Although that population includes 13,000 students and recruits preparing to ship out to various ports, the base has a military payroll of $275 million while the civilian work force there adds another $134 million to the area economy. "The decrease in the military population of Great Lakes may have an impact on the amount of federal tax dollars received by the City of North Chicago, such as school impact aid, motor fuel tax and census revenue," Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. says.

However, fewer workers at what still will be the city's largest employer—Abbott Laboratories employs 7,000--could mean less traffic at the 20,000-sf Grant Place shopping center being built by Five Points Development Corp. at 18th Street and Sheridan Road. Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT is marketing space there at $14 per sf. Also, the city council late last year approved a $10-million bond sale to buy up 32 acres at Sheridan Road and Martin Luther King Drive, across from an entrance to Great Lakes. It also hired McShane Corp./Bulls Development Corp. to plan, develop, lease and sell space in the mixed-use retail and commercial development that will be known as Sheridan Crossings.

"Thanks to the efforts of the state, the congressional delegation and the local community, we have a very strong argument that the Great Lakes Training Center has tremendous military value and we will aggressively advocate for the retention of these jobs and the instrumental services they provide our nation," Gov. Rod Blagojevich says.