Electric Firm Moving Back To Chicago
(CBS) -- Meade Electric Co., which employs 2,000 workers, is moving its headquarters back to Chicago.
Meade designs, installs and maintains electric, gas and telecommunications systems and is one of the largest privately held construction and engineering companies in the country. It will bring 200 office employees and nearly 2,000 union workers picking up and dropping off equipment.
As the deal was announced Friday, officials emphasized Meade's roots in Chicago.
"We were born in 1908 in the city of Chicago. We hold the oldest electrical license in the city of Chicago," company president and CEO Frank Lizzardo said.
"Welcome home," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.
The company had moved to suburban McCook. Now, it will rehab a vacant industrial building on West 62nd Street, within Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's district. Madigan praised the city government for luring Meade back to Chicago.
Construction on Meade's new facility starts on Monday. The new headquarters should be ready for employees next year.
Meade works on projects in more than two dozen states.