DOWNTOWN — City Council has cleared the way for a multibillion-dollar quantum computing campus to be built on the former U.S. Steel South Works site in South Chicago, voting to grant a crucial zoning change for the project.
Alderpeople on Wednesday approved megadeveloper Related Midwest’s request for a Planned Development zoning designation on 415 acres of vacant lakefront land between East 79th Street and the Calumet River.
The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, anchored by Silicon Valley tech startup PsiQuantum and managed by a University of Illinois-led organization, is planned for 128 acres on the southeast corner of the site.
PsiQuantum plans to continue its efforts to build from the campus the world’s first quantum computer for practical use. The federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency also plans set up shop there, to test whether quantum computing is more than “hype” and could become a useful industrial tool after years as “a primarily scientific endeavor,” agency officials said.
The developers have said the remaining 300 or so acres will improve access to nearby parks and host businesses which support quantum campus tenants, but have shared few specifics to that end.
The zoning change does not impact Steelworkers Park, Park No. 566 or a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers facility nearby, officials said.
PsiQuantum has pledged to create 150 permanent jobs, while officials have estimated the project would create 20,000 construction jobs over a period of up to six years.
The developers plan to begin building the project’s first phase — which features about 88,000 square feet of offices — in February or March. They aim for the campus to be fully operational by 2027, they said.
The quantum campus is set to receive $500 million in state funding and an estimated $175 million over 30 years in tax breaks from the county. Mayor Brandon Johnson has pledged $5 million to the project from the city’s housing and economic development bond program.
Wednesday’s council vote was the city’s third unanimous approval of the project in three weeks. The plans passed the zoning committee Monday and the Plan Commission Nov. 21.
“Business as usual” — a nod to Chicago’s often-criticized pace of development — “will not be applied to this unusual circumstance,” Ald. Greg Mitchell (7th) said Monday. The project will be located in Mitchell’s and Ald. Peter Chico’s (10th) wards.
The city’s review of the campus plans has proven divisive among South Chicago neighbors, though few have spoken out in total opposition of the project.
Supporters have praised the project’s potential to revive the neighborhood’s economy, which has stagnated since South Works and other nearby steel mills closed.
Skeptics have urged officials not to rush to throw money and approvals at an unproven industry, which seeks to develop on land with a history of environmental contamination.
They’ve demanded city officials and project backers sign a formal community benefits agreement around the project, to which neither the developers nor Johnson have committed.
Neighbors are “rightfully concerned” about the environmental impacts of redeveloping land that was degraded by the steel industry for more than a century, Angela Tovar, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Environment, said last month.
The development team will review the existing contamination of the site and present its findings to state environmental regulators so “those concerns will be mitigated,” Tovar said.
RELATED: South Siders Urge Slowdown On Quantum Computing Campus
‘An Opportunity To Develop Training Programs In The Community’
As some neighbors raised doubts that high-paying, permanent jobs created by the quantum campus will actually go to locals, Johnson and other leaders pledged to create pipelines for South Siders to access those jobs.
But even preliminary plans for what those pipelines could look like were scarce prior to a community meeting held at Bowen High School Tuesday, the day before City Council approved the project.
Officials often cited the speed of development for their lack of details, saying PsiQuantum had only chosen Chicago to host the project in recent months.
However, project backers shared ideas for creating career and educational pipelines this week — from developing career trainings in facility operations and software and hardware engineering, to expanding existing programs that familiarize kids with quantum computing.
“Anyone can do this,” said Russell Ceballos, dean of the Center of Excellence for Engineering and Computer Science at Wilbur Wright College and a panelist at Tuesday’s meeting.
One such program in the pipeline is the Saturday Morning Quantum series set to launch this spring, said Natalie Johnson, head of education and public engagement at Fermilab in suburban Batavia.
The series, an offshoot of Fermilab’s longstanding Saturday Morning Physics program, would put high schoolers through a 10-week course. The students would learn about quantum mechanics, computing and engineering, as well as take tours and perform experiments at Fermilab.
Neighbors can count on the Saturday Morning Quantum series to take place “at least once a year, every year,” Johnson said. Officials plan to host the program within a 10-mile radius of the quantum campus, and South Siders would have priority when applying for the program, she said.
Other plans included quantum-based activities similar to a game night held by the University of Chicago last month and the University of Illinois’ LabEscape program, as well as a June “Quantum Sensing” event with Chicago State professor Valerie Goss.
Several neighbors urged the project team to go beyond extracurriculars as they engage kids with quantum technology. Struggling Southeast Side schools would benefit from the project team bringing curricula and other resources directly into local classrooms, neighbors said.
Local schools would benefit from a quantum program similar to the Chicago Builds program, a two-year, off-campus training for high schoolers seeking construction careers, said Erika Meza, a computer science teacher at George Washington High School.
Meza is one of a few Chicago Public Schools teachers who will be trained on quantum science and technology during a spring conference in Pittsburgh, she said.
For adults, project backers will look to recruit neighbors with little or no technical background into career pipelines that train them in “a little bit of quantum” alongside related tech fields, Ceballos said.
Such a focus would allow neighbors to achieve good-paying jobs at the PsiQuantum campus, while developing skills that can be used outside of quantum computing, Ceballos said.
“Even if it doesn’t work out with [PsiQuantum], the point is, this kind of training [is] not about quantum specifically,” Ceballos said. “It’s about having an opportunity to develop training programs in this community, for the community, that are going to develop transferable skills.”
The ideas presented this week are just some of the “many we’re working on” as the quantum campus development moves forward, said Tom Anderson, the mayor’s economic development director.
Right now, officials are focused on finding existing programs “that we can build off of,” Anderson said. “Ideally, we’ll get to a place where Bowen [High School] has programs, where New Sullivan [Elementary School] has programs.”
Tuesday’s meeting also featured an info session intended to prepare neighbors for the thousands of construction jobs the development is expected to create.
Officials highlighted job placement services, paid pre-apprenticeships, on-the-job training programs and local groups like the Calumet Area Industrial Commission, the Hispanic Ameircan Construction Industry Association, Revolution Workshop and the Related Midwest-backed Hire360 program.
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