Rendering of the PsiQuantum facility at the former South Works site, which will house the country’s first large-scale quantum computer.
Psyche-Quantum
The question of what to do with the former void of U. S. Steel South Works has been a veritable 500-acre drag around the neck of the city for more than 30 years.
Located across the lake from 79th Street, the site seemed to have all the prospects for progress in the world. But years of efforts to turn this once-industrial domain into an exciting new coastal community have come and gone, even after the city spent millions to expand. US 41 through the site and build a 70-acre 566 Park and a 16-acre Steelworkers Park.
But now it looks like the South (Works) will grow again thanks to a new plan announced last week by Governor J. B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson to build a quantum computer studies and production campus at the site.
Pritzker said the campus would be a “world leader” in the quantum computing industry. And Johnson said the task “will be life-changing just for this region of the city, for the city of Chicago as a whole, but also for the global economy around technology. “
Quantum computing uses large, complicated computers that can solve disorders faster and better than traditional computers, which use binary sequences.
Experts say these new computers can better handle the kind of complex calculations needed to create innovative drugs.
PsiQuantum, of Palo Alto, California, will be the campus’ anchor tenant. Once the company is established there, PsiQuantum will work to build the country’s first commercial quantum computer.
Earlier this month, Pritzker announced a partnership between the state and the U. S. Department of Defense’s progression company to expand quantum technology in Illinois.
As a component of the alliance, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, would enroll in PsiQuantum on campus and lead a quantum computing prototype testing program.
“We’re the only state that has created a quantum campus and a quantum plan,” Pritzker said. “And the fact that the federal government is stepping up and looking for a partner, especially DARPA, is a wonderful validation. “
But none of this is cheap. Pritzker’s 2025 budget sets $500 million for quantum research, of which $300 million will go toward the creation of the South Works campus.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s $1. 25 billion investment of economic progression and the housing bond factor will go toward the campus project.
And there is also a movement underway to have the county make eligible for Class 8 asset tax incentives, intended to encourage advertising and the progression of advertising in economically distressed spaces, which would reduce the assets’ tax assessment. campus advertising by 25% for advertising. properties. at 10% for 10 years.
PsiQuantum would get $500 million in point incentives for cities, states, and counties over a 30-year period.
The mayor’s office says all those public investments will have an economic effect of $20 billion over the next decade and create more than 175,000 jobs in the quantum computing sector.
We are skeptical of the economic progression projections, which tend to be more positive than the Garfield Park Conservatory propagation houses.
But if South Works is to be redeveloped, public investment will be needed to achieve it.
The South Side of Chicago, i. e. , the subset known as “The Bush,” which was situated near the old metal mill, could benefit from an upgrade like the Quantum Campus.
The historic domain depended on U. S. Steel and other generators for its sustenance for much of the 20th century and suffered greatly when the industry suddenly disappeared in the 1970s and 1980s.
We would like citizens and voices on social media to have a seat at the table as the plans expand and, more importantly, a percentage of the jobs that will come out of this project.
Judging by the renderings, the site’s two public parks will remain, and that’s fine, too.
Time will tell if all this will come to fruition. But for now, the Quantum Campus allocation seems like precisely the kind of transformative, large-scale, potentially job-rich effort that neighborhoods like Chicago’s South Side and the city itself need. .
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