For the second straight year, Chicago led the nation in business investment, according to Site Selection magazine's annual rankings. Overall, the State of Indiana shared in three of the top 10 metro areas with a population over 1 million: Chicago, Cincinnati, OH, and Louisville, KY. Of these, the Chicago market was by far the strongest, recording more business investment projects than the other two combined.
In conjunction with Site Selection's rankings, World Business Chicago released its annual report of business deals in the metro area,(pdf) including those in Northwest Indiana. The good news: WBC counted 19 business investment projects in Lake and Porter counties in 2014, up from 16 in 2013. The bad news: that remains a meager fraction of the total deals -- 624 in 2014 -- done in the metro area last year.
Northwest Indiana's lack of connectivity to Chicago compared to other counties surrounding the city is a major reason for this underperformance. It puts region residents at a disadvantage when competing for the more than 38,000 jobs these investments generated in the metro area last year. It also makes Northwest Indiana less attractive as a place to locate a business.
Currently, the RDA is working with local, state and federal officials to expand South Shore service to Chicago. Since our inception in 2006, the RDA has invested about $30 million in regional transportation projects, including new rail cars for the South Shore commuter rail line, and parking and station improvements for the ChicaGo Dash service. Commuters who use these services every day to travel to jobs in Chicago bring back a combined $430 million in personal income annually to spend on goods and services here in Northwest Indiana. The proposed expansion, the West Lake Corridor, would result in an additional $231 million in personal income for the regional economy.
