At least one local official thinks the submarket is missing one crucial piece to the puzzle, which would spur further development in an area that still has available land for growth. "The single problem for Tinley Park…is not having a labor force for business," says Patrick E. Rea, executive director of the Illinois Development Finance Authority and a village trustee. While the population is there to support businesses, Rea thinks higher education is the area's missing ingredient, and made a pitch for that at the village's Industrial Commercial Commission's annual business breakfast.

"Will County should continue to grow. Tinley Park should continue to grow unabated. The housing stock here is among the best in the Midwest. We have some of the most modestly priced housing in the Midwest," says Rea, adding the available choices for house hunters hit all income levels. "Our weakness is we don't have a research university to support 21st-century type businesses."

There are local two-year community colleges and DeVry Institute of Technology has a campus in the area. But the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Illinois-Chicago, DePaul University and other four-year schools are at least an hour away. "These 1 million people deserve a major university with the research capability to turn out people for 21st-century businesses."

Meanwhile, Rea says he sees nothing in the current economy of short-term future to stop the area's upward growth trend, even though a stronger four-year institute of higher learning would to much to accelerate progress.

"We will not go into a recession. We're close to nearing the downturn in the market," Rea believes. "The only thing that could push us into a recession is if a catastrophic event should occur."