Opportunity
Innovation
DeKalb
Vision Statement: “DeKalb will be recognized for its commitment
to economic and environmental sustainability, its variety of
cultural and entertainment opportunities, its regional
leadership in educational and medical resources that welcomes
the development of synergistic business enterprises.”
For more than a century, DeKalb was essentially a self-contained
rural community well removed from Chicago and its suburbs with
an economy based on manufacturing and agribusiness. Today,
DeKalb is a community in transition. It is the host community to
Northern Illinois University (NIU) which is home to 25,000
students and 4,000 faculty and staff. The City of DeKalb has
become a major center for warehousing and distribution
operations, retailing, health care and professional services.
The City of DeKalb and surrounding trade area continues to
expand as new residents move farther west of the Chicago area in
an effort to find quality affordable housing in a
congestion-free community with a premium quality of life.
DeKalb seeks to take advantage of these trends and has embarked
on an effort to revitalize the historic downtown area through
public investment and by promoting mixed use development. It has
identified the I-88 interchange at Annie Glidden Road as a
preferred location for the hospitality industry and retail that
caters to a youthful population. This newly completed boulevard
is the main entrance to NIU and its 10,000 seat sports
arena/Convocation Center. The City has celebrated recent success
with the completion of a new $102 million dollar, state of the
art hospital, approval of a $110 million dollar school
referendum, and major improvements at the DeKalb Taylor
Municipal Airport which will allow it to become a “Reliever
Status” airport.
We invite you to come grow with us.
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