Normally I wouldn't write about a previously announced deal to bring jobs to Chicago that's coming about.

But after a bumpy stretch, Mayor Rahm Emanuel finally appears to be delivering on a deal that counts: Ground was broken today at O'Hare International Airport on a huge cargo center that officials say will generate 1,200 well-paying permanent jobs.

Specifically, construction now begins on a 429,000-square-foot cargo facility on O'Hare's northeastern edge by Montreal-based airport industrial property developer Aeroterm LLC. The building will be the first phase of what eventually is supposed to be a $200 million complex, about twice as large as the first building.

Mr. Emanuel announced the development nearly a year and a half ago, with promises then that construction would be complete by December 2013. That would be one month from now.

That's not going to happen, obviously. The new schedule calls for it to be finished early in 2015. But Aeroterm officials said they have commitments for about a quarter of the space, or 108,000 square feet. If so, the project really is on its way. The city says the center will increase O'Hare's capacity to handle jumbo jet freighters by 50 percent.

After the collapse of deals to privatize Midway Airport and the agency that runs the Port of Chicago, Mr. Emanuel could use a jobs victory that does not involve moving some corporate headquarters downtown. Looks like he got one.