It would have been difficult to find a more fitting place for Thursday’s summit meeting of the McHenry County Economic Development Corp. than the cavernous building in Corporate Center in McHenry.
Once the 217,917-square-foot home of Motorola, the structure has been empty since 1999 after the company closed the plant, which at its height employed about 600 people.
Now, as the development corporation prepares to update a study showing where people in the county go to work, the empty structure is the embodiment of the push for new jobs in the county.
“More McHenry County residents would opt to work closer to home if they were given the opportunity,” said Jim Dinkle, president of the corporation. “Our goal is to keep workers closer to home. Right now, our priority is leasing this building. The right tenant would benefit all of McHenry County.”
According to a commuter study in 1993, nearly 50,000 white-collar workers leave the county daily to work in neighboring communities.
The corporation wants a new study done. “Because of the explosion in the growth of our county, we are looking to start an update of the commuter study completed in 1993,” Dinkle said. “We hope to begin it by the end of this year.”
Dinkle believes that the corporation has a good chance of being awarded an $85,000 grant from the Illinois Tomorrow Program to study commuter trends in the county. The awards will be announced in mid-November.
“The study will also recommend what types of industry we should recruit,” Dinkle said.
Any large company would likely get a tour of the former Motorola building.
“It’s a very sophisticated piece of real estate,” said Marc Munaretto, president of M.J. Munaretto & Co., a member of the McHenry County Board and the development corporation.
The building is wired for fiber optics, has power from two substations, sits on 20 acres with an adjacent 13.6-acre lot available for expansion and could easily be linked to Union Pacific rail service.
“We have cast the net broadly for quality manufacturing or distribution corporations, warehouse industries and technology-based businesses,” Munaretto said. “It’s a long process. We have had a good number of showings to companies in this county and are contacting state and national representatives. We are also reaching out to foreign trade organizations through embassies.”
The corporation formed nearly 10 years ago to join in the efforts of communities to retain and attract businesses.
“Tax bases change with the arrival of new businesses,” said Dave Kerrigan, chairman of the board. Tax ratios favor residents when more businesses are responsible for area taxes, he added.
