Navistar Inc. announced Wednesday, Sept. 8, that the company will be moving to Lisle, Ill., at the former Alcatel-Lucent East campus on Warrenville Road, and credited Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Attorney General Lisa Madigan with clearing a path for the company to retain or create nearly 3,000 permanent jobs over the next several years along with more than 400 construction jobs. Ustian says the new campus will be a customer showplace that highlights the company’s new integrated product development capabilities.
The company will invest $110 million dollars in the 1.2 million-square-foot Lisle headquarters, which will include executive management, business operations and product development. Core features of the technology center once envisioned for the Lisle campus will move, possibly to the Melrose Park facility as part of a contemplated $80 million investment. Another roughly $15 million will be invested in a new parts facility, the location of which still is being finalized, but will be in the Northern Illinois area. Combined, Navistar will be investing $205 million in Illinois.
“Governor Quinn and Attorney General Madigan showed great leadership in working with Navistar and the community to make it possible for us to move into this world-class campus and to create economic opportunities for the whole region,” says Dan Ustian, Navistar Inc. chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We appreciate them standing up for us.”
On May 25, citing delays and potential legal challenges from a small group of opponents of the Lisle headquarters project, Navistar ceased participating in the Lisle Planning and Zoning process. In response to the news, as dozens of communities from around the country contacted Navistar to lure the company to move their headquarters to their locales, Quinn and Madigan met with Navistar executives to offer assistance to keep Navistar in Illinois.
The governor’s staff and assistant attorneys general also met with the opponents of the project and their lawyer to explore ending the dispute. Quinn, meanwhile, directed the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to work with Navistar on a package of incentives, including the EDGE program that provides tax credits for firms creating/retaining jobs and making significant capital investments. In all, the Quinn administration committed an investment package of up to nearly $65 million.
