Will County Center for Economic Development: Local job creation leads state but housing needs lagging

Will County — The Will County Center for Economic Development delivered its annual report Friday, Dec. 6 at the Bolingbrook Golf Club.

Throughout the presentation, CED President and CEO Doug Pryor highlighted several pieces of good news about economic growth in Will County and the greater Chicago area, including job growth and the ability of the region to attract business.

Pryor was joined by Christy George, the CEO of Intersect Illinois, who noted that this year 440 companies expanded or moved into Illinois, the second highest of any state behind Texas.

“Companies want to move where people want to live, and Illinois offers a world-class quality of life,” George said.

Some of the companies Pryor highlighted as significant “wins” for Will County were NLX Beverage Solutions, which opened in New Lenox this year; Up at Dawn, an industrial bakery, which opened in Mokena; PQ Corporation in Joliet; and the Invenergy Center of Excellence in Bolingbrook, which is an expansion of a Chicago-based company into Will County.

Pryor also touted two projects that have broken ground and will open for business in 2025 – the Hollywood Casino project on the far west side of Joliet at Interstates 55 and 80, and Voortman Steel, which broke ground recently in Mokena and will serve as a U.S. headquarters for the Dutch company.

A shoutout also was given to Chicago for securing a deal to be the new home of PsiQuantum, a state-of-the-art quantum computing facility that Lockport also was in contention to receive.

“The momentum is real,” George said of Illinois’ growth.

Even as the state as a whole sees growth, Will County boasts an extra achievement of being the No. 1 county for job creation in Illinois over the past five years, Pryor said, with 17,900 jobs created since 2019.

Pryor said that not only does that figure make Will County the leader in Illinois, but it also added more new jobs than every county in neighboring Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri and Kentucky, and less than only one county in each of Indiana and Iowa.

Hoping to continue growing the county’s workforce, Pryor also touted CED’s summer internship program, which was created this summer for local high school students.

Pryor said the program offered 38 paid positions to Joliet Township High School students, giving them an opportunity to earn work experience and explore career options.

“I would have been happy if we’d been able to start it with 10 slots,” Pryor said. “So, a big thanks to the businesses who opened their doors to our students to give them this opportunity.”

The success of the program sparked a significant increase in interest for 2025, with Pryor reporting that 147 students from Joliet Central, Joliet West, Lockport Township High School, Bolingbrook High School, Romeoville High School, WILCO, Providence Catholic High School and Joliet Catholic Academy will have the opportunity to participate in 2025.

Housing concerns

Among the good news, Pryor also took time to address a few items of concern in the county.

One was the potential loss of Lion Electric, which announced recently that it is suspending operations in Joliet.

Still, Pryor tried to remain positive on the issue, saying: “I was proud to be part of the team that attracted Lion to the area. Everything we work on comes with risk, especially with new industries. It still demonstrates that the area is competitive for business, with big opportunities for wins.”

He also suggested that if the business does shutter operations permanently, then the CED will work to re-market the property and facilities to other companies.

The other area in need of attention identified by the CED is housing.

Although he noted Will County is the No. 1 county in Illinois for the development of new single-family homes, the area is lacking in the development of multifamily housing options.

“We need to start talking candidly about diversifying our housing stock, and we need to do it now if we’re going to be competitive and meet housing demand where it is.”

—  Doug Pryor, president and CEO of Will County Center for Economic Development

Additionally, both home prices and rent have remained high compared with their pre-pandemic levels.

“Housing prices are up almost 40% since pre-COVID numbers, and rent has gone up, too,” Pryor said. “The average rent price in the county is $1.82 per square foot, or about $1,800 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.”

Pryor suggested a demand would exist for more multifamily units, as they are popular among young people, and it is currently difficult for people who grew up in Will County to stay here when they are starting out on their own.

To put the issue in perspective, he explained that since 2000, Will County has added 6,000 multifamily units while simultaneously adding 66,000 single-family homes.

These numbers leave the county with multifamily homes representing only 13% of its available housing stock. By comparison, DuPage County has 29% of its housing stock made up of multifamily units, while Lake County has 22%.

“This continues to be a priority for us,” Pryor said. “We have been very successful on one side of the housing market, but we need to focus on the other side now. We need to start talking candidly about diversifying our housing stock, and we need to do it now if we’re going to be competitive and meet housing demand where it is.”

When asked whether the CED has plans to incentivize communities to develop more affordable, multifamily housing, Pryor said that although developments are “decided at the local level,” the CED is “working with developers to find sites and communities that will work with them.”

Trump and immigration

Although Pryor was enthusiastic about the county’s future development possibilities, especially in the technology and energy sectors, he did acknowledge that there are concerns regarding proposed policies from the incoming presidential administration relating to immigration and tariffs.

“Any action that could reduce the size of our labor force is obviously troubling,” he said. “We’re especially mindful of it with our Hispanic community, which is our largest-growing population and an important group to us as we continue to grow. We also have the largest inland port in North America, and it’s essential for us to maintain business coming through it.”

Overall, Pryor remained positive that business will continue to grow in Will County despite these challenges.

“Every new administration has its investment priorities,” Pryor said. “The good news is we are competitive in such a broad spectrum of industries, I believe we can be competitive in any field they choose to focus on.”