Now, uniforms will be made there, as Aramark Uniform and Career Apparel has announced plans to build a $23-million, 125,000-sf plant and warehouse facility on the old Amphitheater site. Aramark, largest manufacturer and supplier of uniforms and career apparel in Chicago, gets the land for $1 from the city, which also has agreed to pay an estimated $940,000 for removing the old building foundations. The company would be responsible for up to $500,000 worth of environmental remediation. Aramark will also seek Cook County Class 6(b) property tax incentive, which will lower its property tax assessment rate from 36% to 16% during a 12-year period.

The city's package helped sway the uniform maker away from sites in Rockford, IL and Racine, WI. For the city, it means keeping 238 unionized jobs paying around $10 an hour in the city, plus an additional 92 jobs to be created. "Companies know they have access to an enormous number of highly skilled and professional employees in the Chicago area," Daley said. "And as far as I'm concerned, Chicago's quality of life is our most important economic development tool."

However, the project will result in industrial space becoming available three miles away and in west suburban Hinsdale. The company's current plant and warehouse, a five-story, 100,000-sf building at 2334 S. Michigan Ave. is considered functionally obsolete. Aramark officials also have decided to consolidate its operations at the new plant.