Mayor Rahm Emanuel held his event at a worksite in the South Loop, a long way from the far Northwest Side office building where Power Construction Company will move its headquarters in what the mayor calls, a victory for Chicago.
"They needed to be in a world class city like the city of Chicago, "said Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Power Construction has 200 employees located in Northwest suburban Schaumburg, and is moving only about 10 miles to Bryn Mawr Avenue, just inside the city limits on the Southeast Side of O'Hare.
"They needed also a transportation system that allows them to get to their clients anywhere in the world or anywhere in the country," said Emanuel.
But Power's boss cited other reasons. He says 10 years of Illinois tax credits and a subsidized worker-training program also made a difference. They're part of a deal struck by the state to keep Power in Illinois.
"It is part of our considerations and researching and reviewing the options that we had on the table once we talked to Indiana," said Jeff Karp, CEO of Power Construction.
"Our goal is to work with companies to work and expand in Illinois, we need jobs here and we need good jobs," said Dan Seals, of the Illinois Department of Commerce.
Power's in-state move will not affect Illinois' second highest in the nation unemployment rate or Chicago's first or second-highest jobless rate among the country's top 10 metro areas.
The mayor tried not to let those facts take the shine off the morning announcement.
"Our employment picture is much, much better," said Emanuel.
Later, a spokeswoman for the Mayor emailed numbers claiming the city has added over 30,000 jobs since 2011, when Rahm Emanuel took office. Still, the Labor Department numbers rank the metro area as well as the state, at or near the top of their separate categories when it comes to unemployment.
