At a time when economic development is virtually non-existent in most areas.. one stateline community is seeing remarkable progress. 23 News Economic Reporter Kristin Burke shows us how Rochelle is pressing forward despite the tough financial times.

"We sit on the intersection of 2 major highways and intersection of 2 major railroads. All we did is took existing infrastructure and say how can we capitalize on it."

Making moves *today to gain advantage tomorrow has helped this small Northern Illinois community of nine thousand weather the strong economic winds perhaps better than most other nearby communities.

"Many many years of planning and the vision of what economic development could be in Rochelle."

The Hub City has been gaining ground. It has attracted five companies and added over three hundred jobs in the last 16 months... And this is only the beginning... Five more companies are considering setting up shop in Rochelle creating an additional 600 jobs.

"Between our commercial technological and industrial we have them all developing right now together.. if you are going to attract jobs you have to have all three of them."
Anderson says planning several years out and having infrastructure in place ahead of time has helped the Hub city map out its' future now and win big deals like Allstate and Northern Trust.

"The fact that we put so much infrastructure in place to make us ready to develop that no matter how long the recession lasted we were going to be ready when we came out of it."

While successful development is built on balance.. the paradigm is changing .. Anderson says communities must learn to adapt and shift gears.

" If things don't work you always have a plan b."

In order to carve out a solid path towards tomorrow.. wherever it may lead.

In Rochelle Kristin Burke 23 News Right Now.

Rochelle has more than three thousand acres of vacant industrial space. Most of this land has been sold and infrastructure is already in place. No projects have been scrapped completely as a result of the recession.. but a few have been delayed.