This morning, Deere announced the new office will focus on information technology including data, analytics, security, the cloud, and other services.
The company hopes to hire 150 IT professionals within two years, then eventually employ a total of 300 at the Chicago office.
Ganesh Jayaram is Vice President of IT at Deere. He says the goal is to recruit more talent from the Chicago job market and increase the number of in house IT employees to serve the company, its customers, and dealerships.
In 2020, Deere restructured its operations with an emphasis on a new, Smart Industrial Strategy. Even before that, Jayaram says the company started to research larger cities to find the employees it needs in close proximity to Deere World Headquarters in Moline. He says Chicago fits the bill. Approximately 1,200 I-T employees work at Deere in the Quad Cities.
Deere currently has a lease for temporary office space in Chicago, but will move into the city's Fulton Market Neighborhood late next summer or early fall. The offices will be located about 1.5 miles west of the Wrigley Building.
An article at ChicagoYIMBY.com says the new, 800 Fulton building is 14 stories and Aspen Dental is the anchor tenant.
The project includes a state tax credit for job creation.
