DaimlerChrysler has recently announced that they will be selling a large portion of the company to a New York based private equity firm, Cerberus Management.

Cerberus will make a capital contribution of $7.4 billion in return for an 80.1% equity interest in the future new company, Chrysler Holding LLC. DaimlerChrysler will hold a 19.9% equity interest in the new company. Chrysler Holding LLC will hold 100% each of the future Chrysler Corporation LLC, which produces and sells Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep® vehicles.

Despite uncertainty about the purchase, Belvidere leaders believe that the 2005 investment DaimlerChrysler made at the Belvidere Assembly Plant puts the facility in a good position during the transition.

"We are confident the $419 million investment, the small fuel efficient vehicles, and the strong workforce employed at the Belvidere plant, all point to a bright future, state City of Belvidere Mayor Fred Brereton. "The city will continue to look for ways to capitalize on Chrysler's presence as a good corporate citizen."

The sales of the Jeep and Dodge models that are assembled at the Belvidere plant have been performing well. That positive element, coupled with the Chrysler Group's recent re-tooling investments at the Belvidere Assembly plant, has other community leaders believing that the plant is now in a stronger, competitive position.

"We feel that today's announcement will create a financially strong new company that will produce and sell Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep products, "stated Mark Williams, executive director of Growth Dimensions for Belvidere-Boone County. "Considering the investments that have already been made, the wrinkles in the smart manufacturing process ironed out, our initial feel is that the local operations of the Belvidere plant is in a much better position going into this corporate transition."

Cerberus Chairman John Snow said that he plans to work together with Chrysler's management and union to give the company the financial stability it's been lacking.

"We welcome Chrysler into the Cerberus family of companies and believe Cerberus will be a good home for Chrysler, expressed chairman Snow. "Cerberus believes in the inherent strength of U.S. manufacturing and of the U.S. auto industry. Most importantly, we believe in Chrysler."

On Thursday, May 22 at 10:00 a.m. representatives of the City of Belvidere will meet at the former Silver Salvage Yard, 100 S. Main St., to kickoff the USEPA Brownfields Grants and the Older Neighborhood Redevelopment Plan.

Below is a look at the event's agenda:

• Introduction of the Brownfield and Older Neighborhood Steering Committee
• Planning Actives, TIF Creation & Brownfield Grant Funding Completed to Date
• Older Neighborhood Strategic Plan
• Downtown Multi-Modal Transportation Center

The City of Belvidere invites all parties interested in Riverfront and Older Neighborhood Redevelopment to join them.

Please contact Kim Ellingson, Mayor's Assistant for Neighborhood Development for more information at 815-544-2612 or via email at ndevelope@ci.belvidere.il.us.

Pictured abover right: Brownfield Site ready for Redevelopment

To meet growing electricity needs in and around Belvidere and Hampshire, ComEd has invested $1.7 million in improvements that will significantly enhance capacity and maintain system reliability for area customers.

These investments include doubling local capacity by upgrading a 20-megawatt transformer to 40 megawatts at the Belvidere substation located near Beloit Road and U.S. 20. The additional capacity is the equivalent needed to power about 4,500 average- sized homes, and it will support growing commercial and residential development in the Belvidere area. It will also increase reliability by better preparing the local electrical system for the peak summer use period.

"We are committed to keeping our customers' lights on, and through major system investments like this, we are able to enhance reliability for our customers," said John Costello, ComEd's executive vice-president and chief operating officer. "When outages occur, we remain committed to restoring service as quickly as possible."

Since 2000, ComEd has invested about $4.7 billion to expand, upgrade and maintain the reliability of its system serving 3.8 million customers in Northern Illinois.

In addition to these and other infrastructure investments, the company performs regular maintenance work to ensure reliable electricity delivery, such as vegetation maintenance to free electrical lines from interference, system engineering to achieve optimal equipment operations, and regular visual inspections of above ground electrical lines.

*Information Provided by ComEd

Growth Dimensions for Belvidere-Boone County has launched their new web site!

www.growth dimensions.org

KMK Media Group has developed the new economic development site that includes numerous interactive features making it a one-stop resource for current and potential businesses interested in the Belvidere- Boone County Area. Some of these features include:

• Site Selector's Information - this section includes a database of available sites and buildings, area demographics, financial incentives and other information about the region.
• Economic Development Initiatives - this area details comprehensive information about the initiatives Growth Dimensions is managing, including the AgTech Initiative, Kishwaukee Riverfront Development, Business Development, Tollway Station Point Project, the Northern Illinois Commuter Transportation Initiative and more.
• Organizational Information and Resources - these two sections offer complete membership and staff listings, links to numerous community organizations, downloadable publications and maps.
• News & Events- read about the latest economic development news and events happening in and around Belvidere and Boone County.

We look forward to building our site over time to continue meeting the needs of our existing businesses, site selectors, investors and all of the entities that Growth Dimensions for Belvidere- Boone County is proud to partner with.

Growth Dimensions for Belvidere-Boone County is hosting an Enterprise Zone training session on Tuesday, June 12th at the Community Building Complex of Boone County, 111 W. 1st Street, Belvidere.

The session will include presentations from Tom Henderson, Enterprise Zone Administrator with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and John Gremer of KPMG Consulting on how the Enterprise Zone functions, who's eligible and how businesses and entities can take advantage of the financial incentives.

The session will begin at 7:30 a.m. Complimentary breakfast will be served.

Please call 815-547-4252 or e-mail info@growthdimensions.org by June 6th to make your reservation.

The 2007 Growth Dimensions annual dinner meeting, "On Track to Make a Difference" showcased General Mills-Green Giant's presence in the community for nearly 105 years and reflected how the company has grown to a level that adds significant value to Belvidere and Boone County. Most recently, General Mills-Green Giant has expanded their operations into a new snack food line, which will also result in the creation of approximately 50 new jobs.

The event also glanced at the past year's accomplishments and successes of the Growth Dimensions organization, including a significant gain in job growth, capital investments and expansion projects by major employers in Belvidere.

• The fruits from DaimlerChrysler's investment were produced this past year. As a result, new manufacturing jobs created in Boone County continued to push the Rockford MSA labor force numbers to a 5.9% gain in job growth which led other metro areas in the state.
• Twenty-four commercial and five industrial projects were started that will result in the creation of over 1,362 jobs and will generate over $46 million of capital investments in the Belvidere-Boone County Enterprise Zone.
• Dean Foods announced the expansion of its ice cream hardening equipment, along with the moving of it's Stroh's Ice Cream production operation from Detroit to the Belvidere Plant.
• Since 2001, the Industrial Assessed Valuation for Boone County increased 97% and Commercial 55%. Diversification of the tax base through the expansion of the industrial and commercial tax base remains one of our highest objectives.

Kevin Schoen, General Mills vice president of manufacturing served as the keynote speaker and talked about personal leadership being a key element to the success and vision of an organization.

"Your personal leadership does matter, you can make a difference. Your vision, belief in people and state of readiness will serve you well as each of you utilize your God given talents in this wonderful community your are a part of," stated Schoen. "Through your personal leadership you will also leave a legacy to the generations of community leaders that will follow you."

Growth Dimensions for Belvidere-Boone County would like to give a special thanks to their event sponsors. Their continued support helps make our economic development visions a reality.

Pictured above right: Keynote Speaker Kevin Schoen, vice president of manufacturing for General Mills

To help small and mid-sized manufacturers grow top line sales, the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC) announced it will partner with the Eureka! Ranch, a leading innovation group that has helped manufacturers like Nike, American Express, and Walt Disney to generate business-building ideas.

"Explosive growth isn't just for America's largest companies," says Eureka! Ranch founder Doug Hall, former Master Marketing Inventor for Procter & Gamble. "Smaller businesses - particularly manufacturers - can leverage processes and methodology that up until now have only been accessible by large corporations." Hall and IMEC unveiled the new program at IMEC's recent statewide Manufacturing Conference.

The IMEC/Eureka! Ranch approach includes a one- day "Idea Engineering" session in which manufacturing employees generate measurably smarter choices for how to grow the company. These ideas can be as simple as changing the parameters of a product design, to more complex decisions such as entering new markets. Then, the ideas are scientifically tested to separate the big ideas from those likely to fail. Hall's "Merwyn" system evaluates how obvious and self evident the idea is to potential customers by benchmarking it against 50 success factors. The Merywyn system has an 88% reliability in forecasting probability that the idea will be successful. Finally, IMEC's Business Advisors provide action plan coaching to help manufacturers implement their idea(s) and accelerate them to market.

"We believe the Eureka! Winning Ways is a powerful solution for Illinois manufacturers who need to create new value streams, differentiate their products, and enter new markets," said Cathy Frint, who is championing the program for IMEC.

Since the IMEC conference, four Illinois manufacturers have signed on to develop new growth ideas using the system. Call Frint at 815-753-8734 or visit www.imec.org for more information.

*Information provided my IMEC

Belvidere business owner Larry Cunningham was chosen by EDGE (Enterprise, Development, Growth and Excellence) as Entrepreneur of the Year. Larry is the president of Corepole, Inc. a Belvidere-based fitness equipment company that has a specialized product made of cold rolled steel. The pole features 20 resistance bands, 20-foot cuffs that allows multiple users to simultaneously partake in various exercise movements for strength and cardio (pictured above).

"It's a long, challenging road. Growth Dimensions helped me find the building space in Belvidere that we're still housed in today, and we've been very happy doing business in that location," stated Cunningham. "The momentum is really building through the 'grass roots' efforts that we are using at shows and getting people all over the world on the equipment and 'test driving' it. We are now bringing in some very good dealers across Europe."

Larry purchased the Corepole idea from a Chicago anatomy and physiology professor in January 2004. At that time, a rough prototype of the product existed, but the extensive manufacturing began after Larry's purchase. Larry began to brand the exercise product with a new logo, colors, extensive training teams and product sales began in early 2005. Corepole's assembly, packing and shipping operation all take place in Belvidere.

Pictured above right: Corepole Equipment