The proposed planned manufacturing district has won the support of 22 of the 34 businesses operating in it, according to Nora Curry of the Department of Planning and Development, with seven objecting. The 34 businesses employ 900, according to the department, which notes jobs created by industrial users pay "living wages."

Those supporting the measure at two public meetings said in addition to more traffic from retail development, the city's North Side already lacks modern industrial buildings. Land costs are relatively high on the North Side, Curry notes, and the vacancy rate in the proposed district is a "very low" 6%.

The planned manufacturing district, which would be the city's 14th, was recently endorsed by the plan commission. However, the Kennedy planned manufacturing district would have the lowest floor-area ratio, at 1.5. In the Chicago/Halsted Corridor, five to seven sf can be built on a square foot of property.