TECHNOLOGY: Industrial companies swarm U of I to woo budding coders. PAGE 3
GREG HINZ: Retiring lawmaker Harris leaves behind admirers. PAGE2
CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 9, 2023 | $3.50
HOW WILL ILLINOIS SPEND ITS
OPIOID SETTLEMENT WINDFALL? The state gets nearly $800 million from drug companies, with more on the way. It’s a rare opportunity to reduce addiction and save lives, if officials spend the money wisely. I BY KATHERINE DAVIS
Fulton Market’s
congestion conundrum
It’s hard to get around Chicago’s hottest neighborhood. But some worry more infrastructure would kill the vibe. I BY DANNY ECKER
ditional funds from more recent settlements with pharmacy companies CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Walmart. As the settlement money is dispersed over the next 18 years, Illinois will get the most cash it’s received yet to address the opioid crisis, which is still killing thousands of Illinoisans every year. The funding gives Illinois a unique opportunity to make meaningful progress on the issue. But if state officials waste or
BIG BUILDINGS ARE MAKING THE TRENDY Fulton Market District look a lot more like downtown. Now city officials must decide whether the neighborhood needs Loop-like infrastructure to support its growth. Developers last month formally proposed new projects in the once-gritty corridor totaling as many as 2,100 new apartments—including a 52-story high-rise—and nearly 1.4 million square feet of offices across two new, large buildings. Others that developers Related Midwest and Cedar Street will present to planning officials this week would add a 41-story, 1 million-square-foot office tower and a 28-story apartment building to the mix. The wave of plans shines perhaps the biggest spotlight yet on longstanding questions about whether the district’s narrow streets—which were meant for wholesale meat push carts, not commuters—as well as its lone CTA train station and sparse parking options are adequate to maintain the See FULTON MARKET on Page 21
GETTY IMAGES
See SETTLEMENT on Page 6
DANNY ECKER
ILLINOIS IS SET TO COLLECT ABOUT $760 MILLION from some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors over their role in the devastating opioid crisis, an influx of cash that will likely spark debates over how and where to spend it in years to come. Like most other states, Illinois landed a slice of the $26 billion opioid settlement agreement made early last year with drug manufacturers and distributors, including Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health. Illinois could also receive ad-
A new office building at 360 N. Green St. and a Guinness pub under construction in the Fulton Market District.
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JOE CAHILL
THE TAKEAWAY
A new attempt at regional collaboration on growth. PAGE 3
For Marissa Lynn Ford, theater has always been in her blood. PAGE 7
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