Developer cuts ribbon on start of industrial park that will bring 1,400 jobs to former Republic Steel mill | Northwest Indiana Business Headlines

NorthPoint just completed the first 360,000-square-foot building on a 32-acre site at 12144 S. Avenue O. Republic Steel, which also had a mill in East Chicago, long operated a steel mill there before it was acquired by LTV in 1984 and shuttered for good less than two decades later.

“NorthPoint believes in Chicago, the state of Illinois, its people and communities,” NorthPoint Founder and CEO Nathaniel Hagedorn said. “When we started this project, we saw the potential of the city and the Southeast Side. Commerce Park Chicago represents the best in public-private projects and shows the value of what we can accomplish by working together.”

Ford will lease the first building to support manufacturing operations at its nearby automotive factory on Torrence Avenue and East 130th Street, just south of the Calumet River. 

“Ford is proud of its nearly 100-year history of vehicle production in the city of Chicago,” said Tony Reinhart, regional director of community and government affairs at Ford. “Ford’s continued commitment to the city of Chicago is evident by our recent billion-dollar investment in our Chicagoland plants and the fact that we build some of our most iconic American vehicles, including the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, here on the South Side.”

Gallery: U.S. Steel’s long history in the Region