2018 November Issue

By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    After years of watching little interest being shown in University Park, SIUE officials are actively moving on a plan to lure new tenants.    This summer, University Park signed a contract with Balke Brown Transwestern to market the technology and business park property, Vice Chancellor Rich Walker said.    The park will be 25…

Science, ag, development see chemistry in partnership By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    A first-time grant is creating an unusual intersection of education, agriculture and science, and in the center of it, supporters hope, will be economic development.    The three-year, $680,000 grant was awarded by the United States Department of Agriculture to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, in partnership…

Couple’s mobile escape room takes growing trend on the road By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    Some businessmen don’t have a clue. Ray and Cami Perkins have a 32-foot trailer full of them.    In an age when escape room businesses are seemingly opening in storefronts in every town around, the O’Fallon, Ill., couple are an enigma inside a…

By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    A number of McDonald’s restaurants in the Metro East area are among thousands across the country that have or soon will be transforming their locations for the next generation of fast food connoisseurs.    About $317 million is being reinvested in Illinois, affecting a little over 400 restaurants.    It’s all aimed at improving…

Yes. Data belies the concerns that companies can’t succeed in the state By MARK PETERSON    With the world’s 17th largest economy, Illinois is the undisputed economic leader of the Midwest. In 2017, new and expanding companies invested $5.3 billion in the state of Illinois, creating more than 26,000 new jobs, including 551 new projects in…

No. The state’s business environment is a victim of self-sabotaging By BRYCE HILL    Illinois offers many natural advantages for businesses to thrive. The Chicago metropolitan area provides access to one of the largest marketplaces in North America, with the ability to easily distribute goods both domestically and internationally. Downstate Illinois serves as one of the…

        IBJ: Were you surprised by the vote in August against Right to Work in Missouri?     Bond: I didn’t expect to win that big. I was hoping we could win by 20 percent and kind of cut the head off that snake but we actually won by 34 percentage points. We only lost a…

    The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Metro East Startup Challenge, a regional business plan competition, has announced its three cash prize winners, with Waterloo-based VAST Produce earning first place and the grand prize of $10,000.    Beastman Tea, LLC, founded by Bradford Eastman, won the $6,000 second-place prize.  Eli Ball grabbed the $4,000 third-place award for…