CHICAGO BOOTH INSIGHTS: Weighing the complications of going nonprofit. PAGE 9
THE TAKEAWAY: Meet Mayer Brown’s new Chicago leader. PAGE 3
CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM | SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 | $3.50
Kaegi targets commercial property again North Suburban landlords get more bad news as a new round of reassessments begins BY ALBY GALLUN
2022
Fritz Kaegi JOHN R. BOEHM
In his first three years as Cook County assessor, Fritz Kaegi angered commercial landlords by hiking their assessments—a lot. They’re not going to be much happier with him in year four. Kaegi’s office has been delivering unwelcome news to owners of many commercial properties in the northern and northwestern suburbs this year. He’s raising their assessments again, fueling fears of more property tax hikes in 2023 and preserving his persona non grata status among many in the Chicago business community who say he’s driving away investors and killing the local economy. Kaegi has reassessed nine of
the 13 townships in northern Cook County this year. The total assessed value of all nonresidential properties in the nine townships rose 43.4% from 2021, versus a 32.4% increase for homeowners, according to a preliminary analysis of data from the See KAEGI on Page 37
Northern Illinois faces a power plant gap Report says the area will need electricity from elsewhere as Pritzker shuts coal- and gas-fired generators BY STEVE DANIELS
THE PANDEMIC APPEARS TO HAVE PERMANENTLY ALTERED the way we work, and this year’s top places to work reflect those changes. Once again this year, Crain’s partnered with Best Companies Group to survey employees and identify the 100 Best Places to Work. I PAGE 17
The elimination of carbonemitting power plants in Illinois over the next 20 years will leave the Chicago area without enough generating capacity to meet its needs, forcing the region to import electricity from other states for the first time in modern memory. That’s the conclusion of a new report by PJM Interconnection, the power-grid manager for a
multistate region from northern Illinois to the mid-Atlantic. PJM blames the closing of fossil fuel plants—which to date has been driven by poor economics but soon will be mandated by the state’s year-old Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, or CEJA—for a projected capacity gap that will force the area to look elsewhere for power by 2030 at the latest. See POWER on Page 37
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CRAIN’S LISTS
FINANCE
See what execs at area nonprofits are pulling down. PAGES 14-15
‘Slow and steady’ isn’t winning the race at Ariel right now. PAGE 3
James Delany
John Rogers Jr.
9/16/22 3:22 PM