News & Events

IKO Industries Kankakee is expanding as the groundwork for a 15,000 square foot addition has begun. The space will accommodate a new production line, requiring the hire of 10 to 15 new employees.

Nucor Corporation has purchased the Alabama Metal Industries plant in Bourbonnais and hired back between 65 and 70 of the employees who were slated to be laid off.

A report issued January 23 by leading location advisory, economic incentive and corporate real estate services firm Site Selection Group places the Kankakee Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) – which shares boundaries with Kankakee County – among the nation’s top 10 metros positioned for growth of the millennial demographic. Using data provided by Claritas, Dallas-based SSG’s “The Best Metro Areas for a Talent Pipeline” forecasts that the Kankakee MSA will experience 6.1% growth of the millennial population – classified by the firm as the post-college population under 35 – from 2016 to 2021.

Leading food innovator FutureCeuticals Inc. announced last week a $2 million, 14,700 square foot expansion of its headquarters operation in the Greater Chicago community of Momence, Illinois. According to the company, which holds more than 50 patents for functional food ingredients, the additional space will house its 50 to 60 member sales, customer service and marketing force. Another 20 to 30 employees are expected to be hired within the next 12 to 24 months.

In terms of growth in the local industrial, institutional, military, utility, multifamily residential, infrastructure and commercial markets, 2016 projects announcements in Kankakee County in 2016 are projected to yield $120,700,000 in capital investment, 699,290 square feel of new space and 904 new jobs.

Outstanding high-technology growth by local companies like multinational bioscience leader CSL Behring and Riverside Healthcare has helped to place the Kankakee Metropolitan Statistical Area – which shares boundaries with Kankakee County – at the top among small metros in the state of Illinois again in 2016. Kankakee MSA’s overall ranking also jumped from 90 to 74 from 2015 to 2016 when compared against 201 small metros nationwide.

NEXT50 Open House and Expo is happening Dec. 2 from 4-7p.m. at Kankakee Community College’s Manufacturing and Industrial Technology Center. It’s free and open to the public. High school students, parents, teachers and guidance counselors are highly encouraged to attend. Refreshments will be served, including Johnsonville brats.

The 2016-17 Technology Edition of THRIVE magazine has been released by the Daily Journal, in partnership with the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County.

National water and wastewater provider Aqua America has consolidated call center operations in the Greater Chicago community of Kankakee, Illinois. In September, the utility completed an expansion at the Downtown Kankakee Clock Tower Centre that doubled its space as well as local employment. This site has assumed the operations previously conducted at a now-vacated Pittsburgh call center.

Updated full-time employee counts for Kankakee County’s top 60 manufacturers, logistics firms and institutions were released today by the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County. The Alliance has been tracking FTE count since 2010, reporting annually for local and prospective industrial and commercial developers. “The employee numbers that we track represent 15,641 jobs, which is approximately 30 percent of our county’s total employment as of August 2016,” explained Alliance President and CEO Tim Nugent. “Preliminarily, we are showing year-over-year growth of 200 jobs. This is fairly consistent with the most recent Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) employment report, which indicated year-over-year growth of 500 jobs for Kankakee County.”