The Broe Group of Colorado will invest about $500 million in the Port of Chicago over the coming ten years to improve Port facilities under a new plan.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Govornor Pat Quinn announced that the private company from Colorado has been selected to run the Illinois Port Authority District. The much needed investment will help revive the port operations and give a facelift to the crumbling infrastructure at the port. Mayor Emanuel said that the plan would create up to 1,000 permanent jobs and 3,000 construction jobs.

Under the agreement, the partnership will also create a new association with Olive Harvey College, including internship sponsorships, job placement opportunities and training programs for new hires. The Port of Chicago, which is located at Lake Calumet Harbor on the far South Side, is in the tax-exempt district that was created to promote commerce at the port.

"We've been running a port for a long time. We haven't made an investment since 198, Thirty-plus years. And people all across the country, port authorities across the country, were passing us by," Emanuel said.

The port connects Chicago to the Atlantic through the St. Lawrence Seaway and to the Gulf of Mexico via Illinois rivers and the Mississippi River.