And then there were two.

Caterpillar’s moving of its corporate offices to the Chicago area later this year will give the metropolitan area yet another Fortune 500 headquarters. However, when Caterpillar relocates, it will leave just two of Illinois’ 34 Fortune 500 firms with headquarters outside the Chicago area.

State Farm Insurance in Bloomington and John Deere in Moline will be the only two Fortune 500 headquarters in Illinois not in the Chicago area once the Caterpillar move is complete.

Caterpillar’s announcement Jan. 31 that it is relocating its headquarters is the second time in four years that a Fortune 500 firm has told of plans to head to the big city. In 2013, agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland said it was moving its corporate offices from Decatur to Chicago.

The 32 Chicago-area based Fortune 500 companies include Boeing and United Continental Holdings, both in Chicago, Walgreens in Deerfield, and Allstate in Northbrook.

Caterpillar’s move should not come as a big surprise, according to a market analyst.

“They get to save building a big corporate headquarters and they get a better transportation network,” said Eli Lustgarten, senior vice president for Longbow Research, which provides analysis of companies for investors.

Lustgarten, who follows Caterpillar and 15 other firms for Longbow clients, said it is a little out of the ordinary, though, that the construction equipment firm didn’t have a destination point to share when it made the moving announcement.

“They may be seeing what kind of deal they can get,” Lustgarten said. “I would suspect if they want better access to (O’Hare) airport they may want to be in the north suburbs. It is about logistics. It remains to be seen how they structure a deal.”

Caterpillar said that it would locate some senior executives and support functions to the Chicago area later this year.

“Caterpillar’s board of directors has been discussing the benefits of a more accessible, strategic location for some time,” said company CEO Jim Umpleby. “Since 2012, about two-thirds of Caterpillar’s sales and revenues have come from outside the United States. Locating our headquarters closer to a global transportation hub, such as Chicago, means we can meet with our global customers, dealers and employees more easily and frequently.”

He added that the new location gives the company an opportunity to add to its team while improving the productivity of senior leaders.

Caterpillar senior executives will move into leased office space in the Chicago area later this year.

Rachel Potts, corporate media manager for Caterpillar, said a decision on where the company headquarters relocates will not be made until later this year.

Despite that, she said, the company wanted to get the word out about the move as soon as possible.

“We made a deliberate decision to inform our employees and the Peoria area about the decision soon after it was made, recognizing we are still early in the site-selection process,” Potts said.

She noted that the company’s move to the Chicago area will improve access to global customers, dealers and Caterpillar’s worldwide operations, while also enhancing executive recruitment.

Lustgarten said because the company will be leasing and not building, its final destination is not as important to know right now.

“It’s a lot different than if they were negotiating to build somewhere,” Lustgarten said. “Now, it just depends on what’s available for them to lease.”

While the company is saving on building its proposed three-tower office complex in Peoria, it will have to pay Chicago area office rent, Lustgarten said, “and that’s not cheap.”

Lustgarten said the Chicago area being a hub for other Fortune 500 headquarters is not a factor in a company like Caterpillar deciding to make such a move.

The Caterpillar analyst said the company has been mum so far on just how many people could be moving.

“They have not told anybody,” Lustgarten said. “It could be 100 people, up to 300 people. The magnitude will be decided at a later date.”

Despite the company’s corporate offices moving to the Chicago area, the company may have a net job loss in the area. That is because 800 jobs at the company’s wheel loader manufacturing plant near Montgomery could be moved to Decatur and North Little Rock, Ark. A decision on that potential move is slated for this spring.

Caterpillar said the possible moving of jobs from the Kendall County plant near Montgomery is in keeping with its global restructuring and cost-savings plan announced in 2015.

“Faced with lower demand, we continue to evaluate our global manufacturing capacity,” said Denise Johnson, resource industries group president for Caterpillar.

The company is considering moving manufacturing from the Montgomery/Aurora site. Large wheel loader manufacturing would be moved to Decatur and medium wheel loader manufacturing would be moved to North Little Rock.

Caterpillar would keep an office in the Aurora area for engineering and product support work.

“Should we move forward with the decision to relocate production we will support the local leaders to mitigate the impact of our employees, their families and the community,” Johnson said. “We value and respect the significant contributions all employees in Aurora have made in ensuring Caterpillar maintains its unparalleled record of quality and service to our customers and dealer network.”

Rich Young, director of community development for Montgomery, said the village’s president and other area leaders will be meeting with Caterpillar officials to try to keep the jobs at the local plant.

“It would have a negative impact when you are talking about that number of jobs in the area,” Young said. “It would impact the region, not just the village. It is not something we would want to see. We would like to keep those jobs.”

He said because the plant is in unincorporated Kendall County, the village has no tax incentives to offer in keeping the Caterpillar jobs at the facility. He added that because the engineering division will remain it is too early to tell what the overall job loss would be if Caterpillar follows through on the relocation efforts.

Young said that Waubonsee Community College is looking to help retrain workers if the company moves forward with its relocation of wheel production jobs.

CATERPILLAR THROUGH THE YEARS

1925

While the Caterpillar Tractor Company was formed wth the merger of the Holt Manufacturing Company and C. L. Best Tractor Co. The first product line consists of five tractors.

1931

Caterpillar produces its first diesel tractor model and changes the standard paint color of machines from gray with red trim to “Hi-Way Yellow” with black trim.

1941

Caterpillar products support the Allies during World War II.

1944

Caterpillar machines help start the construction of more than 70,000 miles of highways throughout the United States.

1950

Caterpillar forms its first overseas subsidiary – Caterpillar Tractor Co. Ltd. in England.

1952

Members of Caterpillar’s Peoria Cats championship basketball team play on the U.S. Olympic Basketball Team and win the gold medal.

1962

Caterpillar introduces is first off-highway truck – the 769

1967

Caterpillar opens a new worldwide headquarters building in Peoria.

1969

Caterpillar engines supply power for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

1970

Caterpillar sales outside of the U.S. are greater than those inside the U.S. for the first time.

1983

More than 120,000 workers go on strike for 205 days against Caterpillar, the longest in UAW history.

1986

Caterpillar officially changed the company name from Caterpillar Tractor Company to Caterpillar, Inc.

1992

UAW conducted a five-month strike against Caterpillar. In response, Caterpillar threatened to replace Caterpillar’s entire unionized work force.

1994-95

Over 10,000 UAW members strike for 17 months, a record at that time.

2012

Caterpillar’s Visitors Center opens in Peoria.

2015

Caterpillar says it will keep its world headquarters in Peoria and expand a downtown corporate campus to include new buildings.

2017

The company announces plans to move its international headquarters to the Chicago area after more than 90 years in Peoria. The planned upgraded downtown Peoria corporate campus is cancelled.

Caterpillar moving HQ, senior executives from Peoria to Chicago

— Caterpillar seeking Chicago area office space —