Rockford Sun

Facebook has plans to build a new $800 million, 907,000-square-foot data center just south of the Chicago West Business Center in DeKalb.

Illinois state Reps. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) and Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) released a statement saying the project will support 1,200 construction jobs as well as 100 high-paying data-center jobs once the facility is complete. 

"The data center will boost our local economy and transform DeKalb into a leading telecommunications hub," the joint statement reads. "We have both said that creating jobs is one of our top priorities. As part of the bipartisan capital bill approved by the General Assembly last year, we were able to enact pro-business reforms that have laid the groundwork for thousands of new jobs in our region for years to come." 

Illinois state Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) | repkeicher.com

Several reforms have been instrumental in ushering in a pro-business environment. The Blue Collar Jobs Act offers tax incentives to companies making significant capital improvements in Illinois based on the withholding tax paid to construction workers. The Manufacturer's Purchase Credit was reinstated, encouraging further investment in manufacturing in the state. The Franchise Tax was eliminated and a new Data Center Tax Incentive was instituted. 

"Passage of these pro-business reforms made it possible for DeKalb to land Facebook’s new data center, and the capital bill secured the funding necessary to prepare the site for such a large investment," the statement reads. “We would like to recognize and thank Paul Borek, executive director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation, DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas and Mayor Jerry Smith for all of their combined efforts and support to showcase DeKalb as the ideal location for the jobs and opportunity that will be brought by Facebook’s decision to invest in our community. We’d also like to thank Gov. (J.B.) Pritzker for supporting these critical reforms and the staff at the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for their assistance in securing these  investments.”