Dozens Of New Jobs Coming To The West Side Thanks To New Construction

A groundbreaking ceremony was recently held for The Will Group’s new manufacturing facility in North Lawndale. Photo Credit: City of Chicago/Walter Mitchell
A groundbreaking ceremony was recently held for The Will Group’s new manufacturing facility in North Lawndale. Photo Credit: City of Chicago/Walter Mitchell

Dozens Of New Jobs Coming To The West Side Thanks To New Construction

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

A groundbreaking ceremony was recently held to kick off the construction of a $5.4 million electrical equipment production facility just south of Interstate 290 in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. The new manufacturing facility will be owned and operated by the Will Group and will create 60 temporary construction jobs along with 48 permanent jobs in the community.

The Will Group manufactures electrical equipment for a variety of clients out of two smaller manufacturing facilities in Roseland and in Austin. When complete, the 60,000 square-foot complex located on 825 S. Kilpatrick Ave. in North Lawndale will become the new home for the company’s manufacturing operations.

“We had a vision of the things that we could do on the west side and a few months ago I met with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and I was just blown away at his desire to help us do something impactful here,” said Steve Davis, chairman of The Will Group. “We have been doing business with the City of Chicago for over 35 years and

this is a culmination of years and years of work.”

At the new North Lawndale facility, LED street lights and solar panels will be produced for the City of Chicago. The Will Group also has already made a commitment to hiring ex-offenders to work in the factory where they will learn job and life skills to help sustain themselves and their families.

“When I first got in office, I called Mr. Davis and I called him to ask for money. When we got to sit down and talk he didn’t want to just give me money, he wanted to invest in this community and that is much greater than any check that he could give me,” said Michael

Scott, Jr., alderman of Chicago’s 24th Ward. “Mr. Davis is not just taking these returning citizens and giving them jobs, he is giving them 401ks, he’s giving them living wages, and he’s giving them the opportunity to learn skills that they can take anywhere.”

Additionally, the land where the new factory will be built has sat vacant in the community for over a decade. After years of disinvestment on the west side, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that this new development will have a positive impact on the young people living in the community.

“There are kids in this neighborhood who every day walk to school or drive by and see an empty lot,” said Emanuel. “Kids internalize what they see and in a short period of time they are going to see something that they have gotten used to as being a dump full of bottles and garbage turn into a new factory that is making solar

panels. Imagine a child here in North Lawndale walking by a place that they had only seen as being empty and deserted and collecting garbage that will now be helping to power the city by building solar panels.”

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