Table of
Contents
06 WELCOME
10 THANK YOU TO OUR RENEWING MEMBERS
11 WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
14 NORTH AMERICAN DATA CENTERS: THE EXPANSION OF DATA CENTERS
18 PROFILE | KELLY CARBON,
ELK GROVE PARK DISTRICT
20 FULL CIRCLE ELECTRONICS: THE BUSINESS OF RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY
22 PROFILE | STACI SPRINGER,
CITY OF WOOD DALE
In The Know | Summer 2024
GOA Regional Business Association
1200 N. Arlington Heights Road, Suite 240 | Itasca, IL 60143
630-773-2944 | info@theGOA.com
Welcome to our summer edition of In the Know, the quarterly magazine that features our members, their businesses and current topics important to the business community.
There are many hot topics that have impacted businesses across the country, and this issue provides insightful information that keeps you at the pulse of the latest trends and key issues.
With the influx of employees working remotely, the advent of artificial intelligence and the need to preserve and store digital data, the number of data centers is increasing. This is the case in the O’Hare/Chicago area, a top market for these vital facilities. In this issue, learn more about the expansion of data centers in our region, the benefit to businesses and communities, and what’s in store for the future.
This edition also includes an article on the timely topic of technology recycling, including computers, phones and copiers. Here, Nina Nielsen, business development manager for Full Circle Electronics, discusses the issues with this type of waste and provides solutions to combat these.
Our two esteemed profiles for this issue of In the Know include Kelly Carbon, director of marketing and communications for the Elk Grove Park District (EGPD), who has served as Chairman of the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce Board, and Staci Springer, City of Wood Dale community development director and Chamber member.
We welcome your article ideas for consideration in future issues of In the Know. Please send these to my email at shirlanne@thegoa.com.
Your participation in GOA’s many events throughout the year, such as job fairs, networking breakfasts and Business After Hours, is a great way to build relationships with other business leaders throughout our community. For more information and to register, please visit Events (thegoa.com).
Just a reminder that your feedback is always welcome and encouraged, not only for In the Know articles, but also for GOA events and programs. Don’t hesitate to contact our office, reach out to me directly or connect with a board member with your ideas.
Sincerely,
Shirlanne Lemm
President & CEO
Get to Know
Happy Anniversary!
Thank you to our renewing members
51 Years
ELK GROVE HIGH SCHOOL
49 Years
PORTE BROWN ACCOUNTANTS & ADVISORS
ELK GROVE PARK DISTRICT
43 Years
KENNETH YOUNG CENTER
40 Years
RESTRICTED ARTICLES SPECIALISTS INC.
37 Years
BOLLORE LOGISTICS USA INC
36 Years
HAMILTON PARTNERS
32 Years
E. H. WACHS
31 Years
BATTERY SERVICE CORPORATION
30 Years
DIMERCO EXPRESS
29 Years
LA-CO INDUSTRIES INC.
27 Years
SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT ORD
26 Years
AIR-SEA FORWARDERS
25 Years
KVF COMPANY INC.
22 Years
TOLL GLOBAL FORWARDING USA INC
ALPHAGRAPHICS - WOOD DALE
21 Years
MALLORY ALEXANDER INTERNATIONAL LOGISTICS
20 Years
CROSSCOUNTRY MORTGAGE
19 Years
ABBOTT LABORATORIES
17 Years
IMAGE ONE FACILITY SOLUTIONS
SCARBROUGH INTERNATIONAL LTD
SCARBROUGH INTERNATIONAL LTD
WAC Solution Partners-Midwest
16 Years
SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC.
15 Years
EXPRESS AIR FREIGHT ORD, INC.
MORETTI’S RISTORANTE & PIZZERIA
13 Years
HERVAS, CONDON & BERSANI, P.C.
COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT - WOOD DALE
MAYOR CRAIG JOHNSON
11 Years
THE HBC INSURANCE GROUP
NICOR GAS
VILLAGE SMILES, LLC
10 Years
ELK GROVE VILLAGE SEWER & PLUMBING, INC.
NISSIN INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT
ELEGANTE CUISINE INC.
THE EDLONG CORP.
9 Years
KARABINER DESIGN
LEADER MUTUAL FREIGHT SYSTEM CHICAGO INC.
POLARIS WORLDWIDE LOGISTICS
8 Years
ADVISERS GROUP, INC.
PILOT FREIGHT SERVICES
RAM INTERNATIONAL
7 Years
PARTICLE DYNAMICS
ANDERSON LOCK COMPANY
6 Years
VAPOR POWER INTERNATIONAL
OL USA
THE RESIDENCES AT HAMILTON LAKES
SCHIELE GROUP
5 Years
ARDEN COURTS
TECTA AMERICA ILLINOIS ROOFING
WILLOW CROSSING APARTMENTS
TREE GUYS PIZZA
HOLLINGER INSURANCE SERVICES
4 Years
JLL
FULL CIRCLE ELECTRONICS US, LLC
GREEN WORLDWIDE SHIPPING
MCGRATH LEXUS OF WESTMONT
3 Years
NEW AMERICAN FUNDING
JIT USA LOGISTICS CORP.
INSPERITY
LOGSDON OFFICE SUPPLY
EXPRESS EMPLOYMENT PROFESSIONALS
2 Years
TRANSWORLD MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
PINOT’S PALETTE - ELMHURST
1 Year
CJ COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS
FIRST AMERICAN BANK
AWAY STAFFING
V.C. PLUMBING AND SEWER INC.
PEAK UTILITY BROKERS
DOLPHIN MERCHANT SERVICES
RESIDENTIAL HEATING & COOLING
BETH KAIM REAL ESTATE WITH BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES AMERICAN HERITAGE
PAINLESS TAX SOLUTIONS
IBRAND VISUAL/PRYOR SIGNAGE
UNITEDHEALTHCARE
JUST RITE IT
ENTERTAINMENT MANAGEMENT GROUP
HELM TOOL COMPANY INC./INTERMOLDING TECHNOLOGY INC.
GROOT INDUSTRIES
HOME TRUST MORTGAGE
WELCOME
NEW MEMBERS!
A & A PAVING CONTRACTORS, INC.
ALL MATERIALS MATTER, LLC
ALPHA LIMO & TAXI INC.
AVANTE BANQUETS
BAKERS BASKET
BV USA LLC
CERTAPRO PAINTERS OF PALATINE
CHEZ HOTEL
CHICAGO PRIME ITALIAN
CHICAGO PRIME STEAKHOUSE
www.chicagoprimesteakhouse.com
COMMUNITY BANK OF ELMHURST
http://www.communityelmhurst.com
CUSTOM DIRECT, INC.
ELITE DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS
EXIT REAL ESTATE PARTNERS
https://www.chicagolandhometeam.com/
FIFTH THIRD BANK
www.53.com
FLUID-AIRE DYNAMICS
HIBU
MEDI-WEIGHTLOSS
https://mediweightloss.com/locations/elkgrove/
MEDWORKS OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
www.medworksoccupationalmedicine.com/
NICO ROOFING AND EXTERIORS
OFFICE DEPOT
PATHWAY TO ADVENTURE COUNCIL, BSA
PERSONA MARKETING
https://personamarketingservices.com/
PORST PAINTING LTD.
RAMROD DISTRIBUTORS
https://www.ramrod-janitorial.com
REGAL CUSTOM PAINTING
https://www.facebook.com/regalcustompainting
ROSE PAVING COMPANY
SHELFGENIE OF CHICAGO WEST
www.ShelfGenie.com/Locations/ChicagoWest
SIERRA PACIFIC WINDOWS
https://www.sierrapacificwindows.com
SKY NET LOGISTICS USA LLC
THE HACK NINJA
TUTOR TIME LEARNING CENTERS
VALPAK
WINDY CITY BULLS
As the use of computers continues to expand and people increasingly choose to work from remote locations, so does the need to preserve and store the digital data they create on a daily basis. And even though the computer industry euphemistically refers to those data storage places as “clouds,” the truth is that all of that data is being stored on racks and racks of servers in huge data centers around the world.
The recent advent of artificial intelligence is only increasing that storage need exponentially, too.
So, more and more data centers for companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Google, Facebook and Amazon, as well as groupings of smaller companies, are needing to be constructed to keep up with current and future demand for data storage.
The O’Hare/Chicago area is one of the top such markets in the country, according to Jim Kerrigan, founder and managing partner of North American Data Centers (NADC) in Chicago.
Kerrigan founded NADC in 2014 as the first real estate company focused on acquiring, leasing and selling data centers throughout the United States and Canada. Since 2016, he has sold more than 4 million square feet of data centers; completed the sales of 27 properties worth over $1.7 billion; and negotiated numerous lease renewals on behalf of tenants and licensees.
“The construction of data centers doesn’t tax a local economy by using its roads and sanitary sewer lines and adding students to its schools, but it does bring in a large, skilled construction team and in the long-term, 30 to 75 high-paying jobs in IT, operations, maintenance and security. It is also able to increase utility taxes and property taxes to the local municipality. These buildings will also have a much higher basis compared to a typical industrial building, as construction can cost upwards of $1,200 per square foot,” Kerrigan stated.
In addition, revenue generation to a Village including power tax, utility tax, permitting expense, etc. can be three to four times more than that yielded by an industrial warehouse development.
“Three different times in recent years in Elk Grove Village alone, data centers brought in such a windfall that each household received a $200 rebate from the local government,” he added.
For instance, Elk Grove is allowing several buildings in the old Northwest Point office center just south of the Northwest Tollway on Arlington Heights Road to be torn down and replaced with a five-building Aligned Data Centers facility. Stream and Prime also have new Elk Grove data center facilities in the pipeline.
In neighboring Itasca, NTT Global Data Centers, the third largest data center provider globally, is developing a new 270,000-square-foot data center and an electric substation within the Hamilton Lakes Business Park, according to Vijay Gadde, Itasca’s community development director. The first data center opened in 2019, and the second one is almost complete.
Currently, many data centers are being delayed due to a global shortage of circuit breakers and transformers. These may not be ordered in anticipation of a pending data center deal but must wait until the developer contracts with the utility, Kerrigan explained. So that can, in many cases, substantially delay the opening of a new center.
Power is the benchmark of a data center, he continued. When multi-tenant data centers were initially being built around 2008, the power needed was between 5 and 7 kilowatts per server cabinet. With the advent of public computing clouds in 2013, that number rose to 20 kilowatts per cabinet and now, with artificial intelligence, it has climbed to between 60 and 120 kilowatts per cabinet.
So new data centers are being built as multi-floor properties to maximize the use of expensive land, and they are being built to handle very heavy loads consisting of servers, racks, generators, cabling and cooling systems, Kerrigan added.
“Municipalities like attracting data centers because they generally generate three to eight times more revenue per square foot in terms of property taxes than new construction industrial buildings do,” explained Matt Roan, village manager for Elk Grove.
“Second, the permit fee for a new data center can be upwards of a million dollars per building, plus they are regularly upgrading their interior infrastructure…and those tend to be very large permit fees, as well,” he continued.
“Third, for a municipality that has an electric utility tax, data centers generate massive revenue streams due to the very large amount of electricity that they consume on a daily basis, and fourth, some data centers are water-cooled and those facilities tend to be our largest purchasers of water in the Village,” Roan said.
Additionally, because of the dollar amount that is invested at these sites, data centers – unlike logistic companies and others – end up being very long-term land holders in the municipality and are very unlikely to just up and leave.
“With that being said, Elk Grove Village has nearly 65 million square feet of industrial space in the business park, and data centers take up only about 10% of the total space. Moreover, with the cost of land being high and land, in general, being so scarce, data centers are now going vertical unlike your big box logistic facilities. So, you are getting more building square footage on the same footprint of real estate,” Roan added.
Not all vacant office parks can be converted into data centers, however. There are several key pieces of infrastructure that are needed to make this work, he said. First and foremost, they need easy access to heavy loads of power. Second, they need access to the major fiber trunks. And last, they may or may not need access to a large water supply if the data center runs a water-cooled system.
“There are currently about 10 operators working out of just over a dozen different facilities in Elk Grove,” he stated. “In the next five or so years, we could see another two to four operators in an additional 20 buildings. Much of this is being driven by the explosion of AI.”
ELK GROVE PARK DISTRICT
KELLY CARBON
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
& COMMUNICATIONS
Kelly Carbon, director of marketing and communications for the Elk Grove Park District (EGPD), has served as Chairman of the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce Board since December 2023. She had previously been a member of that body for two years.
“The Park District is a community organization that not only provides recreational opportunities and facilities for residents, but also for the many people who work in our businesses – and their families,” Carbon explained.
“Elk Grove is a great place to work and play. Our businesses can hold golf outings at our Fox Run Golf Course; host meetings, training classes and celebrations at our many park district facilities; and even enroll themselves and their family members in our many classes and camps,” she continued.
And the EGPD can benefit from that business-Park District relationship when local companies choose to sponsor events and programs or advertise on EGPD billboards at Rainbow Falls or in their program guides, eblasts and other digital marketing, Carbon added.
“Businesses like to work with the Park District because they have found it to be a great way to reach many different constituencies and demographic groups, and we have been able to communicate that benefit to businesses through our participation in the Chamber,” she said.
On the flip side, Carbon has been able to help the Chamber by stressing to others the importance of attending networking meetings, supporting events and welcoming new members at Chamber meetings and events; connecting members with contacts she has made through the EGPD and her memberships in the Rotary Club of Elk Grove, the Community Character Coalition and other organizations; and sharing with them tips she has gleaned from over 20 years of marketing experience.
“The Elk Grove Park District, with its 80 full-time employees, 300 part-time employees and 350 to 400 seasonal employees, touches and provides service to many different parts of the community and is able to act as a conduit that helps people connect with one another,” Carbon stated.
FULL CIRCLE ELECTRONICS
THE BUSINESS OF RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY
The “recycling” of outdated servers, switches, computers, phones, copiers and other types of technology has been a reality for business owners, and even homeowners, for decades.
But it has come to light that many of the recyclers to which we have entrusted our unwanted technological instruments have simply shipped them to a far corner of the world and dumped them. Or they have failed to remove and destroy sensitive information that has remained on those items leading to clients reading about themselves and their providers in the news.
Putting Experience to Work
With over 20 years of industry experience, Full Circle Electronics was built to address this growing problem. Organizations need an easy and safe way to protect the data of their clients and themselves, for fear of exposure to press shaming, as well as legal and civil penalties, if such items were not properly disposed of.
“Today, only 20% of electronic waste is properly recycled. E-waste makes up approx. 5% of all landfill mass, however, it accounts for 70% of all toxic waste found in landfills.” explained Nina Nielsen, business development manager for Full Circle. “In addition, if a corporation or institution erases a computer drive themselves, they are on the hook if data gets out accidentally,” Nielsen said. “But if they hire Full Circle, we certify the erasure or shredding of all drives, thereby transferring the liability to us.”
“Companies simply don’t have the manpower or budgets to responsibly manage all IT asset and electronic waste disposal,” she added. “Companies focus most of their efforts on new technology coming into the organization, while retired assets left lying around their facilities unattended or being shipped out to non-certified providers hold significant data and EPA compliancy risks. Or if they have a program, it’s often split amongst multiple regional vendors, making it difficult for asset tracking and consolidated reporting.”
A Certified Processor
So Full Circle Electronics was founded as a certified processor of IT assets where proprietary information (that hackers and thieves are seeking) can be stored, ranging from circuit boards to servers, network hardware, bar code scanners, modems, computers, copiers, stereo equipment, smart TVs and much more. Customers include, but are not limited to, prestigious teaching and national healthcare organizations, education, financial and insurance corporations. Virtually every organization has a need for certified IT asset disposition services.
Locally, they carry out these tasks from a 100,000-square-foot facility in Elk Grove Village. However, FCE has 104 additional facilities across the United States and Latin America, allowing for a centralized electronic waste solution for large and mid-sized enterprises.
“Our nationwide processing footprint allows for a cost-effective, secure and scalable program,” explained Max Tyler, Full Circle’s vice president of business development.
“We provide the ultimate ‘easy ’ button’ for certified data destruction, security and compliance requirements while simultaneously helping organizations hit sustainability goals,” Tyler quipped.
“Most companies in this space are small, one to two location operators, with limited geographic coverage, an overreliance on third-party providers and often lack industry recognized data protection and environmental recycling certifications. With facilities across the United States and beyond, Full Circle Electronics maintains the highest industry certifications, we are regularly audited and are responsible for maintaining compliance with all downstream providers.”
“From data center and office decommissioning, to on-site or offsite data destruction, scrap removal, relocations, repurposing, recycling, inclusive of all required documentation – we take no shortcuts. It’s all a part of the problem we address.”
The Full Circle facility in Elk Grove is ready to serve the greater Chicago area today, and local e-waste events are planned in the coming months.
CITY OF WOOD DALE
STACI SPRINGER
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Staci Springer joined the Wood Dale Chamber of Commerce at virtually the same time she joined the City of Wood Dale as its community development director. The Chamber was relatively new at the time since it had recently been re-established, like those in Elk Grove Village and Itasca, under the auspices of the GOA.
“Wood Dale’s business leaders felt that the Chamber here could be larger and more robust if it had the support of the GOA,” Springer explained.
And they have been proven correct.
“It has been a great fit for us,” Springer continued. “The GOA team is fantastic. I really value what they are doing and how they are recruiting businesses by explaining the value of Chamber membership. Their marketing outreach has been robust and their events have been well-attended.”
Prior to coming to Wood Dale, Springer worked in similar positions in Glen Ellyn (18 years), Woodridge (eight years) and Hanover Park (four years).
“I have enjoyed a great career in economic development and community planning in these communities,” she stated, “and while each has had unique business communities and populations, my objective in each has been to elevate the quality of life, attract new businesses and support all local businesses in their efforts to be successful.”
“Chambers provide business owners and employees with fabulous places to network; share ideas; exchange services; promote themselves; learn how to handle challenges; and receive tips and tactics on how to improve their operations,” Springer said. “They regularly offer seminars and lunches to help businesspeople learn how to improve various aspects of their businesses.”
Wood Dale is a great community with its close proximity to O’Hare International Airport and I-390 and its great mix of commercial, industrial and residential properties, according to Springer. It has low vacancy rates in its industrial parks and the taxes those businesses pay help make the community affordable for residents and provide them with jobs.
“Our goal is to continue to strengthen and expand our business base through supporting existing businesses with façade grants and permits, promoting re-development where appropriate and adding new businesses which generate revenue for the City, which is used to offset costs for existing property owners and residents,” Springer explained.
Among the lucrative new businesses recently attracted to Wood Dale are the CyrusOne data centers, which provide remote computer storage for companies; CIT Trucks, which sell Kenworth truck cabs; and RKC Cleaners, a commercial laundry which provides bulk laundry and drycleaning services for hotels and other businesses.
