EDG News

Manufacturing Month Continued

As we continue to celebrate Manufacturing Month, manufacturing is one of the four major pillars of Elgin’s economy representing 11.6% of all jobs, along with Education (14.4%), Health Care (12.0%), and Professional Services (11.3%).

Amazon

Amazon is set to hire 250,000 U.S. workers to manage deliveries during the upcoming holiday season, even as analysts predict a sharp decline in overall seasonal hiring.

Real Estate

Confidence among commercial real estate professionals edged higher in NAIOP’s latest sentiment survey, reflecting cautious optimism driven by expectations of lower interest rates. While respondents remained concerned about rising material and development costs, most anticipate a more favorable business environment over the coming year.

Construction Industry

Construction project backlogs continued to decline in September, according to the latest data from Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). The dip reflects a slowdown in contractor sales expectations, driven by reduced demand across several key industries.

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Consumer sentiment remained low in October amid concern over the effects of the government shutdown, trade policies and lingering inflation.

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August’s U.S. consumer spending rose 0.6%, or $129.2 billion, from the prior month, led by categories such as transportation and food services, the Commerce Department reported. While spending posted significant gains from spring levels, households continued to essentially break even as personal income increased 0.4% for the month.

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The third edition of the data viewbook, known as ELGIN @ A Glance, has been completed and printed.

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Illinois Department of Employment Security Releases Data

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Numbers provided by the Illinois Department of Employment Security

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A Retail Demand Outlook looks at consumer spending in 2025 and projects spending for 2030.

Monitoring the Local Economy

The Elgin Development Group monitors vacancy rates in the City of Elgin and reports metrics from time to time to measure the status of the office, retail, housing, industrial, and overall real estate markets.

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Ford Motor Co. is set to open its new 2.1 million-square-foot world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, in November after nearly 70 years in a nearby glass office building that the automaker said would be demolished.

Government Shutdown

The ongoing government shutdown is expected to suspend funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Holiday Shopping

Consumers are planning to spend slightly less this holiday season compared to last year’s record-setting pace, according to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) latest annual survey.

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August’s U.S. construction starts for housing declined 8.5% from the prior month and fell 6% from a year earlier, as builders cited continued challenges with building costs and financing rates. The Commerce Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development Wednesday said residential projects were started at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 1.3 million units.

Northeast Region Weekly Update

Manufacturing: “Honoring Illinois Manufacturing Legacy and Future”

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More consumers are facing difficulties in landing new jobs, among the latest indicators of rising pressures on businesses as hiring slows down. Government data showed the U.S. gaining just 22,000 jobs in August after a 79,000 rise in July and a decline of 13,000 for June.

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Weak manufacturing orders and sagging consumer sentiment were among factors dragging down a Conference Board index of leading U.S. economic indicators. The research group said its August tracking put the index at 98.4, down about a half percentage point from the prior month.

Celebrating Elgin's Manufacturers

Kicking off a month's long recognition of manufacturing in America.

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There is approximately 19 billion square feet of industrial space in the U. S. with the Chicago Industrial Market, is the largest in the nation with approximately 1.4 billion square feet of space.

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Tech giant Microsoft is further increasing what is already a considerable number of 2025 job reductions as it joins other firms pivoting to artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. Microsoft will also increase the number of days that employees have to work in the office starting in February.

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Mortgage applications declined 4.7% from the prior week for the week ended Oct. 3, though the volume of purchase applications rose 14% from a year earlier, according to the latest tracking by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

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U.S. sales of new single-family homes rebounded from a longtime slump in August to reach their highest level in more than three years, according to the latest figures from the Commerce Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity

Please join the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO) as we celebrate and promote Illinois women-owned businesses during National Women’s Business Month. Throughout October, DCEO is elevating resources and opportunities to bolster women-owned businesses throughout the state. Leverage business resources, and learn more about how to get involved and support women-owned businesses throughout Illinois below! Data

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Nvidia plans to invest $5 billion into struggling chipmaking rival Intel, as the two Silicon Valley firms collaborate on technologies geared to high-demand data centers.

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Ten tracked U.S. regions averaged 55.6% of their pre-pandemic office attendance levels for the week ended Sept. 17, Kastle Systems reported. That was just slightly below the post-pandemic peak of 55.8% reached in the prior week.

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Office attendance in 10 major U.S. metropolitan areas rose slightly in the week ending October 15, averaging 54.2% of pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest data.

build-to-suit project is a significant addition

Opus has officially broken ground on a new, specialized 52,174-square-foot facility for family-owned Elgin Recycling in Gilberts, Illinois. This build-to-suit project is a significant addition to the Turnberry Lakes Business Park, strategically placing it near Elgin Recycling's corporate headquarters and one of its four existing Chicago-area scrap yards.

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The pace of nonresidential U.S. projects heading into planning picked up considerably in the latest monthly tracking by Dodge Construction Network, led by categories such as data centers, warehouses and hotels.

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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that companies from his country will be “very hesitant” to invest in the United States after last week’s major immigration raid at a Hyundai auto manufacturing plant in Ellabell, Georgia.

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New business comes to Elgin's east side.

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August’s costs that U.S. companies incurred to produce goods and services posted an unexpected 0.1% decline from the prior month, with the annual rate of cost escalation at 2.6%, down from 3.3% in the prior month. But the latest Labor Department numbers showed costs remaining elevated by historical standards in several categories, including some construction materials.

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September’s U.S. retail and food service sales declined 0.6% from the prior month while beating the year-earlier tally by 5.4% as consumers remained cautious ahead of the holiday shopping season, according to the latest tracking by the National Retail Federation.

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August’s U.S. retail and food service sales rose 0.6% from the prior month and topped the year-earlier figure by 5%, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Consumers spent $732 billion, with monthly gains led by categories such as online-only retailers, clothing and sporting goods stores.

Seller Red Mountain Group acquired Algonquin Commons out of distress in 2021

A California-based real estate developer has sold a shopping center near Chicago for $100 million, one of the highest sale prices in the area in recent years, after buying it out of financial distress and refilling much of the space.

Along with KDOT receiving top honors for Longmeadow Parkway from APWA Chicago Metro Chapter, Thomas Rickert, KDOT’s Deputy Director and Chief of Staff, was recently awarded the 2025 APWA Professional Manager of the Year –Administrative Management for his service to Kane County and the broader Chicagoland metro area as evidenced by 37 years of leadership for Kane County, the Kane Kendall Council of Mayors as Executive Director, APWA, and CMAP serving on regional committees.

Compared to other locations, Elgin is an attractive place to do business.

The Elgin Development Group has helped many new and existing businesses find a suitable location.

Workforce Development

Younger workers are finding it increasingly difficult to secure employment as hiring slows across many industries, according to a report released Thursday by the Conference Board.