The Chicago Community Development Commission (CDC) today recommended that the City Council grant the City’s Department of Community Development (CDC) approval to enter into a negotiated sale with A. Finkl and Sons to sell six vacant City-owned parcels necessary to complete Finkl’s proposed campus at 1355 E. 93rd in the Burnside Community Area. 

“A. Finkl and Sons has outgrown its Southport Avenue campus and needs to move to a state-of-the-art facility to expand and modernize its operations,” said Acting DCD Commissioner Chris Raguso. “Although Finkl wants to remain in Chicago, the company explored other less costly options, including a move to Canada where it currently owns land. We are thrilled that this iconic Chicago company is going to continue to call Chicago home after 130 years.

The appraised market value of the six parcels is $934,500. The City has agreed to sell the land to Finkl for $1. The overall project cost is $150 million. These parcels represent a small part of the overall project, which consists largely of the rehabilitation of the 500,000 square foot facility at 1355 E. 93rd Street that Finkl already owns.  The project is estimated to retain 300 permanent jobs in the steel industry and to create another 300 temporary construction jobs. 

The six City-owned parcels are necessary for open space buffering and stormwater detention (four parcels); the Norfolk Southern Railroad rail line will be moved to the east by approximately 30 to 90 feet (one parcel) and material storage (one parcel).  The overall site is approximately 44 acres in size.

The 93rd Street site will be improved with significant additional landscaping, parking capacity enhancements and internal building access/connection improvements. The entire campus, including the area near the relocated rail line, will be landscaped to provide buffers between the new plant and the nearby residential area.

A. Finkl & Sons Co. was founded in 1879 and moved to its present location at 2011 N. Southport Avenue in 1902. Finkl is the world’s leading supplier of forging die steels, plastic mold steels, die casting tool steels and custom open-die forgings, processing 100,000 tons of steel each year. With more than 100 patents to its credit, Finkl’s steel formulations and steelmaking technologies set worldwide standards.