Summer in this part of the woods means peak construction, and the current season is seeing increased building activity across Lake County. If land isn’t being built on, renderings are in the pipeline.
From single-family homes to apartments to logistics centers to repurposing dated edifices, the county is abuzz with earthmoving equipment on job sites. If you’re in the trades and don’t have a job, that’s on you.
Plenty of construction, not including road building, is underway. Besides good-paying jobs, development translates into building permit revenue for municipalities, some of which are experiencing boom times not seen since the start of the pandemic six years ago.
Like North Chicago. AbbVie is in the midst of building two active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facilities at its campus on Sheridan Road. The North Chicago investment is $380 million and will create 300 full-time jobs, the company says.
City officials also are moving forward with the long-stalled Sheridan Crossing site at Buckley Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The 34-acre site across from Naval Station Great Lakes, and once known as “The Strip,” is being readied for a mixed-use development more than 20 years after plans were initially unveiled.
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Another mixed-use development in North Chicago is planned for the old Halsey Village at Great Lakes. The property with some 351 rundown housing units first needs remediation and demolition of the old homes.
Officials broke ground last month to mark the beginning of demolition of homes and plans for redevelopment at the so-called “Zombie Village” former Navy housing. It took years for city, state and Lake County officials to prod the Department of Defense into signing on to an agreement to begin extensive demolition, environmental remediation and utility removal throughout the 90-acre site. The few remaining Halsey Village residents moved out in February.
Here are a few of the other projects ongoing, planned and completed:
*A crowd of apartments continues to be built at the corner of Interstate 94 and Route 21 in Gurnee. The village also finds itself home to what some wags are calling the “Big Dig,” turning a BP gas station at the southeast corner of routes 21 and 132 into a new mini-mart, fuel center and car wash configuration.
*In Round Lake Beach, the Super Kmart in the Rollins Crossing Shopping Center, vacant since late 2013, is being redeveloped into a Target store. The Kmart was razed in the spring.
*The former Hawthorn Center in Vernon Hills is being refurbished into a multi-million-dollar entertainment zone, similar to Fountain Square in Waukegan’s far west side, with new restaurants, an IMAX theater and apartments. That’s in addition to the busy Mellody Farm open-air dining and shopping development across Route 21 at Route 60.
*Meanwhile in Waukegan, city officials late last month helped celebrate the completion of two renovated buildings in the downtown with plans for more work on the horizon. That includes developing the old YMCA at Clayton and County streets, and the Waukegan Building with a stunning view of Lake Michigan at the southwest corner of Genesee and Washington streets.
*In far west Lake County, Hatch Product Development & Contract Manufacturing has opened a new headquarters and manufacturing facility off Bonner Road in Wauconda, a significant investment in job creation and domestic manufacturing capacity.
All this development in Lake County is taking place as Illinois recorded its highest overall ranking in CNBC’s “2026 Top States for Business.” Illinois has jumped 27 spots since CNBC started publishing its rankings in 2007; 18 spots since 2019.
Additionally, the state placed No. 3 in infrastructure, CNBC’s top-weighted category in this year’s business list. The cable outlet noted: “Companies pursue strategic locations close to transport hubs, top utilities, access to fresh water, and abundant energy to power things like advanced manufacturing and data centers.”
The business listing isn’t bad for a state which continues to battle economic headwinds and competition from neighboring states Wisconsin and Indiana, which want to lure the Chicago Bears into a site for a new football stadium near Hammond.
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The Illinois legislature and Gov. JB Pritzker contend the ball is in the Bears’ court, with the team needing to spell out its demands to stay in the Land of Lincoln and not bolt to Hoosier land.
Losing the Bears to Indiana, though, would erase all the good news on the economic development front. Those seeking re-election this fall wouldn’t want that to happen.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor. [email protected]. X @sellenews