Expansion projects at CSL Behring and Nucor Steel — two of Kankakee County’s top employers — are highlights worth noting when considering the county’s economic prospects coming into 2022.
The two projects are featured in the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County’s annual report.
In January, the Alliance’s president and CEO, Tim Nugent, addressed the Kankakee County Board regarding what developments took place in the county over the course of 2021.
Among the economic successes here, Nugent highlighted the expansions at some of the area’s top employers.
“CSL Behring is expanding their wastewater treatment facility to the tune of about $50 million,” he said. “Nucor Steel, even though you don’t read about them because they completed their building a year or so ago, they are spending upwards of $50 million in more infrastructure and more investment in the county to make it easier for the truckers to get in and out of there.
“... These big companies continue to spend multi-millions of dollars to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars in 2021, here in Kankakee County and continue to make more and more investments.”
There was a total of 23 projects in the county that accounted for $256 million of capital investment and encompassed 58,000 square feet of development.
The ongoing project to bring natural gas to Pembroke Township and the progress on the riverfront project the City of Kankakee is working on through the Kankakee Riverfront Society are other success stories he noted.
