Quantum computer campus will be 'game changer' for SE Side, urban planner says

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Thursday’s announcement that a California tech company plans to build a quantum computing campus at the old U.S. Steel South Works site is expected to bring lots of changes and development to Chicago’s Southeast Side.

An urban planner says the additional resources and attention could mean great things for the neighborhoods around the 440-acre space along the lakefront.

Eleanor Gorski, president and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Center, said  the opportunity to redevelop such a large site in a dense city is rare.

“The lakefront views are second to none,” Gorski says.

She says many of the residents near 87th Street and Lake Michigan  have connections to South Works, once the city’s biggest employer before it closed in 1992.

“Many of the families that continue to live there have relatives who worked at this site, so, to have something new going there and to possibly supply jobs, this is a game changer,” Gorski says.

Gorski tells WBBM she used to have relatives live in the area that locals call “The Bush” when U.S. Steel was operating.

“They’re very happy to see this happen because folks love that neighborhood and the institutions that are there, and they want to see improvements happen,” she says.

Building the next generation of computers, anchor tenant PsiQuantum expects to create at least 150 permanent jobs at the site. But, Gorski expects the development to also bring ones that don’t require a physics degree, such as restaurants, stores and other service-based businesses.

“I think the communities around it will benefit from commercial traffic. There can be restaurants that will open. There will need to be services to service the people that will be on this single-use light industrial site,” says Gorski.

Before the tech firm’s projected 2027 open date, developers will need to remediate environmental issues and get zoning changes and permits approved for the site.

Gorski says they’ll also need to improve storm water, roads and transit infrastructure in the area so it can handle the increased use.

The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago reportedly offered hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives over the next 30 years to attract PsiQuantum (sy-quan-tum) to the technology park.

Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson both say they believe the investment will pay dividends by creating jobs, generating more taxes and giving the city and state a significant economic boost.

WBBM's Jim Gudas contributed to this report.

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