Innovation Pavilion Lands New City Deal

On Monday July 17, the city council of Joliet met with IP Founder and CEO Vic Ahmed for a question and answer session on what IP can bring to the suburban city. IP was met with unanimous enthusiasm by the council, ushering an air of excitement for both IP’s expansion efforts as well as a bright future for the economic development for Joliet. “This is a very cutting edge project,” said Economic Development Director Steve Jones, “this is like a big exclamation point downtown.” 

The city officials are enthusiastic about the promise to attract young talent to the ring city and its outlying areas. New ideas and business development has been much anticipated by the city.  “That’s exactly what these funds are set up for,” said Councilman Larry Hug, chairman of the Economic Development Committee, “to stimulate economic development and growth.” 

The council voted 7-0 in favor of the development agreement on Tuesday July 18. The downtown Joliet project, which would encompass 100,000 square-feet to 200,000 square-feet of corporate offices, coworking space, events center, retail shops and millennial-oriented housing, would take three to five years to accomplish. The project will also include a STEM school, 21st Century Library and maker’s space. “This is an exciting new chapter for IP,” said Ahmed, “it’s truly inspiring to think about the possibilities attainable in Joliet.”