The Vision

“Location, Location, Location!”
“Your reputation is your most valuable asset.”
“It’s cheaper to do it right the first time”

The simple, yet powerful, ideas above define the life and career of a man who literally reshaped the Chicago suburban commercial and residential landscape we take for granted today.

When World War II ended in 1945, the wage and price controls imposed during the war ended as well. A young Arthur J. Rogers asked his employer, the Lifesaver Company, for a well-deserved raise. Much to his chagrin – and to the good fortune of Chicago’s Northwest suburbs and O’Hare business corridor – his employer refused. Art decided it was time to move on. He left the company and started his own – a heating and air conditioning business that, while successful in its own right, soon branched out into speculative commercial real estate development. The rest, as they say, is history.

Through out his 60 years in business, Art Rogers’ commitment to quality developments, creating value for his investors and tenants – and protecting his most precious asset: his reputation – would define the man, his company and his way of doing business.

When Art Rogers began, deals were often made on the backs of napkins over lunch. But the deal wasn’t done until a handshake sealed it – a tradition that to Art Rogers is as binding and as ironclad as a 100-page contract drafted by a high-priced legal team.

At the time Art Rogers started his business, most of the Chicago suburbs were little more than prairie. A new big highway (I-294) was in the process of being built.  Orchard Place, which was little more than a landing strip for a Douglas Aircraft manufacturing plant, was about to be transformed into O’Hare Field. The Northwest suburbs, in part due to his business activities, were on their way to becoming the economic powerhouse they are today.

The Accomplishments

After experiencing good success developing homes and apartments in Park Ridge, Art moved in as a pioneer in developing of office buildings in the O’Hare Area. He always felt that “No one pays you to drive to work.” And that not everybody needed to have an office in downtown Chicago. His success with O’Hare Office Center (1960) along River Road at Devon Avenue in Des Plaines proved his theory correct. Soon after, in 1967, he purchased an I-294 tollway “borrow pit” from Esper Petersen Sr., dressed it up and created the O’Hare Lake Office Center, a 650,000 square foot, five building suburban office park surrounding the “new” O’Hare Lake. Around the same time, the 50 acre property that he had been trying to buy west of the airport came together. In 1968 he broke ground for Rogers Industrial Park in Elk Grove Village, which became a 23 building, 835,000 square foot industrial park.

Before earning the backing of such financial powerhouses as Travelers Insurance, Art’s first investors were his subcontractors. They soon found that hitching their wagons to the Art Rogers Express was both exciting and profitable. For many years, Art would receive Christmas cards from former subcontractors thanking him for making them millionaires.

Once Travelers began to invest in Art’s company, it was rumored that the financial executives of the famous insurance giant would know when Art needed more money from them by looking out the windows of their airplane on approach to O’Hare Airport.

Not everybody thought he was so smart though. At the ground breaking for his second building at O’Hare Lake Office Center, he was given some well meant advice by a friend……”See that hole? That is your grave, there is no way anyone is ever going to want to have an office out here.” I might add that that gentleman later joined the firm and worked with Art for a number of years.

In the late 1970’s- early 80’s, Art tested the luxury town home market with the Shires of Inverness. As usual, his commitment to quality was apparent; the result was that many of the first buyers were architects and engineers. They said that if ever there was an earthquake and a tornado……. at the same time, they wanted to be in these homes, since they were built to handle every conceivable disaster.

To date, Arthur J. Rogers & Co. has developed more than five million square feet of office and industrial space in the major suburban markets and O’Hare corridor. But then, simple numbers, no matter how well they measure success, seldom define the true measure of a man.

The Man

Over the past 60 years, even while he was busy building his businesses, Art Rogers was building something just as valuable. Any good businessperson can build a development, but it takes character and commitment to build a community. It is done by positively impacting, guiding and encouraging one life at a time, until the impact is felt across the generations.

Art Rogers has had this kind of impact, by becoming a major contributor and supporter of organizations and charities that have made a difference in thousands of lives, including:

•       The Youth Campus of Park Ridge, serving children with special challenges
•       The YMCA
•       Avenues to Independence, providing a variety of services to challenged adults
•       Boys Town

In addition, Art has been active in many worthy community charitable and social events over the years.

His mentoring activities and commitment to professional excellence has resulted in his providing support for and encouraging involvement in such professional organizations as BOMA, CCIM, SIOR, CoreNet Global, CORE Network, CREW, NAIOP and AIRE.

Over the years, Art has shown his own personal commitment in his willingness to risk his reputation to develop projects that he knew made sense and would serve the community well. And due to his complete confidence in the American economy, he had the courage to launch new developments even in tough times.

He has demonstrated his integrity by keeping his word even when he knew it would cost his company money. For example, a promise to provide tenants off-street parking at one development once required him to buy more land than he was initially committed to buy so that he could provide his tenants the parking space he had promised.

Art also helped companies such as Comdisco when they were just starting out by giving them the ability to secure the office space they needed to grow and provide new jobs.

Art's vision will continue into the 21st century, building upon the foundation of exceptional talent he has brought onboard at Arthur J. Rogers & Co. But perhaps his more enduring legacy is the commitment to ethics, integrity, hard work, community involvement and a reputation that permeates every business activity his business has undertaken.

Guiding Philosophies

•       "Never spend money before you earn it."
•       "A business deal must be good for both parties."
•       "You need to like what you are doing."
•       "In business, you make friends as well as money."
•       "You can never over service your customers."
•       "Build every project as if it must last forever."

Highlights of Arthur J. Rogers' career

•       Formed Reliable Heating Co. in Park Ridge, Ill. (1947)
•       Formed partnership to build 50 homes in Park Ridge (1950-54)
•       Moved shop to Des Plaines and built first speculative office facility (1960)
•       Developed O'Hare Office Center (1964)
•       Developed O'Hare Office Center North (1966)
•       Acquired property for O'Hare Lake Office Plaza in Des Plaines; involved community leaders and         residents in the planning process (1967)
•       Began development of Rogers Industrial Park in Elk Grove Village (1968)
•       Developed 264-door, off-site cargo terminal for O'Hare Airport in Des Plaines (1979)
•       Developed upscale residential properties of The Shires of Inverness (Inverness, Ill.) in the late         1970s and early 1980s.
•       Developed high image, flexible office and light industrial properties in:
•       Buffalo Grove (405,000 sf)
•       Mount Prospect (127,000 sf)
•       Vernon Hills (281,000 sf)
•       Elgin (252,000 sf)