Crain's Chicago Business

WEALTH-BUILDING THROUGH FOOD

In Chicago communities where access to healthy food is scarce, social agencies and entrepreneurs step up to address hunger and economic inequities I PAGE 15

Hinsdale tries to make preservation pay

DENNIS RODKIN

In Hinsdale, where dozens of older homes are torn down and replaced every year, there’s a new pioneering effort to save vintage homes from the wrecking ball.

Village o cials recently began compiling an opt-in list of older homes that would bene t from looser rules on the allowable size of additions, property tax rebates, and other incentives that could make keeping an old house

standing more feasible than tearing it down and building new.

Homeowners who opt in to the Historic Overlay District will make their properties eligible for, among other things, a larger square footage in the combined original house and addition than would be permitted for a new-construction house on the same site.

e motivating question here is “what can we give you that owners of a new build wouldn’t

get,” said Alexis Braden, a member of Hinsdale’s Historic Preservation Commission.

For many people in this leafy town, where one out of every four houses has been torn down since 2000, the need to slow teardowns feels increasingly urgent. Hinsdale isn’t the only suburb or neighborhood at risk of losing its innate charm to proli c new

CRAIN’S LIST

JOHN R. BOEHM JOHN R. BOEHM

MONDELEZ

Alexis Braden, a member of Hinsdale’s Historic Preservation Commission, and John Bohnen, who heads the commission.

Why crime didn’t pay on the campaign trail

As Chicago pivots from one election to another, one of the better questions out there is why the volatile crime issue didn’t help Republicans more— and if that means easy going for Mayor Lori Lightfoot despite steep hikes in crime rates on her watch.

GOP candidates and their allies, of course, used crime as an emo tional wedge issue at almost every opportunity in the just completed Illinois general election campaign. If it wasn’t House GOP Leader Jim Durkin griping about no-bail re

Needless to say, it didn’t work. Durkin lost at least four House seats and is stepping down as leader. Proft didn’t win a single race in which his People Who Play By the Rules PAC spent wads of packaging mogul Dick Uihlein’s money. Bailey grabbed all of 16.45% of the vote in Chicago, according to near- nal, uno cial returns, and got clocked in the suburbs, especially DuPage County.

So, what happened?

entire race. It kept him focused on me rather than Bailey and it had the added bene t of broad bipartisan opposition—prosecutors, judges, sheri s, et al.” So it worked, up to a point.

GREG HINZ ON POLITICS

lease and other alleged aws in the SAFE-T criminal justice reform law that will take e ect on Jan. 1, it was conservative strategist Dan Proft running ads that showed a woman being mugged in front of her own home or gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey calling Chicago a “hellhole.”

Durkin candidly concedes he was “surprised” and called polling that suggested crime would be a big issue “wrong.” He theorizes that many voters, par ticularly in the suburbs, were motivated by other issues, notably abortion rights. at almost certainly is part of the answer.

Proft, in an equally candid email, o ers a couple of theories.

e rst: “Making personal safety the referendum question was the best play we had. It put Pritzker (and Lightfoot) on defense the

However, he continued, “At the end of the day, as in New York, there are not enough motivated voters, to the extent they exist at all, to make a change even with broad agreement on an issue that was essentially even with abortion in terms of animating votes (per a lot of polling).” Or as he put it earlier in the email, “Many of those Rs you think are in the suburbs aren’t. And many who are left are either fatalistic—about a lot more than Bailey (see the congressional and leg(islative) races)—or cowered into inaction by the Leftist mob’s vili cation.”

Whew! Democratic strategists I talked to likely would point to that mix of strong feelings and blaming the voters as the reason why the crime strategy didn’t work. Proft “doesn’t do meaningful

research on voters and tailor messaging to it. He just gures out what will make Dick Uihlein get his rocks o ,” says Tom Bowen, who currently is working for Lightfoot. “Voters have competing priori ties. You can’t just say ‘crime, bad. BOO!’ and hope that works if you don’t credibly put forward a plan as an alternative. Also, you can’t divorce that from what’s going on elsewhere.”

But Proft points to one other thing he’s right about. ough the blue tide was wide on Election Day, in Chicago, it was narrow—with to tal turnout likely to end up no more than 45%, the lowest for a guberna torial race in at least 20 years.

All of that suggests the crime issue can move people, arguably

more in a mayoral race in which people associate law-and-order issues with the city head more than they do with a governor. “Where are the cops?” is a much easier issue to get your arms around than the intricacies of SAFE-T or whatever you call that bill.

“I think crime will dominate the municipals,” says another Demo cratic consultant with city clients, Becky Carroll. In fact, “In all likeli hood, the polling will show that this is the No. 1 issue across the city.”

So, maybe it’s the messenger rather than the message? I’d be shocked if crime isn’t an enormous issue here this winter. But I’ve been wrong before. ey don’t call politics an art, not a science, for nothing.

A ray of sunshine in the stormy world of sports

Herschel Walker’s ho cus-pocus, do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do campaign for a Georgia U.S. Senate seat is a reminder that we risk disap pointment if we expect anything more than performance excel lence and responsible behavior from our elite athletes.

And about that bad air from China . . .

Need more? Kyrie Irving is paid $36 million a year to toil in the National Basketball Associa tion, which was founded by late 1940s-era sports entrepreneurs, many of them Jewish. Three of the league’s five commissioners have been Jewish, including the last two, along with a substantial bloc of NBA owners, one of them a long-serving local man whose Chicago Bulls own six champi onships.

Against that backdrop, Kyrie Irving thought nothing of taking to Twitter to promote “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a virulently antisemit ic “documentary” that revisits harmful, hateful tropes about the greed and power Jewish people are said to exert in U.S. banking, entertainment and media.

Whether free-speech protec tions cover hate-speech idiocy can be debated, but Irving’s refusal to apologize left the Brooklyn Nets no choice but to suspend him. Pro sports’

CORRECTIONS

survival depends on the trust and good will of the customers, and it was hardly good business for a high-profile employee to blatantly insult the fan base in a borough whose population is nearly one-quarter Jewish.

Especially an employee with goofball priors as a flat-earth advocate who missed 52 of 82 games last season after refusing to be vaccinated.

By now you’ve probably seen video of that Michigan State college prank—football play ers taking out their frustration over a big loss by stomping the beejabbers out of two Michigan kids, an act for which they would have been arrested had it taken place on the street rather than in a stadium.

And deplorable Daniel Snyder, after running a showpiece NFL franchise into the ground, is fi nally on the outs with his fellow owners only because some of his toxic misdeeds as supreme commander of the Washington Commanders might have cost those owners money.

We find ourselves questioning whether sports are worth the time, money and emotional en ergy we invest in them. And then the clouds part, the sun emerges and justification arrives: Dusty Baker is a world champion.

The news was greeted with indifference, if not indignation, by those Chicagoans who main

 Joe Cahill’s Nov. 7 column, “The Loop can’t live by business alone,” misidenti ed the Chicago Loop Alliance.

In the Nov. 7 “40 Under 40” feature:  Pranav Gokhale’s title was misstated. He is vice president of quantum software at ColdQuanta.

 Kimberley Smith’s rst name was misspelled.

 The pro le of Dr. Sameer Vohra incorrectly stated why his parents did not pursue medical licenses. They chose other professions because they didn’t score high enough on medical school scholarship tests in India.

tain a laundry list of grievances toward Baker dating to the four seasons he managed the Cubs from 2003 to 2006.

I celebrated. I’ve known the man since 1977, and I know him to be an exemplary human being, honest, intelligent and genuine—one of the best people I’ve encountered in sports or any other walk of life.

Baker has won division titles with five different teams, a first. Standing ninth all-time in career victories gives him more wins than Hall of Famers Whitey Her zog, Tommy Lasorda and Dick

DAN McGRATH ON THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS

Williams, with as many titles as Herzog and Bobby Cox. More so than any of them, though, Baker had to win a World Series to earn “validation” as one of the best at what he does.

I don’t know anyone—player, trainer, PR person, writer—who has been around Baker in any

capacity and doesn’t like or respect him, as evidenced by the mob scene that engulfed him in the Astros’ dugout after the final out in Game 6 or the Houston players’ frequent assertions that they were out to win this series

MAYBE IT’S THE MESSENGER RATHER THAN THE MESSAGE?

ILLUSTRATION / NEWCOM PHOTO

Deals are getting bigger at Mondelez

CEO Van de Put raises the acquisition ante as he steers the maker of Oreos, Ritz and other big-name snacks into new geographies and product lines I

BY ALLY MAROTTI

JOE CAHILL ON BUSINESS

Time for Illinois to turn breakthroughs into businesses

The latest slug of federal funds showered on Argonne and Fermilab con rm that Illinois is still a great place for groundbreaking scienti c research. Whether the state will ever become an equally great place to turn those discoveries into businesses remains an open question. Over the past century, Illinois has been present at the creation of world-changing technologies, from nuclear power to the web browser, superconductors and nanotech nology. Yet the riches arising from those breakthroughs tend to ow elsewhere.

at’s particularly vexing in light of our prodigious ability to attract government research dollars. Take quantum computing, a revolutionary technology that promises to increase processing power exponentially while making digital communications unhackable. Illinois gets 40% of all federal funding for quantum research and it has four of 10 quantum centers, more than any other state.

they create.

Unfortunately, history suggests otherwise. Technologies nurtured in Illinois laboratories and universities tend to reach their full potential elsewhere.

Too often, the brains behind those discoveries don’t stick around to turn them into businesses. Grad uates of the University of Illinois’ famed computer science program— notably including web browser creator Marc Andreessen—skedad dle for Silicon Valley, taking their knowledge and ideas with them.

When tech entrepreneurs do launch startups here, the best of them frequently get bought out by tech giants from other parts of the country.

“We have a top- ve science setting and we’re not even in the top 10 at translating science into commerce,” Brad Henderson, director of P33, a local tech promotion agency launched by Penny Pritzker, told Bloomberg.

After starting small, Mondelez CEO Dirk Van de Put is chasing bigger buyouts.  e maker of Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers and other bigname snacks has acquired nine companies in the ve years since Van de Put took the helm, all of which enhance Mondelez's pres ence in high-priority categories or geographies. Most have been small, including four deals with price tags under $350 million.

Lately, he’s upped the ante, paying $2.9 billion for Clif Bar in August, his biggest deal yet. Mondelez also closed on its $1.3 billion acquisition of Mexican candymaker Ricolino on Nov. 1 and acquired European crois sant and baked snacks company Chipita Global for $1.8 billion in January. Far larger than Van de Put’s prior deals, Clif Bar, Chipita and Ricolino

Cook County tax appeals panel cuts value of Trump hotel

Though property taxes on the former president’s hotel could still rise this year, the Cook County Board of Review just saved the tower from an even bigger hit

BY ALBY GALLUN

A Cook County panel has slashed the assessed value of Don ald Trump’s Chicago hotel, spar ing the property from a potentially big tax hike in the process.

e county Board of Review cut the estimated value of the riverside hotel to $73 million, down 31% from Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s estimated value of $105.2 million, accord ing to the assessor’s o ce.

Because the county uses as sessed values to calculate prop erty taxes, the reduction will re

sult in a lower tax bill for the hotel than one based on the assessor’s valuation. Yet it’s not close to the lowball value the hotel’s tax attorneys put on the property, $26.7 million, which would have resulted in an even smaller tax hit. e attorneys had argued that Trump hotel’s value plunged due to the pandemic, which hit all downtown hotels hard.

Like many owners of large commercial properties in the county, the former president’s company, the Trump Organiza tion, appealed the hotel’s assess ment, rst with Kaegi’s o ce and

then with the Board of Review, a three-member panel where property owners can challenge the assessor’s valuations.

Landlords gripe that Kaegi, who was re-elected last night, has grossly overvalued commer cial properties, unfairly shifting more of the property tax burden onto them. Kaegi defends his methodology, arguing that his assessments are much closer to the mark than those of his pre decessor, Joseph Berrios.

But landlords have a friend

On Nov. 4, the U.S. Department of Energy gave local labs Argonne and Fermilab another $300 million for various projects. As my colleague John Pletz reported, Argonne, in Lemont, plans to use its $60 million grant for additional work on a supercomputer expected to be the world’s fastest. Fermi, in Batavia, gets $260 million for a range of projects, including research in subatomic particles.

ese projects are more than mere academic exercises. ey’re investments in the future, yielding knowledge that can help solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges and open the door to vast new elds of economic activity.

Past breakthroughs at Argonne and Fermi led to MRI machines, cellphone towers, nuclear reactors, supercomputers and cancer treatments, to name a few.

Current research at the labs has similar potential. e rapid- re calculations of quantum computing could transform industries ranging from nance to pharmaceutical research. Advanced battery research is critical to the development of electric vehicles. Supercomputing enables modeling of weather, climate change and disease, while photon technologies help create treatments for illnesses such as COVID-19.

ADDRESSING TECH CONCERNS

ese discoveries will launch new businesses, create jobs, and generate wealth for those who turn them into useful products and services.

But where? You would think Illinois, as the wellspring of so many scienti c breakthroughs, would be well positioned to capitalize on the commercial opportunities

at has to change if Illinois hopes to prosper in the decades to come. But it won’t until we create conditions for new cutting-edge companies to succeed.

We’ve made strides in some areas, such as venture funding and network building. e state has promised to invest $200 million in quantum.

ese things matter, of course. But we still have plenty of room to improve when it comes to the over all business climate.

A tech company is a business like any other. Tech entrepreneurs care about taxes, regulation, the workers’ compensation system. is is where Illinois falls short. Our business taxes are high compared with many other states. Companies complain about red tape, such as a sluggish permitting process that makes it hard to stand up new operations. Workers’ comp costs are a perennial sore spot for Illinois employers.

Addressing these concerns should be a top priority for Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly as they prepare for their new terms. But after sweeping victo ries at the polls this week, including the possible passage of a consti tutional amendment enshrining labor unions’ power, I suspect their priorities lie elsewhere.

Pritzker and his fellow Democrats should understand that the election results will reinforce the perception that Illinois is hostile to business. ey could start to change that image by taking concrete action to address the practical complaints of Illinois business owners. On the other hand, they could continue downplaying business issues as they pay o political debts to supporters. If so, they can expect technologies developed here to continue enriching other states.

“AS LONG AS YOU’RE DISCIPLINED AND YOU DON’T OVERPAY FOR THOSE ACQUISITIONS, IT’S (A STRATEGY) THAT SHOULD HOPEFULLY WORK OUT REALLY WELL.”

Brian Jacobsen, managing partner of West Monroe Capital

CRAIN’S

Mondelez CEO Dirk Van de Put

Morningstar opts to stay put

BY DANNY ECKER

After mulling a relocation of its longtime headquarters to the Marshall Field building in the Loop, Morningstar has bought a few more years at its current home to think it over.

e investment research rm recently signed a ve-year renew al of its lease for roughly 263,000 square feet at 22 W. Washington St., a Morningstar spokeswoman con rmed. e company is now committed to its nine- oor block of o ces through the end of 2027, according to real estate informa tion database CoStar Group.

e renewal came despite Morn ingstar nearly reaching a deal ear lier this year to move its o ces a block away to 24 E. Washington St., the redeveloped upper oors above the Macy’s State Street ag ship store. Inking that lease while remote work drives up o ce va cancy to a record high would have notched a mammoth win for To ronto-based developer Brook eld Properties, which transformed the space in the landmark building into modern o ces.

Morningstar has been one of the city’s largest and best-known ten ants to be searching for a new of ce amid the COVID-19 pandem ic, making its decision on where to go—and how much space it needs—closely watched among downtown o ce landlords grap

pling with soft demand.

It’s unclear what prompted Morningstar to stay put, but a spokeswoman for the rm said in a statement that the decision came after “a rigorous, data-driv en evaluation of our options for the future.”

“After a very thorough and thoughtful assessment of our Chi cago options, we have decided to remain at 22 W Washington for an additional ve years,” Morningstar Head of Global Facilities and Busi ness Continuity Renée Morin said in the statement. “Our investment in design here has driven a posi tive experience for our people and clients.”

Still, the relatively short-term lease renewal signals the reticence that many large companies have about making lengthy commit ments to workspace in the wake of the pandemic. While e ects of the public health crisis have dramati cally waned, there are still linger ing questions about how frequent ly employees will use workspace moving forward.

NEW LEASES

Many downtown companies have signed leases to move to newer or more recently updated buildings during the pandemic to take advantage of the soft market and help compel workers to show up. But an economic slowdown this year and soaring construction

costs may also spook tenants from building out a new o ce from scratch.

Morningstar’s recommitment to the Block 37 building it has called home since 2008 works out well for the venture of Newark, N.J.-based PGIM Real Estate that owns the o ce property. PGIM was even preparing earlier this year for Morningstar’s potential departure, marketing the company’s space as available to new users after its lease expired at the end of 2023.

Losing a tenant that leases more than half of the 472,000-squarefoot building could have been a devastating blow for PGIM, which paid $182 million for the building in 2011. It also would have been the rst major test the 16-story property has ever faced to back ll a big block of o ce space.

“We look at this (renewal) as a very, very positive sign for an of ce headquarters to make another

Chicago-area home prices flat for 1st time since pandemic boom began

creases have been getting small er for months, as spiking interest rates caused an abrupt slowdown in the real estate market.

commitment to not only staying in Chicago, but keeping a very large footprint,” said Colliers Interna tional Principal Michael Lirtzman, who oversees leasing in the build ing. “It’s a very positive sign for the future of o ce space in Chicago.”

GROWTH

Morningstar has grown its headcount dramatically since it rst moved into 22 W. Washing ton, though much of its expansion under CEO Kunal Kapoor—who succeeded founder Joe Mansueto in the role in 2017—has been in other markets through company acquisitions. A company spokes woman said Morningstar has more than 1,600 full-time, per manent employees in its Chicago o ce.

For Brook eld, the pur suit continues to lease up its 650,000-square-foot block of o c es at the landmark Marshall Field

building. After paying more than $30 million for oors eight through 14 in the full-block property, the developer set out to overhaul the space’s massive oor plates into workspace. But the project was completed as the pandemic set in, making it a tough time to be hunt ing for tenants.

Tenants that have moved in or signed leases at the building so far include consumer-insights com pany Numerator, the headquar ters of online ticket marketplace Vivid Seats and candymaker Fer rero, which is set to open a new 45,000-square-foot confections research facility on the eighth and ninth oors. New York-based In dustrious also operates co-work ing space in the building.

e o ce space at 24 E. Wash ington is about 45% leased, ac cording to CoStar. A spokeswom an for the building declined to comment.

BY DENNIS RODKIN

Chicago-area weekly home prices didn’t budge for the rst time since the pandemic era’s housing boom began in late spring 2020.

e median price of homes sold in the nine-county metro area in the week ended Nov. 7 was $270,000, according to a weekly report from Midwest Real Estate Data. e gure was unchanged from the same time a year ago.

In every one of the previous 124 weeks, the median home price was up, often in the double digits.

e stretch went on so long that some double-digit increases were on top of double-digit increases the year before.

But in the most recent report,

prices nally stopped topping themselves.

“We always knew it couldn’t last forever,” said Glo Matlin, a Com pass agent who specializes in the North Shore. Given how far prices rose, shrinking a ordability and frustrating buyers, Matlin said, “I really do think it’s a good thing for us that prices are staying steady.”

e last time weekly home pric es were down for the week was the week ended June 15, 2020, when closings re ected homes that went under contract during the trepidation of the early months of the pandemic. After that came 124 weeks when prices were consis tently up, often 10% or more.

So far, the atness is one week only. It does not yet indicate a trend, although the weekly in

It’s also true that November has ordinarily been a time for the mar ket to slow down from the heat of the summer. But the past two Novembers, during the pandem ic-driven boom, were anything but normal. In the comparable week last year, the median price was up 9.9% from the year before, and in the same week of Novem ber 2020, the increase from a year earlier was 15.4%.

is November has something those two didn’t, said Sarah Ware, principal of Ware Realty Group based in the West Loop. “People have been sitting back because of the election,” Ware said. “Red or blue, they think it’s going to have an e ect on the economy, so they’ve been taking a wait-and-see pause.”

Niko

is newest data on at prices is for the nine-county Chicago met ropolitan area. In the city alone, home prices were down slight ly or at in seven of the rst nine months of the year, according to regular reports from Illinois Real tors.

City sales are generally just less than 20% of the total sales for the nine-county region.

The investment research rm’s Block 37 renewal gives it more time to consider a relocation after coming close to a deal at the redeveloped Marshall Field building this year

Apostal, a Keller Williams agent based in Lakeview, said be yond rising interest rates and the election, there’s one more drag on the market, at least in Cook Coun ty. is year’s months-long delay in property tax bills, which puts uncertainty into the total cost of homeownership next year, is part of “what’s holding back the market right now,” he said.

The o ce building at 22 W. Washington St.

This house on Sayre Avenue in Galewood went up for sale in July at $650,000. It sold Nov. 4 for $570,000.

The Best HVAC Techs In The Midwest Have Joined Forces

Shopping center in Northbrook sells for $61M

The

two-step sale of the Mariano’s-anchored

Shops

at

Glen Pointe sends mixed messages about the state of the retail real estate market

BY ALBY GALLUN

e owner of a Northbrook shopping center anchored by a Mariano’s grocery store has cashed out for a loss, an outcome that’s both surprising and predictable.

CBRE Investment Manage ment has sold the Shops at Glen Pointe, a 148,700-square-foot property next to Interstate 294, in two transactions to two differ ent buyers totaling $60.5 million, according to Cook County prop erty records. That’s about 8% less than the $65.7 million that the CBRE unit paid for the shopping center in November 2015.

The decline in value doesn’t fit with the broader narrative about grocery-anchored shopping cen ters, a relatively safe bet in the uncertain world of retail real es tate shaken up by e-commerce and the pandemic. Investors that own shopping centers with grocery stores—or just own the stores themselves—have gener ally made out well on the invest ments over the past several years.

A couple of recent examples: In October, Liberty Square, a 107,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by a Jewel-Osco store, sold for $18.7 million, up from a prior sale price of $14.1 million in January 2018, accord ing to MSCI Real Assets. Also last month, a Mariano’s in Crystal Lake sold for $35.5 million, up from the $25.2 million it fetched in 2018.

On the other hand, rising inter est rates and a pullback in lend ing this year have depressed real estate values across the board,

wiping out paper gains for many investors. An index of strip shop ping center values compiled by California research firm Green Street has declined 13% from its peak earlier this year.

TAX PAIN

Another factor that may have pulled down the value of the Shops at Glen Pointe: rising prop erty taxes. The shopping center’s taxes increased to $1.6 million last year, up 90% from 2016, ac cording to the Cook County trea surer. An increase of that magni tude can knock several million dollars off a property’s value.

A loss of tenants doesn’t ex plain the decline in value. The shopping center at Willow and Sanders roads is fully occupied by tenants including Mariano’s, LA Fitness, Starbucks, Chipotle and Naf Naf.

A spokeswoman for CBRE In vestment Management declined to comment.

CBRE Investment Management sold the shopping center in two transactions. It sold everything but the Mariano’s store, about 58,700 square feet, for $18.3 mil lion to a venture led by Chicago investor Savas Er, county records show. It sold the 90,000-squarefoot Mariano’s store to Exchan geRight, a Pasadena, Calif.-based investment firm that specializes in tax-deferred real estate invest ments, otherwise known as 1031 exchanges.

A brokerage team led by Mi chael Marks and Evan Halkias of Cushman & Wakefield arranged the sales.

A joyful reminder of what’s possible

McGRATH from Page 2

for Dusty. He brings out the best in people.

Dozens of his friends and former associates made it to Houston to be with Baker in his moment of triumph. Among them was Noah Jackson, an assistant baseball coach at the University of California whom Dusty helped raise after his father, Bay Area sportscaster Syl vester Jackson, died when Noah was 11. Compassion and caring are as much a part of Dusty’s makeup as the wristbands.

Neither World Series team had an American-born Black player on its roster, which is surpris ing but not shocking—African American players held down fewer than 8% of major league roster spots this season. Baker

and the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts are MLB’s only Black managers, and Black front-office executives are as rare as Sunday dou ble-headers.

With Black influence in serious decline throughout the game, here is Baker, a proud, accomplished Black man, at the pinnacle. It hasn’t been easy; the title came in his 25th year as a manager, after he had survived prostate cancer, a stroke and a litany of disappointments.

And now he’s a world cham pion, a joyful reminder of what’s possible. It’s hopeless cliche, but also gospel truth: Couldn’t happen to a better guy.

Crain’s contributor Dan McGrath is president of Leo High School in Chicago and a former Chicago Tribune sports editor.

Trott’s BDT backs Culligan’s largest deal ever

Rosemont-based Culligan, known for its ‘Hey, Culligan man!’ ads of yore, is becoming a global behemoth in ltered drinking water after buying Britain’s Waterlogic

BY STEVE DANIELS

Byron Trott and Scott Claw son wasted no time following up on their deal last year to put Rosemont-based Culligan Interna tional in the hands of Trott’s BDT Capital Partners.

Culligan, the maker of home and business water ltration systems familiar to many Chicagoans for its singular “Hey, Culligan man!” ad campaign decades ago, has com pleted its largest-ever acquisition.

e purchase of British water sys tem rm Waterlogic Group Hold ings, announced Nov. 2, adds more than $500 million in revenue and brings Culligan’s sales on an annu alized basis to more than $2.4 bil lion, Culligan CEO Clawson said in an interview.

Following the deal, Culligan em ploys about 11,000 worldwide.

It was just 15 months ago that BDT acquired majority owner ship of Culligan with a strategy of growth through acquisition in the highly fragmented global business of ltering drinking water.

“When I rst met with Byron Trott a year and a half ago, he

asked, ‘What would be one of the best companies we could help you strategically merge with?’ “ Claw son said. “ is was top on our list.”

Soon after that, Clawson ap proached Waterlogic founder and CEO Jeremy Ben-David, whom Clawson has known for years. e deal was in the works for about a year before closing recently.

Clawson remains CEO of the combined company, and Ben-Da vid is CEO for the European, Mid dle East and Africa region. Culli gan now sells in about 30 countries around the world, with business outside the U.S. accounting for well over half its revenue.

BDT remains the majority own er of the combined company.

Luxembourg-based Castik Capi tal, primary owner of Waterlogic, is investing alongside BDT and is a “meaningful” minority share holder, the companies said. Terms weren’t disclosed.

A BIGGER DEAL

Waterlogic is a rarity among the deals Culligan does in terms of size. e company buys dozens of small rms a year. Even after the

Waterlogic addition, Culligan has just a bit over 5% of the $44 billion worldwide water ltration market. More broadly, the bottled-wa ter market accounts for about $250 billion annually around the world, Clawson says. Culligan is riding the environmentally friendly trend away from indi vidual plastic water bottles in favor of water filters and soften ing. He expects that $250 billion bottled-water market to fall over time, while the $44 billion filtra

tion market continues to grow.

“ ere are places like San Francisco (International) Airport where you can’t have plastic any more,” Clawson said.

Waterlogic is exclusively a pro vider to businesses, selling and serving ltered drinking water systems for employees. Culligan’s European presence is focused more on selling to households.

e deal in Clawson’s view is as much, if not more, about strate gic t as it is about economies of

scale. Waterlogic has “a subscrip tion model that’s just really at tractive—where people can pay a monthly fee, get all the water they want, not have to worry about any bottles or things coming inside, they take care of all service and they really are strong in that mar ket,” he said.

Culligan estimates it now pro vides ltered or softened water to about 100 million people around the world, whether at work, home or traveling.

DWIGHT BURDETTE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Blackstone Hotel goes back on the market

The owners of the landmark Michigan Avenue inn are hunting for a buyer again after a failed attempt last year, hoping the recent rebound in leisure travel will help their cause

BY DANNY ECKER

After coming up empty in their hunt for a buyer last year, the own ers of the Blackstone Hotel on Michigan Avenue are trying again as they stare down a deadline to pay o their debt on the property. A joint venture of New Yorkbased Fundamental Advisors and Denver-based Sage Hospitality Group has hired the Chicago of ce of real estate services rm Jones Lang LaSalle to sell the 335room hotel at 636 S. Michigan Ave., according to a marketing yer. e move comes roughly a year and a half after the owners rst put the property on the mar ket, an e ort that proved fruit less as the COVID-19 pandemic bludgeoned travel demand and cast uncertainty over how long it would take to recover.

ere is no asking price listed for the 22-story landmark overlooking Grant Park, but people familiar with the o ering said they expect bids of between $55 million and $60 million, or close to $180,000

per room on the high end.

A sale in that range would be in line with the $59.5 million Fundamental and Sage paid for the hotel in 2016, but well below their total investment. eir joint venture spent around $12 mil lion renovating the hotel’s guest rooms and amenities, according to the JLL yer. en came a pub lic health crisis that hammered the bottom lines of virtually all downtown hotels, dramatically reducing property values.

Fundamental and Sage had re nanced the property in 2019 with a $52 million loan from New York-based Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, and sought

backdrop that is rosier in some re spects, but much uglier in others. e waning e ects of the pandem ic have spurred a big comeback in leisure travel, pushing occupan cy at downtown hotels near prepandemic levels for the past six months. But threats of a recession and fast-rising interest rates are now keeping many investors on the sidelines. Chicago hotel own ers are also bracing for big prop erty tax bill hikes in the wake of property reassessments by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi.

CASHING OUT

a buyer last year as the mort gage’s June 2021 maturity date approached. But the owners nev er reached a deal, and sources familiar with the property said they were able to modify terms of the loan to extend the maturity date. Spokesmen for the owners and Apollo did not respond to re quests for comment.

e new listing comes against a

ose headwinds haven’t stopped several downtown hotel owners from trying to cash out, hoping buyers will be inspired by a strong summer of leisure demand in the city. e owners of the Sa ble Hotel at Navy Pier, the Hamp ton Inn Chicago Downtown in the northeast corner of the Loop and the Ambassador hotel in the Gold Coast have put their properties up for sale in recent weeks.

JLL is playing up the recent up tick in leisure demand and the val ue the owners created by striking a franchise agreement with Marriott International to switch the brand from a Renaissance hotel to Mar riott’s Autograph collection. e yer also spotlights an opportu

nity to lease up the hotel’s vacant 1,000-square-foot ground- oor retail space fronting Michigan Avenue—formerly a Starbucks—or to relocate the hotel’s second- oor restaurant to that space and turn the current dining area into rent able event space.

Nicknamed the “Hotel of Pres idents” for the dozen U.S. presi dents who have stayed there, the Blackstone originally opened in 1910 and was designated a Chicago landmark in 1998. e hotel is also tied to the political expression of a “smoke- lled room” to describe

behind-the-scenes dealmaking because of a 1920 meeting there among cigar-smoking U.S. sena tors to arrange the nomination of Warren Harding for president.

A Sage venture bought the Beaux Arts building in 2005 be fore renovating the property with a $128 million overhaul, fueled in part by more than $47 million in tax credits and other public sources such as city grants.

JLL brokers Adam McGaughy and John Nugent are marketing the Blackstone on behalf of the Fundamental-Sage venture.

Real estate services player Transwestern acquiring MBRE

BY DANNY ECKER

One of the nation’s largest commercial real estate ser vices firms is acquiring a Chi cago competitor with a promi nent history in the city, part of a trend of the biggest players in the office leasing and man agement business snapping up smaller ones.

Houston-based Transwest ern has reached a deal to ac

MBRE is best known for over seeing leasing at a number of downtown office properties, in cluding Michigan Plaza, 181 W. Madison St. and 550 W. Wash ington Blvd. MBRE also man ages several downtown office properties and has several bro kers that negotiate office leases on behalf of tenants.

Transwestern’s Chicago team handles leasing for several prominent downtown office

real estate in recent years. e growth of deep-pocketed, global investors owning a larger share of properties around the world has driven up demand for allencompassing service providers to manage, lease and sell prop erties rather than outsourcing those needs individually.

ORIGINS

at trend has driven the ex pansion of major players like Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle and Cushman & Wake eld and Dallas-based CBRE. Transwest ern Real Estate Services—the arm of Transwestern focused on o ce leasing and management and tenant representation—is among the largest providers of those ser vices nationwide.

quire Chicago brokerage MBRE, according to an email from an MBRE executive to a client and reviewed by Crain’s. The acqui sition is expected to close at the end of this year, the memo said.

The deal stands to enlarge Transwestern’s already sizable footprint in Chicago, where

towers, including 77 W. Wacker Drive, 191 N. Wacker Drive, The National at 125 S. Clark St. and NBC Tower.

Bringing MBRE’s portfolio and executives under the Trans western umbrella is in line with a broader consolidation movement across commercial

A spokeswoman for Trans wes tern did not provide a com ment and a spokesman for MBRE did not respond to a re quest for comment.

MBRE traces its origins to the 1998 merger of a New York venture of real estate investors Howard and Edward Milstein

with Miglin-Beitler Manage ment, a Chicago commercial real estate firm that was found ed in 1982 and grew into one of the most influential commer cial property firms in the city in the 1990s. Chicago real estate developer and broker Paul Be itler, whose development proj ects with co-founder Lee Miglin included the office tower at 181 W. Madison, ultimately sold his stake in the combined venture in 2001 to the Milstein family. The firm was rebranded as MB Real Estate in 2002.

More recently, MBRE’s oper ations in Chicago have slimmed down. Chicago developer John

Murphy stepped down as MBRE president and vice chairman in late 2019, a defection that was followed in October 2020 by MBRE Managing Principal Pe ter Westmeyer announcing the spino of the company’s health care division, now known as Remedy Medical Properties. at same month saw the depar ture of MBRE’s longest-serving executive in Kevin Purcell, pres ident of leasing and manage ment services, who departed after more than two decades to become director of asset man agement for the development arm of Northbrook-based Hilco Global.

Once one of the city’s most in uential commercial real estate rms, MBRE stands to grow Transwestern’s footprint of leased and managed downtown o ce towers

MBRE oversees leasing at 550 W. Washington Blvd., among other downtown o ce buildings.

The Blackstone Hotel, center

COSTAR GROUP COSTAR GROUP

The annual Champions Ball celebrated Special Olympics Illinois athletes, families and corporate partners, raising more than $1.4 million for Special Olympics Illinois programming. During the black-tie gala, attendees sported formal wear with their favorite sneakers to celebrate the athletes’ competitive spirit. Guests bid on auction items, enjoyed world-class entertainment and commemorated the year’s accomplishments.

2022 Champions Ball Chairs

2022 Champions Ball Committee Co-Chairs

Featured Athletes

EDITORIAL

e pro-biz agenda Pritzker should tackle now

Nov. 8 was a good day for Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Not only did he win re-election that day, but he won it handily— and Democrats down-ballot from him throughout much of the state enjoyed sim ilar success.

After spending roughly $150 million to keep the job, now comes the careful-whatyou-wish-for moment. While Illinois has made some progress on Pritzker's watch, building back from the scal wreckage left by his predecessor's slash-and-burn approach to governing, there's still a lot of work to do to make this state a better place to live, work and invest. And, unfortunate ly, the business community's concerns were far from central to the governor's re-election campaign.

As a billionaire several times over, Pritzker could easily spend his life do ing just about anything other than run a state government as challenging—and challenged—as Illinois'. But this is the job Pritzker asked for—that is, as long as a cer tain higher o ce isn’t available. So, while he occupies the Governor's Mansion, it would be in the entire state's best interests if he were to make a pro-business agenda a higher governing priority than it was on the campaign trail.

at means, among other things, that it's time to acknowledge reality when it comes to the budget. Any budget that contains an unfunded pension liability in the neighborhood of $130 billion can not credibly be called balanced, no mat ter what the governor says. In the scal 2023 budget, he poured $500 million into the pension hole, reducing long-term lia bilities by an estimated $1.8 billion. Fair enough. But now that he doesn’t have to talk voters—and organized labor—into supporting him, what other measures is Pritzker willing to take to further bend the

pension liability curve downward?

In a conversation with Crain's prior to Election Day, the governor acknowledged that the wider world's perception of Illi nois as a scal train wreck has hindered the state’s e orts to lure new investment, potential employers and economic devel opment. Pritzker can take a bow for trying to reverse that image by improving the bal ance sheet since he took o ce. In the scal year 2023 budget, he deposited $1 billion to the Budget Stabilization Fund—the rst deposits in 18 years—and he continues to pay down the pile of bills racked up under previous administrations. And in Septem ber, he announced a plan to reduce a $1.8 billion Unemployment Insurance Trust

Fund de cit by $450 million through an in fusion of unemployment-related revenues.

Wall Street has rewarded him for these e orts with a series of bond-rating up grades. But Illinois' credit is still rated just a couple of notches above junk. Can we do better?

Another worry for Illinois business lead ers is the national competition for cor porate headquarters and investment in growth industries. Many will argue that we make too much of HQs—that there are plenty of out-of-town companies employ ing Illinoisans. In fact, Crain's compiles an annual list of the largest out-of-town employers in Illinois, and the range of in dustries represented there—from tech to

YOUR VIEW

retail, consulting to nance, advertising to consumer products—is indeed impres sive. But that doesn’t mean headquarters don't matter at all. When a Fortune 500 company's CEO lives and works here in town, interacting with the community, advocating for civic causes, and look ing Illinoisans in the eye when making big decisions about hiring and—perhaps more crucially—about ring, you can bet it's meaningful to the region's well-being.

e Pritzker administration can't be com placent about the comings and goings of corporate headquarters. eir presence certi es that Illinois is open for business.

Similarly, Team Pritzker must do more to aggressively court major players in the growth industries of the future, from cloud computing to electric vehicle and battery development. When he ran for o ce the rst time, one of Pritzker's biggest selling points, underscored by his previous life as a venture capitalist and founder of the 1871 Chicago tech hub, was that he under stood the importance of this sort of sales manship and hustle. And yet, as EV devel opers pass Illinois by in favor of nearby states like Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, it’s beyond time for Pritzker to up his game in this department.

Finally, there’s the elephant in the room: Crime. Granted, the governor is not the mayor. Beyond the Illinois State Police, he has little direct control over any particular municipality’s approach to making Illinois' streets safer. at said, he has a massive bully pulpit—and he must use it to send a message throughout that state that he un derstands the urgency of the public safety challenge and will do all he can to make crime prevention and e ective policing a top priority in his second term.

at’s a long to-do list. Hopefully the governor is already well on his way to tack ling it.

Musk acquisition will accelerate Twitter’s decline

November is my 14th anniversary of joining Twitter, the omnipresent microblogging platform. Twitter has been essential to my personal and professional life and I’ve stayed on it despite its challenges, defending it to friends and colleagues as essen tial for how I consume news, maintain friend ships and engage with the global community.

extremely pure “Tweetups” (in-real-life meet ings of Twitter users in the area) fondly.

Caleb Gardner is a founding partner of Chicago management consulting rm 18 Co ees. He ran former President Barack Obama’s Twitter account and social media strategy for Organizing for Action during the president’s second administration.

Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform may finally make it undefendable and accelerate its slow decline into irrelevancy.

I have the most fond memories of Twitter pre-IPO, before the Obama 2012 campaign, the Arab Spring and other major events thrust the platform into the spotlight as an effective me dia tool. It helped me professionally, connect ing me to others in my field who were interest ed in tech and new media. I even received a job referral from another Twitter user. I still main tain many friendships from those early days of Twitter, and those of us in the Chicago tech scene who were active then still remember the

Before its IPO, Twitter saw an explosion of development on top of its platform, as ambi tious startups sought to use Twitter’s social graph in creative ways. Users helped mold the experience, inventing things like the hashtag that eventually would be ad opted as native features. For a while, it felt like Twitter could become the de facto social identity that overlaid the entire internet. We received a glimpse of a future where Twitter nurtured those developer relationships, val ued its users and was on a path to becoming a public good.

But in the next phase of the company, lead ership choked off its third-party ecosystem, ei ther acquiring or shutting down startups that had come to depend on it. After its IPO in 2013, Twitter shifted its focus to pleasing advertisers. Leadership centralized control so that users

Write us: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited.Send letters to Crain’s Chicago Business, 130 E. Randolph St., Suite 3200, Chicago, IL 60601, or email us at letters@chicagobusiness.com. Please include your full name, the city from which you’re writing and a phone number for fact-checking purposes.

spent more time on company-owned prod ucts, in the name of measuring “engagement.” Eventually, algorithms dictated the Twitter ex perience more so than relationships, and those algorithms began to surface the most extreme content.

As Twitter went mainstream, the platform was unprepared for the central role it eventual ly took in society. Journalists formalized their use of Twitter as a resource; politicians came to see it as an essential part of their commu nications teams. Meanwhile, growth became the obsession in order to placate shareholders, and the core product began to stagnate. Twit ter reached the height of its relevancy just as it

Sound o : Send a column for the Opinion page to editor@ chicagobusiness.com. Please include a phone number for veri cation purposes, and limit submissions to 425 words or fewer.

JOHN R. BOEHM

AS TWITTER WENT MAINSTREAM, THE PLATFORM WAS UNPREPARED FOR THE CENTRAL ROLE IT EVENTUALLY TOOK IN SOCIETY.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker

lost its way on innovation.

In the run up to Donald Trump’s election in 2016, that stagnation began to show. Not only did Trump himself take advantage of the platform’s lack of thoughtfulness around content moderation, but bullying and hate speech became one of the central complaints of the user experi ence. Trump took o ce using Twitter as his personal bully pulpit, targeting other users directly. e platform that was once called the “People’s Tool” by Chinese activist and artist Ai Weiwei had cemented itself as the way pow erful people circumvent accountability.

Even after Trump was kicked off the platform in 2021, the user narrative remained that we stay on Twitter not because we want to, not because it’s an enjoyable expe rience, but due to its essential role in our media ecosys tem. And if you’re a user like me, you partially remained out of habit—and nostalgia for what Twitter used to be,

CRAIN’S

President/CEO KC Crain

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Twitter to anything that would benefit its users or show any kind of editorial responsibility for its media role. He has a childish understanding of free speech and will roll back many of the content moderation guidelines Twit ter took too long building in the first place. His idea to charge for verification, a desperate attempt to immedi ately create more revenue, will cause more information disorder and chaos. Taking the company private re moves the pressure from shareholders—only to have it replaced by the pressure created by the debt he took on to get into this terrible deal in the first place.

and what you hoped it could be again.

My hope has died with the acquisition of the “Peo ple’s Tool” by the world’s richest man.

So far, Musk doesn’t seem to have plans to return

Musk is no savior. He’s a figurehead for what Twitter had already become: filled with unsophisticated ideas, assured of its own importance and, ultimately, destined to self-implode. I hope something takes its place that protects the public interest—and, selfishly, I hope it’s fun again.

Bringing Diversity to the C-Suite A Crain’s Equity

Event

Black corporate professionals continue to face barriers to reaching C-suite-level positions. Crain’s talks with three leading executives to explore how they’ve navigated their challenges and successes in the corporate world. Cassandra West , editor of Crain’s Equity series, will moderate the discussion.

SPEAKERS

Feyi Olopade Ayodele, Co-Founder and CEO CancerIQ

Melody Spann Cooper Owner Midway Broadcasting Corp.

Celena Roldán CEO of the Illinois Region of the Red Cross American Red Cross

Moderator: Cassandra West Assistant Managing Editor Crain’s Chicago Business

Elon Musk

111 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago60606 Deloitte.com

2 ERNST & YOUNGLLP 155 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago60606 EY.com

3 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERSLLP

KathyScherer

5,851 13.6% 8529683,8191,2330— $22,931.0 -1.0%

3

4

4 KPMGLLP 200 E. Randolph St., Chicago60601 KPMG.com

5

6

7

LindaImonti

Office managing principal 2,964 26.4% 5415461,461617340— $32,130.0 3 235.7%

JohnBird Office managing partner 1,310 9.2% 550445470395012,100$3,310.3 15.0%

StuartJ.Miller

Office managing partner 936 9.2% 247161547199294,956 $1,062.4 8.0%

MatthewPanzica Tax office managing partner DarinKempke Assurance office managing partner

798 1.4% 1582183541141129,671 $2,000.3 10.6% 8 8

GRANT THORNTONLLP 171 N. Clark St., Chicago60601 GrantThornton.com

TomKinder Office managing partner 658 6.5% 273273142229142,783 $918.7 13.2% 10 10 MILLER COOPER & CO.LTD. 1751 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield60015 MillerCooper.com

MarkSullivan Office managing principal 665 2.9% 206178278182277,864 $1,972.9 2.8% 9 9 PLANTE & MORAN PLLC 10 S. Riverside Plaza, Chicago60606 PlanteMoran.com

KristenL.Fitzpatrick Managing principal 504 19.7% 14219010514636504 $101.7 2 0.6% 11 11 BAKER TILLY 205 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago60601 BakerTilly.com

12

13 13 WIPFLI

14

15

16

17

15 PKF MUELLER 4 1707 N. Randall Road, Elgin60123 PKFMueller.com

ThomasF.WalkerJr. Managing partner, Illinois 415 10.4% 18112621463765,106 $1,000.0 8.7%

MarioJ.Donato Managing partner 359 2.9% 1671601512856359 $99.0 3 0.0%

GaryShutan Partner, lower Great Lakes region leader

339 5.0% 120 11610783102,046 $443.0 10.2%

ChristopherL.Geier CEO, managing partner 318 13.6% 721217823961,167 $228.6 24.1%

RonaldJ.Amen Partner 204 17.9% 2691 61349— $24.6 11.8% JasonBurian Office managing partner, Chicago GeorgeKlenovich Regional managing partner, South/West

20 FORVIS 5 1901 S. Meyers Road, Oakbrook Terrace 60181 FORVIS.com RussellL.Romanelli Managing partner 160 6.7% 8575 2050155,500 $1,500.0 97.9% 147 7.3% 5264 0 22613,082 $808.0 18.8% 24 24 WARADY & DAVISLLP 1717 Deerfield Road, Deerfield60015 WaradyDavis.com

CLIFTONLARSONALLENLLP 1301 W. 22nd St., Oak Brook60523 CLAConnect.com JosephA.Baez Managing principal 159 2.6% 6574 3730186,718 $1,450.7 21.6% RichardFranklin MarkThomas RobertWeismann Co-managing partners

4 Westbrook Corporate Center, Westchester 60154 LegacyCPAs.com TimothyF.Cibulka Managing partner 152 1.3% 127 6.7% 6789 7 3411141 $22.1 4.0% 25 25 PORTE BROWNLLC 845 Oakton St., Elk Grove Village60007 PorteBrown.com JosephA.Gleba CEO 114 4.6% 4851 10530114 $31.4 8.3%

LARGEST ACCOUNTING FIRMS CRAIN'S LIST Ranked by local professional staff as of 6/30/2022. Crain’s estimates are in gray. ResearchbySophieRodgers(sophie.rodgers@crain.com) |ListincludesaccountingfirmswithofficesinCook,DuPage,Kane,Lake,McHenryandWillcountiesinIllinois,andLakeCountyinIndiana.Firmwideemployeeandrevenuefigures excludeindependentinternationalmemberfirmsthatdobusinessunderthesamebrandname.Professionalstaffreferstopartners,associatesandanyoneworkingdirectlyintheaccountingareaasfull-timeemployees.NOTES: e. Crain'sestimate. 1. Includes subsidiaries of Deloitte LLP. 2. From Accounting Today. 3. Company estimate. 4. Formerly known as Mueller & Co. LLP. 5. Formerly BKD LLP. Want 30 accounting firms in Excel format? Become a Data Member: ChicagoBusiness.com/Data-Lists

Fermilab

more than

feds

plans to put its piece of the In ation Reduction Act into building the world’s fastest supercomputer

BY JOHN PLETZ

Chicago’s two national labs got more than $300 million in funding from the U.S. Depart ment of Energy under the Infla tion Reduction Act.

Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont will get $60 mil lion, much of it for a new super computer that is expected to be the world’s fastest when it comes online later this year. Fermi Na tional Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, in Batavia will get about $260 million, including $125 million for its neutrinores earch facility, which studies subatomic particles.

The grants were announced Nov. 4 at Argonne by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, a former phys icist at Fermilab. The depart ment awarded $1.6 billion in funding to national labs from

used for modeling the biggest scientific phenomenon, such as weather, climate change and disease.

She also noted that Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source, es sentially an X-ray microscope the size of Wrigley Field, was used to develop the COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid.

“Commitment to science takes decades,” Granholm said of the new federal funding. “Twenty years ago, the U.S. in vested five times as much in R&D as China. Now we’re just barely ahead. This is why in vestment is important. America is determined to stop ceding ground and win the race for the global economy of the future.”

The funding for projects at Fermi, which is home to about 1,900 scientists and other em ployees, comes amid a major expansion.

“In the next five years, Fer milab expects to invest more than $500 million in the construction of new buildings and in frastructure on site, cre ating many jobs,” Fermi Director Lia Mer minga said in a statement.

the Inflation Reduction Act, which was heavily focused on climate change.

Granholm marveled at Ar gonne’s new supercomputer, Aurora, which is expected to be the first computer in the U.S. capable of 1 quintillion calcu lations per second. Argonne’s supercomputers are typically

“With the IRA funding, we now have the assur ance that we can contin ue our projects on their planned schedules.”

Granholm indicated there will be additional funding for the national labs from the Chips & Science Act, which includes $53 billion for semiconductor research, manufacturing and other programs, as well as other research.

Argonne National Laboratory

MIKE KAPPEL/FLICKR

“AMERICA IS DETERMINED TO STOP CEDING GROUND AND WIN THE RACE FOR THE GLOBAL ECONOMY OF THE FUTURE.”

Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Energy Secretary

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

ARCHITECTURE / DESIGN

HGA has

Chris Canalia joins the talented team of Associates at John Kasperek Co., Inc., bringing eight years’ experience as a corporate staff accountant where he focused on training employees at 36 different locations.  Chris also served as the accounting manager at a location with a $5 million EBITDA. He has signi cant experience with balance sheet reconciliations and nancial statement review. Chris graduated from Governors State University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Business/Accounting.

BANKING

First Bank Chicago, Northbrook

First Bank Chicago proudly announces the promotion of Cheryl T. Braude to Chief Credit Of cer. In this executive role, she is responsible for overseeing the credit quality of the Bank’s loan portfolio. Through her leadership, expertise, and steadfast standards she has set the tone of our credit culture. She also leads a diverse team of professionals responsible for credit risk management functions. Cheryl has 35+ years of commercial banking excellence and joined the First Bank team in 2008.

healthcare design practice. As a member of the practice leadership team, Mullaney develops strategies to address emerging trends in healthcare design and promote strategic growth. She connects ideas and people across 12 of ces to align HGA’s expertise to the complex challenges facing healthcare systems, create value for clients, and differentiate HGA’s healthcare practice. A native of Chicago, Mullaney joined HGA’s Milwaukee of ce in 2016, and has advanced through several strategic business roles. Mullaney currently serves on HGA’s Planning Committee, focused on rmwide strategic goals.

CONSTRUCTION

IHC Construction Companies, LLC, Chicagoland

CONSTRUCTION

Redmond, Chicago

To place your listing, visit www.chicagobusiness.com/peoplemoves or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

LAW

Redmond, a Chicagobased commercial general contractor, expanded its leadership team through the hire of Mark Fenton, who will serve as Principal in Charge of strategic national accounts. Based in Denver, Mark has more than 30 years of experience in construction. He previously worked in the Interiors Business Unit at one of Chicago’s largest general contractors, climbing the ranks from Project Manager to Senior VP over his 24-year tenure. He has managed several million square feet of interior construction for several notable clients including Whirlpool, McCormick Foundation, Morningstar, Motorola, Sears, Citibank, Grant Thornton, and Huron Consulting.

Over the past two years, he operated his own project management consulting rm in Denver.

LAW

BANKING

First Bank Chicago, Northbrook

First Bank Chicago, one of the top ve privately held banks in Chicagoland, is proud to announce the recent promotion of Nathan Bowker to Senior Vice President, Commercial Real Estate. As the Bank continues to expand, Nate is responsible for the origination and underwriting of commercial real estate loans. Nate also focuses on the development and retention of CRE banking relationships and has been providing excellent customer service since joining First Bank in 2009.

IHC Construction Companies, LLC welcomes Corporate General Counsel, Ronald O’Neal Jr. to its team. With 26 years as a legal professional, in both the private and public sectors, Ron has gained experience as prosecutor, municipal attorney, and in his own private practice.  In his new role at IHC, Ron is responsible for a wide range of issues including litigation strategy, contracts, managing outside counsel relationships, advising leadership on legal matters, and providing counsel to HR.

CONSTRUCTION

Northern Builders, Inc., Schiller Park

Northern Builders, Inc. is pleased to announce the hiring of Anne F. Werner as Controller. In her new role, Anne is responsible for the comprehensive oversight of Northern’s accounting operations including nancial reporting, banking compliance, and cash management. Anne brings over thirty years of accounting experience to Northern’s team.

Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C., Chicago

Betsy L. Gates-Alford is a partner at Chicagobased law rm Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C. Ms. GatesAlford is a member of the rm’s Government & Regulatory, Real Estate, and Litigation practice groups. She has broad experience in the general representation of municipalities and other units of state and local government. She regularly advises public bodies on regulatory, operational, and land use matters.

LAW

Thompson Coburn LLP, Chicago

Health care attorney Daniel M. Tardiff has joined Thompson Coburn’s Health Care group. Dan joins the Firm following his tenure as the Chief Legal Counsel & Corporate Secretary for AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy, the nation’s third largest specialty and mail order pharmacy. He previously held roles in the Walgreen Co. legal department. Before that, he was in private practice after beginning his career in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Of ce for the Northern District of Illinois.

Chuhak & Tecson welcomes Christine A. Barone joining the rm as a principal in the Estate Planning & Asset Protection and Estate & Trust Administration & Litigation practice groups. Christine focuses her practice on elder law, including contested and uncontested adult guardianships, decedents’ estates, estate planning and planning for those with disabilities or special needs and long-term care. She is a Certi ed Elder Law Attorney (CELA), an honor given by the National Elder Law Foundation.

LAW

Chuhak & Tecson, P.C., Chicago

Jeffrey M. Heller joins Chuhak & Tecson as a principal in the Corporate Transactions & Business Law practice group. Jeff advises on corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, phantom ownership plans, operating agreements, joint ventures, succession planning, corporate governance, choice of entity considerations, entity formations, customer and supplier agreements, employment agreements and loan documents. He also focuses on sales and acquisitions of real estate and leasing.

MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Inspirant Group, Chicagoland

Inspirant Group, the disruptive consulting rm, is proud to welcome our newest Unconsultant Ryan VanDePutte as Sales Director. With a multiindustry background, VanDePutte has deep experience in enterprise and mid-market sales, assisting companies in simplifying their unique business and technology challenges. In his new role, VanDePutte drives transformation initiatives and business development for the fast-growing Chicagoland company, one of Built In’s 22 startups to watch in 2022.

Kantata, Chicago

Kantata has named JD Miller as the company’s Chief Revenue Of cer. In his role, JD will develop and execute sales and partner strategies to support the increasing demand for Kantata’s purpose-built SaaS solutions for professional and embedded services organizations. JD is a proven vertical SaaS sales leader with over 20 years of experience, most recently serving as the CRO at Motus.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, Chicago

Tilden Katz has joined Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies as Senior Principal in Chicago and Washington D.C. launching a new Strategic Communications/ Reputation Management Practice. A trusted adviser and media spokesman for marquee brands such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Walgreens, Exxon, and Merck, Katz has spent 20+ years helping corporate boards, executives, and their counsel avoid or mitigate reputational damage via strategic communication campaigns targeting legal, business and public issues.

REAL ESTATE

@properties, Chicago

Leading real estate brokerage and technology rm @properties Christie’s International Real Estate announced the hiring of Rachel Scheid as vice president of education. In her new role, Scheid will help implement agent-development, coaching and training programs for Chicagoland’s No. 1 selling brokerage rm. Scheid serves on a number of boards and committees with the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and was a National Association of REALTORS® 30 Under 30 honoree.

BANKING

First Bank Chicago, Northbrook

First Bank Chicago, one of the top ve privately held banks in Chicagoland, is pleased to welcome Regina M. Hirn to our team as Vice President of Commercial Real Estate. In her new role, Regina is responsible for supporting the Bank’s growth strategy by actively managing existing CRE client relationships and originating and underwriting loans to new client relationships for the portfolio. Regina has 34+ years of community banking expertise and came to us from International Bank of Chicago.

HEALTH CARE

Medical Home Network, Chicago Medical Home Network (MHN), a nationally recognized not-for-pro t focused on transforming care in the safety net and building healthier communities, named Dr. Abigail DeVries as market medical director. DeVries will work on care transformation in ve states under Medicare’s new value based ACO REACH model. Her expertise in patient-centered care and passion for reducing health disparities will be invaluable in advancing equity, access and community health in underserved communities.

LAW

Zulkie Partners LLC, Chicago

Zulkie Partners is very pleased to announce that Jennifer Hoskin has been promoted to Principal. Jenni represents companies from a broad array of industries. Her practice is focused on advising companies on the best legal strategy to secure nonimmigrant work visas and permanent resident status for foreign national employees.

Jenni is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

NON-PROFIT

Anixter Center, Chicago

Anixter Center is pleased to announce Samantha Handley’s appointment as President and Chief Executive Of cer. Anixter Center is a social impact nonpro t representing people with disabilities, mental health needs, and people who are Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing. Most recently, Samantha served as CEO at Trilogy Behavioral Healthcare. Samantha brings an extensive background in clinical program management and operational excellence to the role.

REAL ESTATE

Golub & Company, Chicago

Golub & Company has named Olivia Wirth Vice President of Leasing. Olivia will be responsible for overseeing leasing efforts for Golub’s commercial of ce and medical of ce portfolio in the downtown Chicago market. She brings 9 years of leasing experience to the company’s partners and clients, and approaches each transaction with integrity and perseverance. Olivia has been a Senior Leasing Associate for Golub since 2020 and looks forward to taking this next step in her career.

Chuhak & Tecson, P.C., Chicago

HGA, Milwaukee / Chicago

named Kate Mullaney, CPSM, Market Strategy Leader for the nationally recognized

John Kasperek Co., Inc., Mokena / Calumet City

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

DIET STAPLES: For some populations, culture and tradition satisfy hunger pangs. PAGE 17

A SOLVABLE CRISIS: Food insecurity must be tackled on all fronts. PAGE 18

FEEDING AUSTIN: Teens sow the seeds for a different food future. PAGE 19

Hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans go to bed hungry or ll their stomachs with empty calories because that’s all they can nd or a ord.

ey ration food, depend on charitable donations or agonize over how to stretch their budgets to pay for meals to get them through the day.

ese aren’t Dickensian characters. is is 21st-century reality for many people

living in a major U.S. city.

Riverdale on Chicago’s Far South east Side is 95% African American—and 99.85% of residents there have “low ac cess” to food, de ned as living more than a half-mile from the nearest supermarket, according to the Chicago Health Atlas.

On the Near North Side, where 70% of residents are white, everyone lives within a half-mile of at least one supermarket,

giving them abundant grocery choices. A McKinsey analysis last year found that counties in the U.S. with above-average Black populations had fewer grocers, restaurants and farmers markets and more small convenience stores.

ose statistics underscore a glaring racial and economic disparity and help explain why some Chicago communities struggle more than others with food inse

curity and convenient access to fresh and healthy foods.

“Some neighborhoods are overly ser viced and others are barely serviced,” says LaForce Baker, vice president of commu nity impact at World Business Chicago, which works to attract businesses to low-access areas.

Traveling farther away from home to buy food can pose challenges, especially for seniors and people living with disabil ities, among those most at risk for food insecurity.

Liz Abunaw is working to open a full-service grocery store in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood called 40 Acres Fresh Market.

JOHN R.BOEHM

Money spent elsewhere also means fewer dollars get recirculated in under-resourced communities.

Yellow Banana, a retail grocer, owns and operates 38 stores in ve states under the Save A Lot banner, with six locations in Chicago.

e company’s four founders— two are Black and one is Black and Latino—feel a moral obligation to operate stores in underserved communities.

“Where you live shouldn’t dictate your access to healthy, a ordable food,” says co-founder Michael Nance, who is African American and Latino.

e closings of Aldi stores in West Gar eld Park and Auburn Gresham and a Whole Foods Market in Englewood have focused renewed attention on the city’s “food deserts.”

Chicago political leaders, activists and entrepreneurs have vowed to step up e orts to bring more healthy food to underserved areas.

BULLETPROOF GLASS AND CHEESEBURGERS

Yellow Banana is an example of one such e ort. e company plans to buy a Save A Lot grocery store in Auburn Gresham that closed in 2020 and reopen it in early 2023.

Earlier this year, the company received a $13.5 million community development grant to purchase and remodel stores on the West and South sides. Save A Lot is one of the nation’s largest discount grocery chains. Yellow Banana is its third-largest retail partner.

Other e orts to improve access include food pantry expansions and the launching of farmers markets, pop-up farm stands, and small and midsize urban farms. Some residents are learning to grow their own produce.

cheeseburgers and stu ,” Edwards says. “I want them to be able to have someplace where they can come in and order healthy food and sit down to eat comfortably.”

MORE PEOPLE ARE FOOD INSECURE

e Greater Chicago Food Depository has identi ed 40 high-priority food-insecure communities in Cook County, with 28 in the city and 12 in the suburbs.

Its partner network served almost 361,600 households in August 2022—a 30% jump from the previous August.

A complex problem with deep roots in the city’s racial history, food insecurity is a major contributor to health disparities, experts say.

Chicago, like many American cities, has “a history of redlining and disinvestment that, in turn, impacts multiple access points for food,” says Ruby Ferguson, who leads the Chicago Food Equity Council.

e council, formed by executive order in February by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, aims to achieve food equity by bringing together city departments, community organizations and various agencies “to reimagine and transform” the city’s food system.

Five high-impact priorities have been identi ed, including: removing barriers to urban farming and food pantry expansion; better connecting residents with nutrition programs; leveraging city and institutional procurement to assist local growers, producers and food businesses of color; and supporting food entrepreneurs of color.

e mayor’s Chicago Recovery Plan committed $10 million to capital investments in urban agriculture, the creation of a food incubator and development of a Chicago Good Food Fund, where entrepreneurs on the South and West sides can seek capital.

David Edwards is tackling food inequity on multiple fronts.

“What I’m trying to accomplish is to ll up a lot of these food deserts here in Chicago,” says Edwards, who owns a produce business and the Smooth & Social Roots Cafe in Gar eld Park. He wants to one day open a grocery store on the West Side.

e cafe serves smoothies and Caribbean- and Cajun-inspired dishes, some of which are made with produce grown in an adjacent garden and at two nearby farms. Edwards participated in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest apprenticeship and farm incubator programs, which have trained and supported many farmers of color.

“I don’t want people in my community to have to go to places with bulletproof glass and have to order

Ferguson, a dietitian by training, says the council’s work will ensure that “communities that have a history of disinvestment have pathways to wealth-building through food.”

DISMANTLING ‘FOOD APARTHEID’

Liz Abunaw, an upstate New York native who settled in Chicago after earning an MBA at the University of Chicago, was struck by the lack of retail businesses on a West Side commercial corridor, where she found herself while trying to nd a place to get cash in 2016.

“I quickly realized that it was not easy to do basic life errands there,” she says. “I couldn’t nd a grocery store. I couldn’t nd a bank. I couldn’t nd a pharmacy. All I was trying to do was get cash without paying exorbitant ATM fees.”

Abunaw, who uses the term “food apartheid” to refer to the race, class and other structural forces that drive food inequity,

decided to do something about it.

She started Forty Acres Fresh Market in 2018 with a pop-up farm stand on the West Side and later expanded to the weekly Austin Town Hall City Market, which had its last day for the year in late October. She accepts Link, the debit card for the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps).

“Most of our customers come to us because of the mission,” she says. “ ey stay with us because they get really great quality produce at a really great value.”

While most of her business centers on residential delivery in Chicago and the western suburbs, she also sells produce to organizations and operates pop-up markets in underserved communities.

Commercial development of a 10,000-square-foot grocery store on Chicago Avenue in the Austin neighborhood is underway.

Grocery stores play a key role in neighborhoods.

“ ey are not simply transactional places to sell food,” Abunaw says. “You have social interactions there that create community bonds and make neighborhoods enjoyable places to live.”

THE LINK BETWEEN FOOD AND JOBS

Organizations such as the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Windy City Harvest have provided support to emerging farms owned by people of color.

Windy City Harvest provides paid training in the food system for more than 150 people annually, including an apprenticeship program in partnership with the

City Colleges of Chicago and a re-entry program for people leaving the criminal justice system.

Graduates of the programs earn certi cation in areas such as food handling, sustainable urban agriculture, sustainable urban horticulture and environmental literacy.

Since 2013, it has incubated 26 small farm businesses, the majority owned by people of color.

Yellow Banana prioritizes local residents in its hiring, viewing its mandate as threefold: “addressing food security, employment and being a part of local economic development,” says co-founder Ademola Adewale-Sadik.

Growing Home, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-certi ed organic, high-production urban farm in Englewood, also shares the mission of food production and paid job training.

e farm grows an average of 40,000 pounds of food annually on 1.5 acres, including 145 varieties of produce, says Executive Director Janelle St. John. Its placement rate for those seeking fulltime employment averages 80%.

Growing Home’s communitysupported agriculture program, or CSA, sells to the general public. Last year it launched its Englewood CSA, which provides free food every other week to 30 households.

Food giveaways also take place at events such as the organization’s Harvest and Winter festivals, and about 125 packages of food are delivered weekly to two food pantries.

But St. John says expanding

access is not just about giveaways, but also ensuring a ordability to paying customers.

“What we sell on the North Side for $1, we sell for 50 cents in Englewood,” she says. “If you have Link, it is an additional 50% o . We also take senior citizen coupons. We do that with our local markets and pop-ups.”

ey have partnered with the University of Illinois Chicago’s Englewood clinic to provide fresh produce to about 25 patients with diabetes and other food-related chronic conditions.

Growing Home also o ers cooking demonstrations, recipe cards and other services to show customers how to prepare meals in a healthy way.

NUTRITION CLOSE TO HOME

When Benita Lindsey lived in South Shore seven years ago, she traveled up to an hour to reach a supermarket. She didn’t have a car at the time, so she rode public transit. But now that the retired government worker lives in Englewood, she shops at Growing Home.

She especially enjoys its peaches, pears, tomatoes and greens of all types.

For the last four years, she and a neighbor have volunteered every ursday to pack donation boxes and assist on market days. She thinks that many in her community are unaware of Growing Home and are missing out.

“In this neighborhood, I think that’s why we have so much diabetes and cancer, because we are not eating right,” she says.

The pandemic caused demand to skyrocket at Pan de Vida starting in April 2020, when the Little Village food pantry was feeding 400 families weekly. By June, it was feeding 6,000 families through driveups and home deliveries, with the help of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. That was about 30,000 people.

In June, the pantry moved into a remodeled grocery space and was renamed Pan de Vida Fresh Market by its owners, New Life Centers and New Life Community Church Little Village. With shopping carts, Spanish music playing and brightly colored murals outside, it doesn’t look like the typical food pantry.

Residents can select their own items, up to 50 pounds of food once a week, says Rosario Dominguez, communications and marketing director at New Life Centers. Up to 150 families are served daily, Tuesday through Saturday. An outdoor produce market operates every other Friday.

Many of the seniors who visit the pantry live alone, Dominguez says. “ e sta is de nitely aware of that, and they’re willing to be a listening ear for them and to see their needs beyond just the food.”

STRUGGLING TO STAY AFLOAT

Like the communities where they’re located, some food busi-

nesses are struggling.

Cedillo’s Fresh Produce, an immigrant-owned family farm, has faced multiple challenges this year. Without employees during the growing season, co-owners Juan Carlos Cedillo and his wife, Dulce Margarita Morales, ran their farm with the help of their two daughters and volunteers.

“We could always use more hands,” says Morales, co-founder of Mercado de Colores, a farmers market in Little Village, and Colectiva Ukulima, a collective of farmers of color.

ey also could use assistance with accounting and record-keeping, and they needed help this year with utility bills.

“We de nitely felt the economy hit us hard this year,” Morales says.

But they didn’t raise prices.

“We’re not making enough money for us to become rich, but we’re not going to say we’re failing,” Morales says. “We are succeeding at providing for our community.”

‘COME HELL OR HIGH WATER’

Fueled by the COVID pandemic, Edwards’ organic produce business took o . It delivers to homes, restaurants, food cooperatives and larger CSAs.

His produce varies depending on the season and might include Swiss chard, kale, blueberries, bananas, oranges, organic honey, carrots and beets.

But his Smooth & Social Roots Cafe, which has an on-site garden and chicken coop, is still establishing itself. Con dent there’s a market for it, Edwards is elevating his social media presence to get the word out.

At Yellow Banana, the owners realize they need to succeed where other grocers have failed.

Ensuring success means “constantly adapting and thinking about the operational side of things so that we can deliver a ordable nutrition to working families, which is our mandate,” says Adewale-Sadik.

Competitor checks are conducted weekly to ensure bargain prices for staples, such as eggs, butter, milk and cooking oil. “We’ve made a commitment to our customers that come hell or high water, they can come to our stores to get the best price on those core items,” Nance says.

Yellow Banana also is thinking about starting a transportation service limited to certain days and locations.

And Ferguson says the Chicago Food Equity Council is looking at the big picture and not relying on a single store or solution to end long-standing inequity.

“When we go grocery shopping, we might stop and get coffee. We might go to the butcher. We might get a cupcake for a friend to celebrate their birthday,” she says. “We’re thinking about that entire food ecosystem and how businesses can support each other and people can have choices.”

Healthy servings of culture and tradition can also relieve hunger

Foods tied to communities’ ethnic roots often aren’t available in local stores

BY DEBORAH L. SHELTON

Food does more than satiate hunger. It connects people to their familial, cultural and spiritual roots.

But nding culturally appropriate foods can be challenging for populations dealing with food insecurity, members of Chicagoarea ethnic communities say.

Although vegetables such as corn are widely available to everyone, “that’s not the traditional corn that we grow,” says Gina Roxas, program director and medicinal garden manager at Trickster Cultural Center, a nonpro t Native American cultural arts and learning center in northwest suburban Schaumburg. e center grows traditional foods at a local community garden. e center grew culturally signi cant squash and three varieties of traditional corn this year: Hopi blue corn, Potawatomi red corn and Oaxacan green corn. e red corn seeds were passed down through Roxas’ family, members of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. e taste and texture of traditional corn, used in traditional stews and cornmeal, is unlike the supersweet varieties found in the typical supermarket, Roxas says.

Many local grocery stores just don’t stock the kinds of foods some populations are used to eating. And urban apartment dwellers, especially renters in population-dense areas, often don’t have access to land to grow their own food.

Dorene Wiese, founding president of the Chicago-based American Indian Association of Illinois, says her organization has tried unsuccessfully for years to acquire space for growing and teaching.

“It’s been a struggle for people who want to access and grow and learn about foods that are native to their tribes,” says Wiese, a tribally enrolled member of the Minnesota White Earth Ojibwe.

When the COVID pandemic hit and emergency food distributions began, that highlighted a cultural divide.

“We have folks who were given food boxes and they were very grateful for them,” Roxas says. “But they were calling and saying, ‘I don’t know what this is and I don’t know how to prepare it.’ ”

e Chinese American Service League, or CASL, devised a plan during the pandemic to feed its older clients culturally appropriate meals, says Brandi Adams, vice president of advancement.

Many of the seniors were home-

bound because they feared getting infected or becoming victims of anti-Asian hate crimes. Adams says they faced additional hardship when restaurants closed or scaled back.

Many relied on children or grandchildren, some of whom worked in restaurants and brought meals home to them or prepared family meals. Job losses and layo s tightened family budgets.

CASL learned some of their clients were rationing food.

“We explored options to try to connect them with existing programs, and we quickly found out that our seniors were not interested in meatloaf and hamburgers and hot dogs—very Americanized food—because that’s not what they’re used to,” she says.

Meanwhile, the pandemic had shut down the agency’s culinary training program and graduates suddenly didn’t have job placements.

en CASL hit upon the idea “to hire our graduates back and start a senior meal program,’” Adams says.

A typical meal for the 350 senior clients includes rice, fruit and vegetables, and beef with rice noodles, chicken with lemon pepper or pork chops with hoisin barbecue sauce. e agency is in the process of expanding the program.

In 2021, Pan de Vida, a food pantry in Little Village, advocated for more Mexican products in emergency food packages from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. e pantry also received calls from clients who didn’t know how to cook certain items, such as collard greens.

Rosario Dominguez, communications and marketing director at New Life Centers, says the depository responded by providing packages with tortillas, beans, rice, corn our, limes, tomatoes, avocados and cilantro—all items

familiar to their Latino clientele.

Adams says government ocials should consider the needs of Asian American and Paci c Islanders and other people of color when developing grant guidelines for food programs.

“A lot of times, the ne print in those funding opportunities allow for only one vendor and is not inclusive of di erent ethnic foods,” she says. “You get one vendor that does only one type of food.”

“OUR SENIORS WERE NOT INTERESTED IN MEATLOAF AND HAMBURGERS AND HOT DOGS — VERY AMERICANIZED FOOD.”

Brandi Adams, CASL’s VP of advancement

JOHN R.

BOEHM

David Edwards owns Smooth & Social Roots Cafe.

Food insecurity crisis requires all hands on deck

It is not uncom mon for persons with diabetes to be hospitalized with dangerously low levels of blood glucose be cause they haven’t had access to enough food.

Food insecurity is a contributor to chronic diseases that are dis proportionately borne by persons with low incomes and limited life opportunities. Food in security itself is a symp tom of poverty, and in the United States, of structural racism, of systemic inequity.

In our combined 60 years of practicing medicine, we’ve seen rsthand the e ects of food insecurity and hunger. It’s an older adult who struggles to manage his diabetes or hypertension, a child with developmental delays, an expectant mother without the means to get proper, consistent nutrition for herself and her baby.

One in ve households in the Chicago metro area experiences food insecurity, including one in four families with children, according to Northwestern University economists. at means hundreds of thousands of our neighbors have limited or unreliable

CULTURE

access to nutritionally adequate food. Food insecurity a ects Black and Latino households at nearly double the rate of white households.

Food insecurity gained attention early in the COVID-19 pandemic, as we saw daily images of Americans lined up by the thousands at emergency food distributions. e truth is, a hunger crisis existed long before COVID-19, and the need today remains well above pre-pandemic levels.

e solutions to food insecurity can be so simple. Put nutritious, a ordable and culturally relevant food within reach of all people. Pair the food with education and in novations that incentivize healthy choices.

e health care sector can play an important role in this work. Health systems and health plans are increasingly aware of the consequences and costs of food insecurity and are experimenting with new approaches. We have an opportunity to make progress by creating systems that keep people healthy and prevent complications

of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease with access to the right foods.

An important step for health systems is to normalize food insecurity screening questions for all patient visits. Just as providers ask about tobacco use, we should also ask simple questions to identify food insecurity.

Patients at risk of food insecurity should be referred to resources. Some hospitals and clinics o er free groceries from in-house pantries or mobile food distributions. Importantly, patients should be assisted with applications to public bene ts programs like the critically important Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants & Children (WIC). ose with speci c challenges may qualify for home-delivered meals.

Organizations like the Greater Chicago Food Depository have been pioneering this type of work in partnership with commu-

Fast food can’t feed the real needs

The battle against hunger takes place on a massive scale, but it cannot be won by sacri c ing people’s human needs in the name of delivering as much cheap food as possible. We must be wary against valuing e ciency above all else.

I don’t mean to discourage anyone from trying to feed vulner able individuals. Rather, I want to emphasize that when dealing with vulnerable communities—espe cially immigrants or members of marginalized religions—it’s vital for public and private funders to collaborate and make decisions with, not for, in-need com munities. at starts by remaining respectful of unique diets, cultures and needs.

is is deeply important to me as CEO of the Chinese American Service League (CASL), one of the Midwest’s largest and most comprehensive social service organi zations, which has historically served the Chinese American community but is open to all who need our services. At CASL, we strive to preserve our clients’ cultural identity

while still providing critical assis tance. One way we practice that is through food sovereignty—the belief that people have a right to healthy, culturally appropriate food produced and consumed sustainably, equitably and locally.

CASL’s Senior Meals Program feeds hundreds of our most vulnerable community members three fresh, culturally appropri ate meals each day, ve days per week. is program ensures our seniors get the necessary nutrition in meals that they are accustomed to and that their bodies are familiar with.

e Centers for Disease Control & Preven tion notes that culturally appropriate foods can positively impact the health of immigrant communities. Imagine you grew up eating hamburgers, hot dogs and meatloaf, but sud denly you can only eat white rice, bok choy, dumplings and tofu. How do you think you would feel about that? How would your body react to such a signi cant change?

It would certainly be simpler and more af fordable for CASL to distribute peanut butter

and jelly sandwiches or hot dogs; perhaps we could produce more meals. But would they meet the recipients’ cultural needs or nourish their mind, body and spirit? And how many meals would simply be thrown out?

However, serving culturally appropriate meals requires signi cant investments from public and private funding sources— funding that, unfortunately, often comes with too many stipulations.

For example, some funders require that food be purchased from sources that do not carry the ingredients to make culturally appropriate food. Other funders require delivered meals to be frozen, a model incom patible with CASL’s Senior Meals Program. Others only provide funding for certain meals rather than letting the receiving organiza tion decide the appropriate menus for their clients.

ere is no doubt these funders have good intentions. Any funding toward food insecu rity is welcome. But it helps no one to create barriers by placing unnecessary restrictions on donations.

Fortunately, some funders are beginning to open their wallets for this critical cause. e

nity clinics and federally quali ed health centers. e health care sector should make these interventions more universal by integrating them into routine screening and referral work ows. Health systems must also invest in and train case managers, social workers, peer navigators and community health workers critical to supporting patients a ected by this sadly common social driver of health.

Elected and government o cials must also do more. In late September, the White House hosted its Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. is event was the rst of its kind in more than 50 years. Recommendations included increased access to free school meals; making sure children have access to nutrition when school is out by expanding the Summer Electronic Bene ts Transfer (EBT) program; simpli ed application and recerti cation processes for SNAP and WIC; additional meal supports

U.S. Department of Agriculture, for example, is investing $3.5 million in funding to support Indigenous food sovereignty. e Food Bank of the Rockies received $743,000 to launch its Culturally Responsive Food Initiative pilot program in 2020. e initiative has now distributed 1 million pounds of culturally appropriate food and has expanded to 53 counties.

Locally, Sen. Dick Durbin secured an addi tional $1 million in federal funding earlier this year to double the impact of our Senior Meals Program, which will soon be able to serve

Dr. Monica Peek is an associate professor at the University of Chicago and a board member for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Dr. John Jay Shannon is a principal with the national research and strategy rm Health Management Associ ates, former CEO of Cook County Health and a board member for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Paul Luu is CEO of the Chinese American Service League.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository’s home-delivered meal program.

for older adults; and an expanded child tax credit. We also recommend improvements to SNAP bene t allotments that would ensure bene ts are adequate to a ord a nutritious diet through the whole month.

At the local level, Illinois can join other states piloting medically tailored meal programs to reduce health care costs and improve outcomes for people with chronic health conditions. Illinois can also make progress in school breakfast implementation, in which we currently rank 37th among states. is can be improved by expanding the number of schools operating exible modes of breakfast service.

We live in the wealthiest nation in the world at the wealthiest point in its history. e need among our neighbors is immense, but we are surrounded by opportunities, knowledge and resources. e moment is here to change how we prevent and treat food insecurity.

Teens sow seeds to reshape the food landscape in Austin

The Austin community on Chicago’s West Side has been considered a place of “food apartheid” for decades. e fact is, it has more liquor stores than grocery stores. And the pandemic only made the shortage of fresh food worse.

During the early months of the pandemic, my friends and I wanted to help make a difference. Our after-school club, By e Hand Club For Kids, brought together our community—students, police o cers, professional athletes and our friends at Athletes For Justice— and listened to our ideas for how we could create positive change.

Access to fresh food was a common topic. After some research, we learned our community has only two functional grocery stores, compared to more than 17 liquor stores. Many Austin residents, including myself, had to travel outside of the community for fresh produce, and even then, we were met with prices outside our budgets.

By e Hand had been trying for years to purchase the liquor store directly next to our Austin after-school site on Laramie Avenue. After the owner nally agreed to sell in 2020, we transformed the site into

PRIORITIES

9,000 meals per week, or nearly 500,000 per year. is much-needed funding will also allow us to expand the program to new neighborhoods, including predominantly Black and Brown communities.

Food sovereignty grants people access to basic needs and helps them feel like they belong. It may not be easy or cheap, but funding these initiatives is the right thing to do. CASL asks all funders to look beyond the numbers in spreadsheets and remember the human impact behind their decisions, and we ask our allies to demand the same.

Austin Harvest, a youth-led, mission-driven produce market.

I was 14 years old when Austin Harvest opened, giving my friends and me the privilege to serve the Austin community through fresh, accessible and a ordable produce and owers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In our rst ve months, we sold 16,600 items in over 1,150 transactions, with 20% of our customers purchasing with SNAP bene ts and farmer’s market coupons for seniors.

Austin Harvest is so more than just a produce stand. At its core, it’s an entrepreneurship program, providing a foundation for lifelong learning, curiosity and service. Not only do we sell our produce, but we oversee inventory, ordering, pricing, operations and sta ng within the market itself. We’re learning about what it means to be entrepreneurs and how our work can have a lasting impact on those around us.

Initially Austin Harvest was designed to be a pop-up market lasting only 12 weeks. But despite the cooling weather, customers kept coming, so we stayed open longer. We had to take a hiatus during the winter months, but we continued to receive training from our partners and other successful entrepreneurs on how to improve the

market the following year.

With two successful seasons under our belt, this is just the beginning. In July 2021, we raised more than $650,000 during the “What About Chicago Radiothon” hosted by Danny Parkins and 670 e Score to build a brick-and-mortar location on the former site of our pop-up market. rough the support from thousands of donors, our permanent building will open next spring, allowing us to expand our selection, help more Austin residents and serve as an emergency food distribution site, thanks to state-of-the-art refrigeration units onsite.

rough Austin Harvest, I’m proud to have had such a positive impact on the community. But Austin Harvest has also had a tremendous impact on me. As a senior at Michele Clark High School, I’m making the best grades I’ve ever made and getting a once-in-a-lifetime experience in how to run a successful business. I know that everything I’ve learned will help me as I head o to college next year and, some day, open my own fashion design business.

With the foundation we’ve built, Austin Harvest will continue to be a space of hope and community on Chicago’s West Side for generations to come. It’ll be a landmark on Austin soil, something our community can look back on and look forward to, and a reminder of the power of seeing the city through the eyes of its youngest residents.

Data collection critical to ending hunger

Recent national attention on in ation and the possibility of an economic recession have elevated public concern about food insecurity post-COVID. Not having enough to eat is a fact of daily life for about one in 10 households in the Chicago metro area, according to the U.S. Cen sus Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. In a study I conducted with colleagues at DePaul University, we found rates of household food insecurity across Cook County to be much higher, at about one in four.

Beyond hunger, chronic food insecurity poses real threats to the long-term health of individuals. e American College of Physi cians in 2022 recognized the public health threat that food security presents to chil dren, adults and seniors for a wide range of health issues, including mental health, cardiovascular health and diabetes. Public health research found that food security is associated with other social problems such as violence and housing instability. Pre liminary analysis of our data shows a very strong and signi cant association between food insecurity and depression.

In Chicago, and for the U.S., food inse curity worsened during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Familiar patterns of food insecurity re ect deep-rooted

historical problems of inequality and structural racism faced by predominantly Black and Brown communities. When we map our data in Chicago, we found similar food insecurity hot spots on the North, West and South sides of the city. ese areas of highest food insecurity remain relatively unchanged since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Our data shows some evidence to suggest that, in 2021, parts of northern Cook County and the Far South Side of Chicago started to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19. Household Pulse survey data also show improvements in 2021 for the U.S. and Chicago and suggest levels of food insecurity had returned to pre-COVID levels.

However, gains made in reducing food insecurity in 2021 were eliminat ed in 2022 and raise questions about what we can expect ahead. For exam ple, following the 2007 recession, the proportion of U.S. households experiencing food insecurity approached 15% and did not return to pre-2007 levels until 2019. As uncertain as a recession might be, we do know that for the past 12 months, rates of food insecurity are rising and more people are living with hunger.

to planning responses and understanding trends. e city tracks and reports data through the Chicago Data Portal, but no data are maintained for food insecurity.

e availability of regular, community level data would provide for better allocation of resources and a way to measure progress by the city in alleviating food insecurity. One possibility is to use mobile texting to capture data on a regular basis to assess food insecurity across community areas and to make these data available publicly.

Chicago’s approach to food insecurity has taken a decentralized approach, which has prevented a coordinated vision, clear lead ership and the establishment of a cohesive plan. Most work to alleviate food insecurity is accomplished by the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Northern Illinois Food Bank, both of which are part of the Feeding

CHICAGO HAS TAKEN A DECENTRALIZED APPROACH TO FOOD INSECURITY.

Chicago does not collect food security data at the community level on a regular basis and this kind of information is critical

America network of food banks. is past February, the city formally established a Food Equity Council whose priorities are to improve access to food through food pantries, nutrition programs, urban gardens and food businesses. It is important that the council work quickly to establish measures of food insecurity, develop ways to monitor and set objectives with metrics. Chicago needs a plan for ending hunger by 2030.

John Mazzeo is an associate professor in DePaul University’s Master of Public Health program.

Neveah Hester is a high school senior and one of the founding mem bers of the Austin Harvest Fresh Market on Chica go’s West Side.

ALYSSA SHUKAR FOR THE FOOD DEPOSITORY

Chinese American Service League volunteers pack up meals to be delivered to seniors.

Crain’s talks to CEOs from top hospital systems about the future of business in healthcare. Post-covid management concerns, the talent shortage, legislative rulings and other matters will be addressed. Katherine Davis moderates the discussion featuring leaders from Advocate Aurora, Cook County Hospital, Rush, and the University of Chicago.

Dr. Omar Lateef Rush University System for Health and Rush University Medical Center

Dr. Mark E. Anderson University of Chicago

Israel Rocha, Jr. Cook County Health

Jim Skogsberg Advocate Aurora Health

HERE ARE A FEW OF INFLUENCER TEREASA SURRATT’S FAVORITE THINGS

Now that the holidays are right around the corner, we asked Tereasa Surratt, a vice president at Ogilvy and all-around stylish Chicagoan, to give us an idea of her favorite gifts. With her husband, David Hernandez, Surratt also runs Camp Wandawega in southwest Wisconsin, a retro-hip destination that has its own line of fun gifts (WandawegaCampStore.com).

Red Belly Honey, $79.49

This 2020 Food & Wine magazine pick is infused with CBD by the bees themselves.

Why I love it: Greattasting stuff; plus I’m a sucker for the packaging. And: It’s from a local company.

Who to give it to: Any foodie on your list.

RedBellyHoney.com

Sprout Home Glasses Set, $85

This set of four handblown tall glasses, with a beautiful rippled texture, is perfect for drinks with company.

Why I love them: Every one of these sexy, tall vessels is handmade, so they all end up being a slightly different shape.

Who to give it to: The friend who wants to serve cocktails out of a conversation piece.  SproutHome.com

Lula Olive Oil, $55

For this hand-harvested, cold-pressed olive oil sold at Lula Cafe, the folks at Lula went to the Karabellas family in Greece, which has been making the luscious, deeply verdant oil from organic Athenolia olives since 1880. This oil is best as a rich finishing oil, for salads, and for hearty preparations of meat and seafood. The fancifully illustrated label was inspired by a photograph of the family at a wedding. (Shipping is not available; must pick up at Lula Cafe in Logan Square.)

Why I love it: It’s a family affair, from trees to label illustration. Their olive oil is nothing short of spectacular. Also, I’m predisposed to love and buy everything associated with Lula.

Who to give it to: That design-loving foodie friend who knows their way around olive oils, and those who love supporting local small businesses and craft.

‘The Art of the Bicycle’ at Museum of Science & Industry, $21 with general admission

This exhibit features historic bicycles from the museum’s collection alongside new uber-cool high-tech bikes.

Why I love it: For bike nerds, it’s a chance to see something rare and fascinating.

Who to give it to: The bike lover on your list who likes experiences.

MSIChicago.org

Sparrow for Everyone

The Hair Cream, $36

This hair cream is dermatologist approved and clinically tested to be safe for people with sensitive skin. It’s also free of gluten, artificial dyes and fragrances. From their feel to their smell, Sparrow products are designed to create a subtle, calming sensory experience. Buy at Sparrow Salon in Logan Square and a few other salons in town.

Why I love it: I love how it feels/smells/works/ looks. I have equal love for the Sparrow philos ophy that “we’re all sensitive.”

Who to give it to: The sensitive person on your list you want to feel loved.

SparrowForEveryone.com

TravelWright’s Wright in Wisconsin trip package, $2,895

This new all-inclusive tour from TravelWright Journeys includes a guided tour of Wingspread, the SC Johnson complex in Racine and five other iconic Frank Lloyd Wright creations. It includes a stay at a fine hotel, the best local cuisine and expert Frank Lloyd Wright Trust guides.

Why I love it: The largest concentration of Wright’s work is right here in the Midwest. The special behind-the-scenes access makes this package worth it. (Only a few spots remained at press time.)

Who to give it to: Whoever needs a gift of inspiration. The Franko phile. The architecture and history lover.  TravelWright.org

The Great Workroom at SC Johnson complex.

COURTESY OF SC JOHNSON PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Field Notes  ‘Hatch Show Print’ collaboration, $14.95

The hip Chicago-based notebook company partnered with the historic Hatch Show Print to create these limited-edition Field Notes using Hatch posters as covers. Nash ville’s legendary letterpress print shop was founded by the Hatch brothers in 1879 and remains the heartbeat of classic American poster design.

Why I love it: I’m obsessed with the attention to detail these folks have. It’s a conversation starter and collectible in one—a great stocking stuffer.

Who to give it to: The one who will get that this is an epic (albeit small, as in physi cally small) collaboration. The one who wants to feel cool whipping this out at dinner to jot notes.

FieldNotesBrand.com

From

SPONSORED CONTENT

CHICAGO CULTURAL SHOWCASE EXPERIENCE

The City of Chicago, The Magnificent Mile Association and World Business Chicago present, The Chicago Cultural Showcase, a pop-up experience that helps support local small businesses and promote Chicago’s leading global status through new cultural retail experiences on Michigan Avenue. Enjoy authentic cultural goods from The Argentine Connection at 410 N. Michigan, the Nordic House at 400 N. Michigan, and Colores Mexicanos at 605 N. Michigan, For more information visit WorldBusinessChicago.com/showcase

Misoo Bitter Aperitivo, $28-$29

Misoo bitter, a vibrant and delicious Northern Italian-style bitter, is now available in Chicago. With a beautiful ruby-red color, the liquid boasts notes of rose, citrus, lime leaf and gentian. A round, balanced, delicious and distinct bitter that makes great cocktails even better. See where to get it by following @drinkmissoo on Instagram.

Why I love it: It’s my go-to, norisk gift, ’cause everbody who’s tried it loves this stuff. Also, I’m not afraid to admit that the label makes me swoon.

Who to give it to: The cocktail lover who wants to impress guests or just treat themselves to a world-class, at-home cocktail experience.

DrinkMisoo.com

Tatine Hand Wash & Lotion Duet, $95

This thick liquid soap and cream lotion are scented with the aro ma of resinous pine and infused with orange extracts. Both were developed using an all-natural banana extract preservative. Formulated without parabens or sulfates; made in the U.S. Find it at the Museum of Contem porary Art, Art Effect, Fleur and many other specialty stores (check website for locations).

Why I love it: It’s my person al luxury must-have. Smells like heaven. (Also good for swanking-up the guest bath; the black glass containers are gorgeous.)

Who to give it to: Anyone on your list, from mom to your holiday party hostess to your pet sitter.

TatineCandles.com

left: e Argentine Connection, 410 N. Michigan Ave.; Colores Mexicanos, 605 N. Michigan Ave.; and Nordic House, 400 N. Michigan Ave.

Lori Seidemann Wall Hanging, $325-$550

Seidemann is a self-taught weaver, exploring natural dyes and traditional weaving techniques to create modern textiles.

Why I love it: She creates one-of-a-kind, personal “land portraits” by foraging for plants in your yard to create custom dyes to craft her handwoven wall hangings.

Who to give it to: The textile art lover in your life.

LoriSeidemann.com

‘Confessions of an Advertising Man,’ $18

A new edition of the timeless classic by David Ogilvy, whom The New York Times calls “the creative force of modern advertising.”

Why I love it: I cut my teeth on this book. It’s a must-read for anyone (not just those in the business) who is fascinated by stories of the “Mad Men” era of advertising or is interested in great work-inspiring advice.

Who to give it to: Anyone who misses the TV show.

Finney Wearable Buttons, $8-$22

Each button is unique, crafted from vintage fabrics by artist, collector and interior designer Angela Finney. The former Chicagoan works from her studio in the tiny mountain town of Marshall, N.C.

Why I love it: It’s wearable art. Mix and match them. Throw them on en lieu of jewelry. They make even the most basic black jumpsuit a walking work of art.

Who to give it to: The art lover, fashion lover, style-loving friends on your list. Those who can appreciate that these little gems can be found nowhere else. They are as special as the recipient will feel getting one.

Finney-Finney.com

The Gift of a Good Conscience, $10/week

WasteNot’s residential compost service allows Chicago residents without the time, space or desire to manage a compost bin on their own to use their zero-emissions collections service.

Why I love it: I don’t have time or an iota of mental bandwidth to figure out how to compost in the city, but I crave a way to do my part to pro tect the environment (and lessen guilt a bit, too).

Who to give it to: Anyone like me.

WasteNotCompost.com

construction. Elmhurst, Glen coe, Lakeview, Humboldt Park and many others have seen rapid change in their housing stock in recent years.

As one of the hardest hit, Hinsdale is behind the eight ball more than most and thus is taking the lead on trying to change the dynamic. If it works, the Hinsdale experiment could provide a model for others to follow.

“They’re addressing the tear down trend head on,” said Bon nie McDonald, president and CEO of Landmarks Illinois, a statewide preservationist group.

While other towns offer in dividual incentives, McDonald said, “we’re not aware of anyone offering a suite of incentives, as Hinsdale is doing. They recog nized that what they need to do is offer a carrot, or carrots, to in centivize preservation.”

The attractions of Hinsdale are plentiful. Twenty miles west of downtown Chicago, the town has top-flight schools, a quaint downtown, abundant parks, an easy Metra commute into the city and a smattering of brick streets.

Trouble is, “if you come out here for all of that ambiance, you might not feel like spending four or five years rehabbing the old er home you bought,” said John Bohnen, head of Hinsdale’s His toric Preservation Commission. “Buying a new one is more effi cient.”

Still, Bohnen disagrees with the mindset. A Hinsdale resi dent since early childhood, he runs the County Line Properties real estate agency with his wife, Penny. They’ve lived in the same house for nearly five decades and, he says, “we’ve been reno vating it all that time. We’re al most done.”

Even with all the work, the Bohnens’ house on First Street still doesn’t have a family room off the kitchen, a standard of modern living. That’s just the sort of addition that Hinsdale’s tight restrictions on floor area ratio, or FAR, setbacks and bulk often impede.

“So let’s give you that possi bility,” Bohnen says. “Let’s give you some leeway on that to en courage you to keep that older house.”

INCENTIVES

Also in the package of incen tives are some permit fee waiv ers, faster zoning approvals, matching grants from the village for some project costs, and a five-year property tax rebate for spending at least $50,000 on cer tain types of exterior work.

Yet skeptics doubt the program will tilt the economics against teardowns.

“They’re nice incentives and they send a message, but they’re not going to change the equa tion” and make preservation as cost-effective as building new, says Rob Miller. In 2013, Miller and his wife, Amanda, bought a run-down Prairie-style mansion in Hinsdale that might otherwise

have been demolished and put it through a multimillion-dollar rehab.

Ready to move back into the city once their kids were grown, the Millers sold the five-bed room on Third Street designed in 1908 by E.E. Roberts, for $4 million in March. Rob Miller says that represented a loss of more than $1 million from their total cost to buy and rehab the house.

‘POSTER CHILD’

Hinsdale has been grappling with teardowns for decades.

Since 1986, at least 2,215 hous es have been demolished in the town, according to local records. That’s 40% of the estimated 5,500 houses in Hinsdale, according to community development chief Rob McGinnis.

“We’ve been the poster child for teardowns,” Bohnen says.

And while preservation is an admirable goal, “it’s not going to trump people’s property rights in Hinsdale,” McGinnis says. At municipal meetings about tear downs, a common refrain is, “this is my biggest investment,” McGinnis says. “Who is the vil lage to dictate winners and los ers?”

Thus was born the notion of a voluntary overlay district. For homes that meet the require ments and get listed, a docu ment attached to their deed will indicate they are entitled to the benefits of the preservation pro gram.

Bethany Salmon, Hinsdale’s village planner, said that when word went out this summer that the village was compiling this

list, “my phone lit up with appli cants calling.”

In the first month, about 35 homeowners have applied to be on the list, Salmon says, and her department is reaching out to the owners of about 100 houses that are likely to meet the crite ria. “We know there are more that will be eligible,” Salmon says, predicting the list will grow in the future.

Hinsdale is trying to walk a fine line: discouraging tear downs without shutting them down. Buyers will still be able to pay $3 million for a century-old, 8,100-square-foot mansion—as one builder did in 2019—to tear it down and put up something twice its size.

Safina Uberoi calls the new homes “saplings,” no matter their size.

In September 2021, Uberoi and her husband, Lukas Rueck er, paid $1.3 million for a house on County Line Road that Frank Lloyd Wright designed very ear ly in his career. The house was in subpar condition and priced at about the value of the land, causing preservationists to wor ry that it would be demolished, adding to the year’s total of 35 teardowns.

Uberoi and Ruecker, who were rehabbing a Wright house they own in Cincinnati, couldn’t bear to see a Wright house lost.

Taking an old house down, “is like cutting down a 100-year-old tree,” Uberoi said. “You can’t get it back. You can plant a sapling there, but you will have changed what makes Hinsdale so beauti ful, and you will want it back.”

Mondelez CEO is chasing bigger acquisitions

pale beside the massive, "transformational" mergers favored by predecessor Irene Rosenfeld, such as the $19.5 billion Cadbury acquisition and her failed bid for Hershey.

Smaller deals advance tactical objectives and come with lower risks than large mergers. But they produce relatively little short-term growth for a company the size of Chicago-based Mondelez, which posted $28.7 billion in revenue last year.

“Each of these deals is incredibly tiny relative to their overall scope,” says Morningstar analyst Erin Lash, who estimates Van de Put’s nine acquisitions have added about $3 billion in annual revenue. “These deals aren't necessarily moving the needle.”

It’s not clear if the larger deals Mondelez struck this year signal Van de Put is now looking for acquisitions that will add more revenue. The company declined an interview request, citing the quiet period ahead of its third-quarter earnings release.

Van de Put said during the company’s latest earnings call that Mondelez continues to advance its strategy of “strengthening our leadership in core categories through our acquisition and divestment approach.”

DISCIPLINED APPROACH

The recent acquisitions "are just the latest steps in our ongoing commitment to accelerate focus on our core categories, filling geographical white spaces, expanding our presence in high-growth channels and

growing our presence in key segments and price tiers,” he said. “We’re confident that this focus will allow us to drive sustained growth accretive to our algorithm across the portfolio.”

With acquisitions, more upside also means more potential downside. Absorbing the operations of a larger company is complicated and full of pitfalls. And overpaying for a multibillion-dollar deal is far more painful than paying too much for a smaller company, as Deerfield-based Baxter International just learned. The medical products company last month announced a $3 billion writeoff related to the $10.5 billion purchase of hospital supplier Hillrom, its biggest acquisition ever.

So far, Van de Put has avoided risks on that scale. With an acquisition strategy Lash calls “selective,” he targets companies that fill in gaps for Mondelez, either geographically or in its product portfolio. Ricolino got Mondelez into the Mexican candy market, for example. The $284 million acquisition of Perfect Snacks in 2019 and the Clif Bar acquisition took it deeper into the fast-growing protein bar market.

The so-called bolt-on strategy "is a well-worn one,” says Brian Jacobsen, managing partner of West Monroe Capital.

“There’s less risk than your true, transformational acquisitions because these are smaller companies you can absorb. And by the way, if they don’t work out, you haven't bet the company on it,” Jacobsen says. “As long as you’re disciplined and you don't overpay for those ac-

quisitions, it’s (a strategy) that should hopefully work out really well.”

Assessing how well Van de Put’s dealmaking has worked out so far is difficult. Mondelez isn’t required to break out the results of smaller acquisitions in its Securities & Exchange Commission filings.

MIDDLING RESULTS

A look at companywide performance metrics shows middling results for Mondelez under Van de Put. Return on invested capital, a yardstick that measures the performance of a company’s investments, including acquisitions, has averaged 8.2% during his tenure, good for fouth place in a group of seven large packaged-food companies that also sell snacks. Mondelez’s 2.7% average annual revenue growth ranked fifth in the same group.

Shareholders also have seen middle-of-the-pack gains since Van de Put took over. As of Nov. 9, Mondelez stock had climbed 57.4% to $63.39 during his tenure, ranking fourth in the group.

The costs associated with searching for acquisition candidates can be higher when there are more deals, as can the costs of integrating companies into your own, says Greg Mark, a DePaul University professor who teaches corporate law and finance. There's also a risk of overpaying, particularly if the quality of an acquired product is diluted and customers are driven away.

“What you think is going to be your market turns out not to be your market,” he says.

VAN DE PUT’S DEALS

Clif Bar Chipita Global Ricolino Give & Go Tate’s Bake Shop Gourmet Food Perfect Snacks

MONDELEZ PERFORMANCE

STOCK PRICE

Trump hotel may dodge a big tax hike as county panel slashes assessed value

in the Board of Review, which has granted major reductions in Kaegi’s assessments over the past few years, sparing them from big tax increases. is year is no exception.

e process for the Trump Tower Chicago t the pattern. Last year, Kaegi’s o ce initially valued the 339-room luxury hotel in the Trump International Hotel & Tower at $168.2 million, up from $58.1 million in 2020, according to county records. e hotel’s attorneys appealed the assessment with Kaegi’s o ce, which lowered the property’s value to $105.1 million.

Unsatis ed with that outcome, the attorneys then appealed to the Board of Review, which reduced the value further, to $73 million, or about $215,000 a room. at value will be used to calculate the hotel’s nal 2022 tax bill, which should come out in the next few weeks.

e hotel’s property taxes could still rise from 2021 because the board’s estimate represents a nearly 26% increase from the property’s prior value of $58.1

million. But the tax hit would be much bigger without the panel’s intervention.

It’s hard to estimate where the hotel’s taxes will settle as a result of the board’s reduction; too many other variables go into the tax calculation even to guess. e hotel’s property taxes totaled $3.2 million in 2020.

LAGGING PERFORMANCE

It’s also unclear if the Trump Organization will take the process further and le yet another appeal with the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, a step the company has taken in the past. One of the hotel’s attorneys, Patrick McNerney of Mayer Brown, declined to comment. Trump Organization representatives did not respond to an email.

Kaegi defended the process his o ce used to estimate the Trump property’s value.

e valuation is “consistent with market data and the value of similar property in the area,” he said in a statement. “Our publicly available data and third-party sources show the methodology we use to assess at market value

means our work is more accurate and fair than before. For large commercial properties like this to seek appeal after appeal to lower their assessments only serves to put more tax burden on residents and small businesses. I’ll continue to speak out about these practices, which create inequity in the property tax system and need to be reformed.”

Whatever it’s worth today, the Trump hotel can’t be worth as much as it was several years ago. e hotel’s performance has lagged its competitors’ ever since Trump made his famous trip down the escalator to announce his presidential campaign in 2015. e hotel’s revenue fell 30% from 2015 to 2018, and one profit measure plunged 89% over the same period, according to nancial documents led with the assessor’s o ce.

Trump’s Chicago skyscraper, at 401 N. Wabash Ave., also includes residential condos, which are owned separately, and commercial space at the base of the building, which is owned by a Trump venture. When he developed the project, he planned to sell o all

339 hotel rooms as condominiums, but sales stalled during the nancial crisis and he retained ownership of about 175 rooms.

e Board of Review used two primary methods to value the Trump hotel, said William O’Shields, chief deputy commissioner at the board. It estimated the property’s income based on market data and extrapolated a value based that estimate. e board also analyzed recent sales of hotel rooms in the building to come up with a value for the entire hotel. Both methods resulted in a value of about $73 million, O’Shields said.

UNIQUE METRICS

Sale prices of rooms in the hotel vary because some units are bigger than others, but eight rooms have sold this year from $205,000 to $700,000, according to Red n. Ten rooms sold last year for $125,000 to $715,000, Red n data show.

Sale prices, however, aren’t a perfect measure because they typically include beds and other furniture and xtures in a room.

e county’s per-room estimate should generally be lower be-

cause it values just the room itself for assessment purposes.

e Board of Review also looks at recent sales of peer hotels for its assessment process, but that wasn’t a useful method for the Trump property because so few luxury hotels have changed hands since 2020, O’Shields said. e pandemic has depressed hotel values generally.

“None of the hotels have recovered to their pre-pandemic performance,” O’Shields said.

e Trump Organization also appealed the 2021 assessed value of the building’s commercial space, which has been largely vacant since the building opened in 2008. Kaegi’s o ce valued the 74,000-square-foot space at $21 million, but the Board of Review recently knocked its value down 19%, to $17.1 million, according to the assessor’s o ce.

Still, that’s up nearly 37% from the property’s prior value, so it’s possible, if not likely, that its tax bill could increase this year. Property taxes for the commercial space totaled $698,399 in 2021, according to the Cook County treasurer.

TRUMP HOTEL from Page 3

Feds urged not to ‘waste’ vintage State Street buildings

Four early 20th-century buildings that the federal government wants to demolish should be saved and rehabbed, commenters at a recent hearing argued

BY DENNIS RODKIN

Tearing down a pair of early 20th-century towers and their neighbors on State Street would be a waste of money, natural resources and the city’s architectural heritage, speakers at a federal hearing on Nov. 10.

e hearing was the start of the General Services Adminis tration’s public engagement pro cess for its proposed demolition of a row of four buildings, the 16-story Century Building, the 22-story Consumers Building and two low-rises between them. Ear lier this year, Congress allocated $52 million for demolition of the strip, from 202 to 220 S. State St. e move is designed to reduce security risks for the Everett Dirk sen U.S. Courthouse immediately to the west.

About a dozen architects, pres ervationists and others all urged the GSA to back o the demolition plan. No commenters at the hear ing stood up for demolition.

Demolishing the buildings would be “a waste and a bad decision,” said Keith Giles, a veteran Chicago de veloper who was a partner in a $141 million residential redevelopment

project for the buildings before Chicago o cials halted the plan in 2019 because of the federal govern ment’s security concerns.

“I respect and understand the importance of security, particu larly in today’s world,” Giles said. “However, eliminating these build ings and creating a large empty plaza with a few security guards will be a mistake if it happens.”

e two tallest towers have archi tectural merit that several speakers said they don’t want to see squan dered, but just as important, sever al said, is that the four be put back into use generating economic ac tivity on State Street.

e buildings have been large ly empty and unused since about 2005, when the GSA bought them in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a 2004 threat of a truck bomb terrorizing the Dirksen building. At the time, fed eral o cials planned to build as much as 1.5 million square feet of new government o ce space on the site that would provide a safety bu er for the courthouse.

Since then, the feds’ “need for space has decreased, but the need for additional security for our court house has only increased,” Rebecca

Pallmeyer, chief U.S. district judge of the Northern District of Illinois, said at the Nov. 10 meeting. Pallmeyer chairs the building safety and secu rity committee.

Analyses by the U.S. Marshals Ser vice, the FBI, a private security rm and others have all determined that the State Street buildings could har bor a threat, Pallmeyer said.

“No one in this hearing would suggest we do not care about peo ple who work in our federal justice system,” Mary Lu Seidel, commu nity engagement director for Pres ervation Chicago, a historic-build ings activist group, said in the meeting. “However, if demolition of two tall buildings (next door) is the appropriate response when an arsenal of 21st-century weapons have a range of 2,000 feet,” numer ous other buildings would also have to go at some point.

Demolition would come at a cost to the environment, said Lena Guer rero Reynolds, who works at the En vironmental Law & Policy Center.

“We’re in the midst of a climate crisis that calls us to reduce waste in every way we can,” Guerre ro Reynolds said. In demolition, “we’d throw perfectly good ma sonry work in the dump, wasting

the energy that was used to make them,” she said. Keeping the build ings standing would preserve that embodied energy and ward o the heat island e ect that an open, paved plaza would add to the site.

Renovation is one of the possibil ities, the GSA noted in its introduc tory slide show on Nov. 10, but it would come with a set of 15 stipula tions aimed at helping with security.

Among them are no residential use of the buildings, no occupants with sight lines into the Dirksen or other federal properties, and no parking in or next to the buildings.

In May, a coalition of archives proposed a plan they believe meets all the stipulations. Filling

the building with several private archives would limit the number of people using the buildings and allow for extra security measures that might feel burdensome to more bustling users.

At the meeting, the GSA laid out a timeline for the engagement pro cess that will last two years before a nal decision is made. e four buildings, which have sat unused for almost 17 years, will remain in limbo during that time.

“It’s tragic that the buildings will stand another two years vacant and with few repairs, when there are viable reuse options,” said Ward Miller, Preservation Chica go’s executive director.

The Consumers Building, left, at 220 S. State St., and the Century Building, at 202 S. State St. ERIC ALLIX ROGERS

Look inside a unique house on Printer’s

An architect designed the house with a second-story swimming pool and a south-facing checkerboard sunscreen for his family. It’s for sale at $5.95 million. I

On a Printer’s Row site where a mid-rise tower could have been built, an architect and his spouse in stead designed a unique and stylish house, with a ribbon-like staircase rising up through four sto ries, a checkerboard sunscreen across the south, and an outdoor pool on the second oor.

Now planning to build another project for their fami ly of four, the couple put the building, which includes a street-level retail space occupied by a market, up for sale Nov. 2 at $5.95 million. Tim Salm, a Jameson Sotheby’s In ternational Realty agent, is representing the property.

Chris Talsma, a principal in the Chicago architecture rm Filoramo Talsma, and his wife, Sara Talsma, designed the house for a slender lot at Dearborn and Polk streets and completed it in 2019.

Because Printer’s Row, the couple’s favorite neighbor hood, is quite dense, “we emphasized creating outdoor space,” Chris Talsma said. at’s primarily on the second oor, where living spaces open onto a 2,000-square-foot terrace that spans the south side of the building and is wrapped by a brick wall whose large openings look like windows from the street. More outdoor space is one ight up, o the primary bedroom.

e home, which was pro led by Architectural Record, a benchmark of excellence in the eld, is on the build ing’s second through fourth oors. On the rst oor are parking and an entrance for the residence, as well as the 2,000-square-foot retail space. at space, occupied by Totto’s Market since 2019 and generating rental income for the homeowners, is included in the asking price for the building.

BY DENNIS RODKIN

PHOTOS BY ANDREW MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY

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