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 | December 2010 :: Volume 73 | |
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| Chicago By The Numbers Read More | | Brookings Global Metro Summit 2010 Converges in Chicago, Honors Mayor Daley for Tremendous Service This month, Chicago was host to the Global Metro Summit. The theme was Delivering the Next Economy, and a distinguished group of speakers and panels discussed visions for metropolitan regions and a new economic growth model. Read More | |
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| Welcoming International Leaders to Greenbuild 2010 Last month, World Business Chicago had the honor to host a distinguished group of more than 200 international green building leaders in conjunction with Greenbuild 2010. The U.S. Green Building Council’s International Conference & Expo convenes the industry’s largest gathering of representatives from all sectors of the green building movement. Read More | | Chicago’s New and Expanding Companies in 2010 World Business Chicago has identified 232 major commercial and industrial expansions across the Chicago region in 2010. WBC’s research department has compiled a summary of these projects, which represent more than 14 million square feet and nearly $2 billion in investment. Read More | |
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| Brookings Global Metro Summit 2010 Converges in Chicago, Honors Mayor Daley for Tremendous Service This month, Chicago was host to the Global Metro Summit, a collaboration between the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, the London School of Economics, the Alfred Herrhausen Society (the International Forum of Deutsche Bank ), and TIME magazine. The theme was Delivering the Next Economy, and a distinguished group of speakers and panels discussed visions for metropolitan regions and a new economic growth model.The impressive mix of business, academic and political leaders discussed the emergence of regionalism and globalism as drivers of the next economy. They discussed how an estimated 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, and how fostering regional economic strengths is integral to supporting and sustaining economic recovery and growth. The final panel engaged leading U.S. Mayors and was chaired by Richard Stengel, the managing editor of Time magazine. The panel included Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. You can view excerpts from the panel on Brookings’ website. The program was concluded by honoring Mayor Richard M. Daley with the Global Metro Award. The group honored the mayor’s tremendous accomplishments and praised his original thinking, boldness, willingness to make decisions and to stand up and lead to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Chicago, highlighted in the following video: -- Photo courtesy of Brookings - From left: TIME Magazine Managing Editor Richard Stengel, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter, and Bruce Katz  | |
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| Welcoming International Leaders to Greenbuild 2010 Last month, World Business Chicago had the honor to host a distinguished group of more than 200 international green building leaders in conjunction with Greenbuild 2010. The U.S. Green Building Council’s International Conference & Expo convenes the industry’s largest gathering of representatives from all sectors of the green building movement.The conference provided a unique opportunity to build relationships with the international green building community, while promoting Chicago as a global city. WBC hosted business leaders from Brazil, China, Finland, Italy, Israel, Jordan, Poland, Romania and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to many consulate representatives. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, in a recent report, McGraw-Hill Construction noted that the green building industry has grown by 50 percent in the last two years, despite a recession that has prevented the growth of many other industries. In a 2009 study, McGraw-Hill projected that the green building industry will contribute $554 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product and create or save 7.9 million American jobs between 2009 and 2013. Having been named the #1 City in Green Innovation and #1 Greenest City in America, Chicago is a natural fit for Greenbuild’s conference. Its location, Chicago’s McCormick Place West, is the largest LEED-certified new-construction facility in the country. Chicago is also home to the world’s largest LEED-certified building, the Merchandise Mart, and was one of the first cities to adopt LEED for public buildings - currently home to more LEED-certified buildings than any other city. The U.S. Green Building Council recognized Chicago’s commitment to greening in this video:  Chicago is becoming a "next-generation" city, and WBC utilized this unique opportunity to network with international leadership in sustainability and green technology converging here to help define the future. One of those leaders, the Honorable Bruce Oreck, U.S. Ambassador to Finland since 2009, spoke at the reception. Over his career, Ambassador Oreck practiced law, authored several books, served as General Counsel and Executive Vice President for his privately-held family business, the Oreck Corporation, and served as a real estate developer, working for many years restoring and redeveloping historic properties. This work, along with his lifelong passion for nature, led to his strong interest in “green” building, climate change and renewable/alternative energy. In 2003, Ambassador and Mrs. Oreck founded the Zero Carbon Initiative which is committed to implementing both experimental and off-the-shelf technologies in the built environment, not just to reduce but to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Ambassador Oreck offered the opening address at Greenbuild’s International Forum, in his capacity as Chair of the League of Green Embassies. The city’s leadership is committed to making Chicago the greenest city in the world, and bringing world leaders in green building to Chicago provided WBC an excellent opportunity to reach out to this group. The reception was sponsored by WBC along with the Mayor’s Office of International Relations, U.S. Commercial Services and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. | |
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| Chicago’s New and Expanding Companies in 2010 World Business Chicago has identified 232 major commercial and industrial expansions that were announced, under development or completed across the Chicago region in 2010. WBC’s research department has compiled a summary of these projects, which represent more than 14 million square feet and nearly $2 billion in investment. The year-in-review includes industry highlights, maps of development in the central business district and metro area, and figures on global expansions. The report is a supplement to WBC’s annual report, which will be published next month. The annual report will include more in-depth commentary and information on outreach initiatives.Read the complete report on 2010 new and expanding companies (PDF). | |
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| Chicago By The Numbers World Business Chicago tracks indicators from month to month to gauge the strength of several aspects of Chicago’s regional economy, including employment in major sectors, residential and office real estate data, price and purchasing indexes, and auto and truck sales. As some data is released with a two-month lag, the information summarized below reflects October 2010.Key trends evident in this month’s “By The Numbers” include:
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