Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced that Meade will be consolidating its operations, bringing approximately 2,000 people into and around Chicago. The announcement coincides with a $13.7 million project to rehabilitate a formerly vacant 178,000-square-foot industrial building and outdoor storage areas for Meade’s personnel and equipment at 6850 West 62nd Street.

“I am pleased that Meade, a Chicago-born company is coming home,” said Mayor Emanuel. “It is a testament to the strength of our manufacturing community and the desire of businesses like Meade to put their faith and investment in Chicago that we can say that our efforts to revitalize an industry once in decline are starting to pay off.”

Family-owned Meade installs and maintains electrical, gas and telecommunications equipment for utility companies and local, state and federal agencies. Originally founded in Chicago in 1908, the company had been operating out of a 68,000-square-foot facility in McCook, Illinois. Its staff of nearly 2,000 field workers comes from 100 separate unions, including electricians, pipefitters, engineers, steamfitters and bricklayers. Once complete, Meade estimates that roughly 250 trucks will go through the facility each day.

The company is the 28th to locate its headquarters to Chicago since Mayor Emanuel took office in 2011 and the seventh to select a site outside of the central business district. To assist with the move, Meade is receiving a class 6(b) tax credit that will go towards the renovation of its new 10-acre facility located in the Harlem Industrial Corridor.

“Meade is thrilled to announce that it is returning to the City of Chicago, the place where our business began in its infancy, back in 1908,” said CEO Frank Lizzadro. “Our new national headquarters allows us to meet our business needs, affords us the ability to better service both public and private sector business in and around the city and our union skilled workforce and equipment to compete more effectively anywhere in the country. We are excited to join the vast number of businesses that have chosen Chicago’s thriving business community as the home for their corporate headquarters.”

Companies such as Meade are drawn to the city in large part due to its diverse talent pool and central location that allows for easy access to airports and infrastructure. In 2013, Meade worked on projects in 30 states and having access to national transportation routes and airports are critical to its remaining competitive.

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