Galesburg alternative to Chicago?
City stands to gain from Windy City rail congestion
Thursday, July 12, 2007
GALESBURG - Officials taking part in Wednesday's Public Awareness Forum at the Galesburg Public Library said presenting Galesburg as a low-cost, less congested alternative to Chicago for the shipment of goods is why they have high hopes for Logistics Park-Galesburg.A crowd packed the library's Sanderson Room, including at least five of the seven members of the Galesburg City Council. Mayor Gary Smith publicly took the council to task when none attended a program about the logistics park during the June 27 meeting of the Business District Development and Redevelopment Committee.
Much of the new information about the park came during a question-and-answer session following a panel discussion about the history and value of the "strategic alliance" between the city of Galesburg, GREDA, CenterPoint Properties and Mercantile Companies Inc.
In answer to a question, Jim Ford of CenterPoint said, based on his past experiences, the park on the far east side of the city has the potential for "permanent job creation of about 1,300 to 1,500 jobs."
Those numbers do not include possible new rail and trucking jobs that also may be created.
"About 4 to 5 million square feet of business could be built out there," Ford added.
Mike Kroll, who asked the question about the kinds of jobs that may locate in the 350-acre park, said intermodal facilities, which move mass quantities of goods, are less labor intensive and employ fewer people than an operation such as the one at NAEIR in Galesburg. At NAEIR, warehouse employees pick out goods and put together smaller lots for shipment than is the case with an intermodal facility.
"The fact is, we could get both types of logistics in here," said GREDA member John Polillo of Dick Blick, one of the members of the panel discussion.
Other possible tenants mentioned were alternative energy firms, as well as manufacturing, although officials admitted manufacturing leads are "few and far between."
The audience appeared to appreciate the candor of the officials taking part in the forum. Polillo said Dick Blick used to have three distribution warehouses - one of those in Galesburg - but now has only the one here. He said a national distribution center needs to be in the Midwest because of the cost of shipping freight. However, he admitted Galesburg's location could be better.
"Even though Galesburg is in decent position, we're not in prime territory," Polillo said. "The I-80 effect is huge. We're on an interstate, but it's the wrong interstate."
Polillo used cities such as Ottawa and Princeton, both on I-80, as examples. He also said most companies look in Ohio or Indiana for a one-distribution-center operation, while regional distribution centers are usually located nearer to Chicago.
The biggest advantage for Galesburg seems to be the growing congestion in Chicago as more manufacturing is done off-shore, meaning more goods need to be shipped across the country.
"We want to be the new Chicago," GREDA Executive Director Greg Mangieri said of Galesburg's position in the world of logistics.
An engineer from the Union Pacific Railroad said he read that freight shipped into Chicago is expected to double within the next 20 years, causing even more congestion. He asked about access to the CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines from the BNSF in Galesburg, a key to shipping goods to the East Coast.
Mangieri said that is another advantage of Galesburg's rail access.
"The line that runs past the park, that runs from Galesburg to Peoria," he said. "In Peoria, the rail connects with the TP and W Railroad and runs from Peoria to somewhere near Remington, Ind."
He said the BNSF line, in the process, crosses the Canadian National, CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads, allowing access to the East Coast and Canada.
"An area like Galesburg makes a lot of sense, because you're circumventing what I call the abyss of Chicago," Ford said.
Alderman Ken Goad, Ward 1, seemed to sum up the feelings of many in the audience when he said, "I'm glad you're dropping the curtain of secrecy that has been around GREDA. ... Give us the information and you'll get more support."
The two-hour forum also included a history of regional economic development, marketing strategy/development of Logistics Park-Galesburg and highlights of the Master Marketing and Development Contract. The audience broke into applause at the end of the session, with one man sitting near the front heard to remark, "good meeting."
