More Businesses Moving Back To City

Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown is ditching the suburbs and is lobbying other companies to do the same.  In an interview with Crain’s Chicago Business recently he detailed plans to create as many as 400 new jobs by the end of 2012.  While the newly spun off company has existing space in Illinois Center, there’s not nearly enough space to accommodate everyone there.  He said that the new location would likely be downtown or in the O’Hare area, which follows a trend we covered lasts month: https://byobroker.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/new-trend-of-businesses-moving-back-to-the-city/

While he says he was influenced by Mayor Emanuel to move back to the city, he follows the lead of other tech firms like Groupon and Google that recognize that talented younger workers prefer to live and work in the city, avoiding suburban commutes.  Mayor Emanuel recently named Brown to the board of World Business Chicago, the economic development agency for the city, and he has been out proselytizing other CEOs to follow his lead.   See the full article here: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110920/NEWS08/110919878/motorola-hunting-for-office-space-in-chicago