UI Labs will construct a $16.5 million hub for advanced manufacturing on Goose Island through a financial plan approved today by City Council.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) assistance up to $10 million will be allocated for tenant improvements within a 360,000-square-foot building at 1333 N. Hickory St., where UI Labs will create a laboratory to develop, demonstrate, and deploy digital technologies across key manufacturing industries.

The nearly 100,000-square-foot build-out will create flexible, programmable space for UI Labs’ Digital Manufacturing Design Innovation Institute. The lab will be staffed initially by 20 people. A state grant will finance the remainder of the initial improvement costs.

UI Labs is a not-for-profit research, training, and commercialization center that brings together businesses and institutions to pair cutting-edge industrial research with commercial applications. It recently secured a $70 million grant from the federal government and approximately $250 million in cooperative agreements from private organizations.

Along with the Department of Planning and Development and World Business Chicago, UI Labs co-hosted three public forums earlier this year to introduce Chicago-based, small-and medium-sized manufacturers to laboratory resources, including advanced manufacturing techniques, product testing, digitized supply chains, and various forms of data sharing.

The work could be completed early next year.

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