot center, said Michael Cassa, executive director of the Oswego Economic Development Corporation.

Why EDC's are in demand

More and more communities in the Fox Valley are setting up public-private economic development partnerships, finding that an independent group can, in fact, beat City Hall when it comes to attracting retail growth.

Taking the task of drawing businesses into Sugar Grove away from the village staff and giving it to the newly formed Sugar Grove Economic Development Corporation means there is someone thinking about how to get the village's name in front developers all the time, said Perry Clark, the executive director of the SGEDC.

One of the first actions of the SGEDC will be to create a marketing portfolio and package to let developers know more about Suger Grove, Perry said.

The economic development group will allow the village to get out news that might not seem important to the average person - like road widening or utility infrastructure improvements - to a wider audience, Perry said.

Michael Cassa, the executive director of the Oswego Economic Development Corporation, said there are two main advantages to the public-private partnership model.

First, and EDC helps focus the town's effort to market itself.

"Some people feel - that, if we did not exist, businesses would come here, anyway," Cassa said.

Some retailers might not have heard of Oswego. Others might know of Oswego but are working with a real estate broker who doesn't have a piece of land in town that fits that business' needs, Cassa said.

Matching a business to a location in the village is one of the key tasks the EDC performs, Cassa said.

once that macth is made, the EDC acts as a friend to the business, helping to smooth over any humps that might occur with site design, engineering or a host of other issues that are resolved by a town's staff and elected board, Cassa said.

The other key advantage to having an EDC is to create a personal relationship between the town and the business. There isn't always a perfect location or the right demographic numbers that a business is seeking when it comes to tosn, but a good economic development professional lets a business know what kind of potential for growth a town has, even if the numbers in a given moment aren't quite there.

"They still need some persuasion," Cassa said.

Ultimately, the market makes or breaks the deal. It there is a good piece of real estate at the right price, a business will come into town. If a landlord demands too high a rent or if a company seeks a spot on a state route and none are available, chances are there's little that can be done to pull that deal together, Cassa said.

Indicators

EDC directors identify potential areas for commercial and industrial development and aim to attract the kinds of uses that would boost the area's tax base. The skyrocketing population in those towns has made them a favorite of developers in recent years - a trend that shows no sign of slowing.

"It's astounding, the numbers that we're seeing," Dubajic said.

In Yorkville, the first houses are expected to go up in at least four large subdivisions on both the north and south sides of the city.

The YEDC's new offices in a building off Route 34 and Center Parkway are larger than a previous location the YEDC shared with the Yorkville Area Chamber of Commerce in the Countryside Shopping Center.

"It's worked out wonderfully," Dubajic said. "The office itself is very easy to locate, and it's in more of a traditional office setting." From the new headquarters, Dubajic said, she plans to continue to raise awareness among regional and national developers and commercial real estate brokers. The YEDC is organizing a summer motor coach tour for some key commercial real estate brokers who work with national retailers to show them some of Yorkville's prime development sites.

"They really heavily rely on these brokers to go out and do site searches for them," Dubajic said.

Partnerships a key

All the EDC directors emphasize the importance of partnerships.

Both Yorkville and Plano are involved in a new partnership with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.

Called the "Route 34 Logistics Corridor," the new program will give communities such as Yorkville, Plano and Mendota exposure in national business publications, with each participating community getting information on all leads generated through BNSF.

Economic development professionals share a common bond, Oswego's Cassa said.

Many of the area directors get together at least quarterly to talk about what's going on.

Cassa and his group helped guide Yorkville and Sugar Grove when those towns were looking to start up their own EDCs.

"We want to be a good neighbor," Cassa said.

If a business doesn't come to Oswego, he'd still like it to contribute to Oswego in some way by ending up within the boundaries of Oswego School District or Park District.

"We have a very cordial relationship," Cassa said. "It's competitive but not to the degree that most people think."

Yorkville's Dubajic, who also helped Sugar Grove get started, offered a similar observation.

"Obviously, there are things that we're all trying to get," Dubajic said. " A lot of times, it's just healthier to think regionally. it;s not practical to think you're going to win them all."

A large retail or industrial center will employ people from surrounding communities, and people will travel through other communities to get there, Dubajic said.

Plano's French said she sees a spirit of cooperation among the area directors.

"one has to know that what is good for Yorkville has got to be good for Plano - and what is good for Plano has got to be good for Yorkville," French said.

Sugar grove's Clark said Dubajic, Cassa and Sherman Jenkins, executive director of the Aurora Economic Development Commission, all gave vital aid to help Sugar Grove get its EDC started.

"There is friendly competition," Clark said. "Everyone wants to do very well for their town."

But they do band togerther when it comes to dealing with countywide issues or lobbying in Springfield, Clark said.

Dubajic said she and Cassa have worked together at various trade shows to promote the business opportunities in Kendall County.

Residential Growth

Residential development will continue to drive much of the new commercial openings in the next several years.

The 1,100-acre Grande Reserve development on Yorkville's northeast side is among four new areas likely to have its first residents by this fall. Whispering Meadows at Cannonball Trail and Faxon Road, Raintree Village on Route 71 and Windett Ridge on Route 47 are expected to add thousands of new addresses in Yorkville in the next few years.

In Plano, the 700-acre Lakewood Springs development, which will straddle Route 34 west of Eldamain Road, is drawing more attention to the city, French said.

"The escalation in interest has quadrupled," in the past six months, French said.

"Investors look at what the population is withina nine-minute drive time," French said. "When you start building houses, you start getting calls."

Dubajic said the YEDC will "continue to focus on relationships with residential developers and the city to obtain results that meet the quality-of-life standard requested, and population to support balanced commercial growth."

French would like to see county-wide partnership that would help arrive at a consistant plan for financial incentives and marketing strategies that would benefit the whole area.

Plano also has partnerships with ComEd and Nicor.

As the growth pushes west, French said, it is important to listen to the landowners.

"What we're trying to do is get an idea of how they want to be represented," French said. "I don't want to send a potential developer to a landowner who doesn't want to sell their land."

"We're very responsible with the way we develop," French said. "You only get one chance to do this."

Montgomery eyes director

Montgomery has received more than 15 applications for its executive director position, from as far away as New Mexico and Alabama and from as close as other Chicago Suburbs, said village Trustee Denny Lee, who is also the chairman of the MEDC board of directors.

The group already has $132,000 in its coffers, 32 member companies and office space reserved on the fourth floor of Jason's at Gray's Mill in downtown Montgomery.

Montgomery has always been known as an industrial town and has done well in recruiting new industry and convincing established companies to stay and grow in town in recent years, Lee said.

Now, with the strat of the MEDC and the rapid residential grown on the town's west side, the time is right for Montgomery's retail and commercial areas to grow, Lee said.

When Orchard Road in Montgomery is expanded to four lanes, commercial growth there will take off, Lee said.

"(Oswego and Yorkville) developed faster, but they were both designed as the next Naperville," Lee said. "We never were."

Whoever the first director of the MEDC is will come into a situation in which plenty of businesses will be knocking on the door.

"The businesses know where they want to go," Lee said.