Features

T he California blackouts and the state’s continuing electricity crisis took center stage at the IOU-EDA Winter Forum, held on Feb. 21-23 in San Diego, and these problems bring to the surface an important question for site selectors: Will utilities in a deregulated market be capable of providing the service my company needs? Many technology […]

A s globalization accelerates, obliging firms to maximize operational flexibility, the U.S.-led sale-and-lease-back craze is spreading to Europe. Firms are rushing to minimize commitment to fixed assets and re-engineer corporate real estate portfolios to generate more funds for their core business.         Says Denis Kavanagh, international director corporate finance Jones Lang LaSalle, […]

I s Bernard Landry, Quebec’s new Premier, controversial? Of course he is. A separatist? Definitely. But in his radio address heard around the world about Canada’s “uselessness” in terms of Quebec’s economic development, there was an underlying message that should be music to the ears of corporate investors.         Landry (right), the […]

W hat a difference a few years can make. Ten years ago, Mexico, by most accounts, was a third-world country. But since the opening of North American trade through NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), Mexico has become a fast-growing economy and a much-sought-after spot for corporate locations.         In fact, Mexico […]

W ASHINGTON — It didn’t take long for President Bush to face his first “crisis” in the Oval Office — how to deal with California’s widespread energy shortages.         One group that hopes Bush acts quickly is the Building Owners and Managers Assoc. International (BOMA), the nation’s largest lobbying organization for corporate […]

U nderstanding how cities view and evaluate projects is critical to developing more cooperative and insightful relationships between your company and the communities in which you do — and would like to do — business. This article presents an overview of how public officials view and evaluate the community impacts associated with economic development projects. […]

T he big news surrounding the Site Selection Governor’s Cup facilities race for 2000 is the fact that the big winners — Michigan and Detroit — are getting quite comfortable taking their respective rides down victory lane.         For the fourth year in a row, the state of Michigan claimed the top […]

T he year-to-year domination on the football field by legendary giants such as the Dallas Cowboys has nothing on the City of Detroit. Once again Motown claims the title as Site Selection‘s No. 1 U.S. metro for new and expanded facilities and for new manufacturing projects. This title, the fourth straight Site Selection Top Metro […]

C hina — perhaps the world’s next great economic superpower — left little doubt that it is ready to dominate Site Selection’s annual international rankings of new and expanded corporate facilities.         Of the top 20 global facilities for 2000 in terms of capital investment, China placed two in the top 11, […]

D ETROIT — It wasn’t that long ago that pundits and pols alike were lamenting the demise of the Motor City and the state to which it belongs.         There is little such talk now. Winning Site Selection magazine’s coveted Governor’s Cup for a record fourth year in a row (see the […]

R inging in the new millennium seems to have had an effect on “new industry” growth. Site Selection‘s annual tally of top industries shows a new entry in the line-up for 2000. Though pharmaceuticals came in at No. 5 in terms of new and expanded facilities, it represents the explosive growth in recent months in […]

A bstracts of major presentations of the International Development Research Council (IDRC), the world’s preeminent corporate real estate association. “Digital Darwinism: Strategies for Evolving, Adapting, Surviving and Thriving in an e-Business World,” Florida World Congress, Nov. 6, 2000:         The companies that evolve the quickest and adapt to the new e-business landscape […]

S ite Selection?s Top 10 New and Expanded Plants for Canada shows an average business investment in the top five projects of more than US$950 million. An overview of projects for last year shows a substantial investment in call centers in Canada. The second most frequent Canadian industry investment, according to Site Selection?s New Plant […]

A banner year for the Volunteer State came to an end as the man responsible for a large portion of Tennessee’s economic success stepped down from his post to return to the private sector.         On the same day that Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist announced that his state had achieved a record […]

S outh Australia plans to introduce itself to the world as an “Information Economy” success story, and it has just under a year in which to put the necessary pieces in place. Adelaide, the Australian state’s capital city, will be the site of the 2002 WITSA World Congress, a biennial conference of the World Information […]

T he “Wild, Wild West” mentality of Nevada may not be kind to your pocketbook if you’re a high-stakes gambler, but it just might be your best friend should you decide to launch and grow a business there.         According to the annual Cognetics ranking of “Entrepreneurial Hot Spots,” Nevada is the […]

G rowing pains and growth obviously go hand in hand. Sprawl and traffic congestion are an inescapable part of modern metropolitan life.         Actually it is a barometer of prosperity. The benefits of growth are sometimes lost in the minds and media, especially after a decade of continuous prosperity. When the populous […]

“U p until a few years ago,” says Frank Shepherd, “There were three ways of getting work done. Fixed offices took up 95 percent of the time, mobile work took up 3 percent or 4 percent and teleworking (permanent home-based working) was barely 1 percent. Today hybrid areas are emerging, as are nomadic touchdown satellite […]

N aysayers predicted havoc when the British handed over Hong Kong to Mainland China in 1997. But instead of Red Chinese soldiers charging in to take control, the floodgates opened the other direction. Hong Kong capitalists living in this landlocked economic powerhouse began pouring large sums of money into South China.         […]

I n the new global supply chain — reduced by globalizaton and falling trade barriers — the crunch to shrink costs is driving world-class industries to position production facilities strategically closer to raw materials sources.         Low-cost development zones are emerging to accelerate the reverse migration and few industrial sectors have been […]

W hen Lee Arnold talks about the impact of the Internet on corporate real estate executives, he uses phrases like “fast-moving flexibility,” “blurring of the lines,” “bandwidth access” and “the barrier of inertia.” With Arnold, information technology chairman for global service provider Colliers International (www.colliers.com), the concepts of speed and transition aren’t just fodder for […]

Fast Track Project Management WorkPlaceUSA (www.workplace-usa.com), a Dallas-based provider of project management and other real estate services, is using an Internet-based project management system from Citadon (www.citadon.com), San Francisco, to facilitate the simultaneous creation of 13 network information centers for WorldCom. The $900 million effort involves building 12 centers totaling 1.3 million sq. ft. (120,700 […]

T he corporate real estate industry’s service provider community is in the midst of a heightened state of “convergence” if the past few months are any indication. Late 2000 saw numerous alliances and acquisitions that support a theory put forward in the Site Selection January 2001 cover story, “E-Business Levels the Real Estate Playing Field”. […]

Introduction: Information at your fingertips         Welcome to the 4th Quarter 2000 Johnson Controls USA Office Occupancy Costs Index, which provides a snapshot guide to the cost of providing and operating property and facility management services in the USA.         This cost index briefing is published twice a year […]