Features

Although many disagree on exactly where to trace the origins of the modern special economic zone, just about everyone would agree that zones have seen tremendous changes since the 1980s.

By special arrangement with Site Selection, Von Hatley, managing director of Jones Walker Consulting, an affiliate of the prominent law firm that assists clients considering expansion, relocation or consolidation of business operations, recently sat down to interview longtime colleague Jerry Lundquist, the former head of the Global Aerospace and Defense practice at McKinsey & Co.

What do Equinix, Latisys and RagingWire have in common? All elected to expand their sizable data center operations in Loudoun County, Va., home to a rapidly growing cluster of co-location facilities.

Creating jobs in rural America has always been a challenge for state economic development organizations.

An astounding 1,850 projects across nearly all categories of plastics and chemicals have been recorded in Site Selection's New Plant Database over the two and a half years since Jan. 1, 2011.

A funny thing happened on the way to the market for solar power. After meandering down decades of technical dead ends, following false leads of old ill-conceived state and federal policies, and surviving more recent politically exaggerated false forecasts of doom, the solar industry has shocked the nation. Solar power actually … works.

Below, in alphabetical order, we present the Top Utilities in Economic Development for 2013, selected by the following mix of objective and subjective criteria: Analysis of corporate end-user project activity in 2012 in that company's territory; website tools and data; innovative programs and incentives for business, including energy efficiency and renewable energy programs; and the utility's own job-creating infrastructure and facility investment trends.

Someone tell Nestlé that Europe's economy is on the ropes. In the past 18 months, the Vevey, Switzerland-based nutrition and food services giant has invested in new facilities in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland — and three in the UK (not to mention China, Jamaica, the UAE, Malaysia and Argentina, among other places). It’s also expanding a Purina pet food factory in Bük, Hungary, adding 150 jobs to that site.

Long before Facebook, Google and Yahoo became household names, the central U.S. was laying the foundation for what would become the most vital infrastructure of the world's three biggest Internet companies.

Yes, it's about green buildings. But it's also about how close they are to your house.

Some folks may be wondering why Michigan, Ohio and Indiana are winning a disproportionate share of automotive assembly plant investments these days.

Add biopharma to the long list of robust economic sectors in Texas. It's nearly enough to rekindle talk of secession … if it weren't for that instrusive federal funding helping drive some of the momentum.

Energy efficiency tweaks such as new HVAC systems and long-life light bulbs offer tremendous and quick gains, but they only get you so far.

Site Selection salutes the best corporate facility projects in the world in 2012, judged by investment, high-value and high-volume job creation, creativity in negotiations and incentives, regional economic impact, competition and speed to market.

The high-tech industry in Europe is experiencing declining figures in all key segments, according to a 2012 study from A.T. Kearney.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) in February announced that global installed wind energy capacity increased by 19 percent in 2012 to 282,000 MW.

Site Selection in early February hosted a roundtable conference call with a select group of corporate real estate and facilities pros from some of the most powerful biopharma organizations in the world, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The region around Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport — Greater Roissy — has figured out a way to coordinate and advance the overlapping agendas of nearly 30 public and private entities.

With Upper Midwest cities like Cleveland and Ann Arbor recently winning significant headquarters projects, it may be time to rebrand the region with a new moniker: the “Trust Belt.”

“You’re going to see the development of these resources. The money is too big to even have the politics squash it.” So says Arthur P. Hall, founding executive director of the Center for Applied Economics at the University of Kansas School of Business, of the quickly evolving energy plays across North America.

If one didn’t know exactly where on Fazeley Street Fazeley Studios are located, they would be easy to miss.

As the infrastructure requirements for customer contact centers increase, so do the requirements for the workers at these operations and the facilities that house them.