< PreviousDrawing upon a highly educated workforce, technology and biohealth companies in Wisconsin thrive. Madison’s tech labor pool, for example, has grown 39% since 2012, making it one of North America’s top-three tech cities according to CBRE’s 2018 Scoring Tech Talent Report. Nearly 60% of Madison-area residents over age 24 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 26% of the area’s residents are millennials — the highest concentration of any of the regions surveyed. It’s this quality talent that attracted Zendesk, Exact Sciences and Promega to Wisconsin and, combined with the state’s afford- able real estate and supportive business climate, it’s helping them succeed. Wisconsin talent attracts tech companies Zendesk established its Wisconsin presence in 2014 with just five employees. Now, as the software development company’s Midwest hub, the Madison office is home to approximately 300 employees and the company’s global customer advocacy team. “Since our earliest days in Madison, the city has felt like a second home for Zendesk,” said Mikkel Svane, Zendesk CEO and founder. “It offers a vibrant tech and business community, an abundance of talent, and a culture that supports our growth in the region and globally.” The company recently announced a $12.7 million expansion aimed at enhancing its customer service, finance, IT and professional services teams. Because the project is expected to create 136 additional jobs in the state, Zendesk is eligible for up to $800,000 in performance-based tax credits from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) over the next three years. Wisconsin’s business climate fuels innovation and growth Just as Zendesk was getting started in Wisconsin, Exact Sciences was expanding rapidly. It was Wisconsin’s first-class universities and the dedicated workforce they produce that led the diagnostics startup to relocate from Boston to Madison in 2009. The company took a major leap in 2014 when Cologuard®, its noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test, received FDA approval and was accepted for coverage by Medicare and Medicaid. With growing interest in its breakthrough cancer screening technology, Exact Sciences needed to quickly establish a production facility. Aided by $9 million in refundable state tax credits provided by WEDC, Exact Sciences is investing $26 million in capital expenditures and adding up to 750 new employees over the next few years. “We were able to bring talent to our organization and invest at a time when we were experiencing tremendous growth,” said Exact Sciences Vice President Sarah Condella. With the publicly traded company now in the early stages of developing tests to screen for other types of cancer, “The future is bright and we’re continuing to grow right here in Wisconsin.” Wisconsin nurtures startups into global life sciences leaders For inspiration, Exact Sciences only needs to travel a few miles to Promega Corporation’s 400-acre campus in Fitchburg. Founded in 1978 by a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, Promega now has a dozen offices around the world and a portfolio of more than 4,000 products in the fields of genomics, protein expression, cellular analysis, drug discovery and genetic identity. Thanks to continuing support from the state, Promega made the decision last year to move some of its manufacturing from California closer to its quality assurance testing and technical support facilities in Wisconsin. This year, the company started construction of a 270,000- square-foot R&D facility that will help them stay on top of emerging opportunities in the global biotechnology and life science markets. “Promega’s investment…is a testament to the strength of our life science industry,” said Mark R. Hogan, secretary and CEO of WEDC, which awarded Promega up to $1.5 million in tax credits for the project. “In addition to the jobs created by this project, this expansion will enable Promega to usher in a new era of innovation and research to develop new products and will position the company for future growth.” —————————————————————————— Visit InWisconsin.com for more information on Wisconsin’s support for the high-tech industry. IN WISCONSIN, TECHNOLOGY AND BIOSCIENCE COMPANIES THRIVE A D V E R T I S EM EN T A rendering of Promega Corp.’s $190 million planned research and development center.128 JULY 2019 SI T E S E L E C T IO N tomorrow, and helping attract talent to the area. Milwaukee is a great place for manufacturing. We are proud of our history here and excited to start building our future.” Komatsu plans to build a new headquarters and manufacturing and training facilities at the 54-acre (22-hectare) site, to be called the South Harbor Campus, which is near the location of the company’s original machine shop off South First Street. The planned campus will consolidate two of Komatsu’s current Milwaukee area facilities into one centralized location. Plans call for advanced machine, heat treat and fabrication shops; a technology, R&D and robotics lab; an office complex and data center; a global training and conference center; and a City of Milwaukee public Riverwalk next to the campus. A Year to Evaluate Many Sites “We evaluated a number of sites within the global Komatsu network,” says Caley Clinton, corporate communications manager for the Komatsu Mining Corp. Group in Milwaukee. “The city and state did a fantastic job identifying and presenting sites here in Wisconsin to help keep our business here and find us the right location for the future of our company and workforce.” That assistance includes up to $59.5 million in state income tax credits over the next 12 years, as well as up to $40 million in additional tax breaks and other incentives from the city. The incentives are designed to jumpstart redevelopment in an area of the city that has languished since other manufacturers left the area. Clinton says Komatsu, which is part of a global conglomerate of companies based in Tokyo, spent about a year evaluating potential locations for the new American headquarters. “The partnership with the city and the state made it economically viable for us to invest hundreds of millions of dollars” in Milwaukee, she says. “It was important for us to stay close to our roots, and we are very excited to be building our new headquarters just blocks from where our P&H equipment brand was founded.” Infrastructure was a critical factor, she adds. “We saw that this site provides a long-term light industrial site, critical connections to major transportation routes — Port of Milwaukee, rail lines and interstate network — that fit our business needs, and the icing on the cake is that the site is just blocks from our founding location,” says Clinton. The company’s origins in Milwaukee date back to 1884. “Milwaukee is an excellent manufacturing town and very important to our company’s history,” adds Clinton. “We wanted to stay in the area because of our 135-year history here and connection to this community.” It helps, she notes, that Komatsu’s network of heavy manufacturing suppliers is located in Southeast Wisconsin, as are the universities and technical colleges that support the firm’s recruiting needs. “We also like the fact that we are in the city of Milwaukee because our employees want access to a lot of what the city offers,” Clinton says. “There’s a fantastic mix here of restaurants, arts, sports and public spaces.” S I T E S E L E C T I O N JULY 2019 129 A ‘Game Changer’ for Brew Town Jim Paetsch, vice president of the Milwaukee 7, the local economic development group, says that “Komatsu’s investment is a game changer for Milwaukee. It’s not only the company’s largest investment ever outside Japan, but further evidence that Milwaukee is reclaiming its manufacturing heritage. The decision by Komatsu to deepen its commitment to Milwaukee speaks volumes about the attractiveness of our economic assets.” One economic modeling study estimates that in addition to the 443 new direct jobs the project could create, another 821 jobs could be generated indirectly in the region. Combined, those 1,264 jobs could generate more than $3 million annually in state income tax revenue. In addition, the company’s investment could directly and indirectly support more than 3,500 jobs and generate more than $4.3 million in state tax revenue over the life of the project. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Komatsu Mining Corp. is part of the global Komatsu family of companies serving the mining, forestry, industrial and construction sectors. Globally, Komatsu has more than 57,500 employees in 142 countries. In the U.S., the company employs nearly 8,000 workers directly and another 10,000 indirectly through distribution. Worldwide sales revenue for Komatsu Limited in 2017 came to $22.6 billion, with the largest share, 24%, occurring in North America. Japan-based Komatsu has four U.S.-based subsidiaries that have 52 locations, including 23 manufacturing plants. Courtesy of Komatsu130 JULY 2019 SI T E S E L E C T IO N To Go Renewable Giant multinationals see a green future in the Rocky Mountain West. International trade wars are not stopping huge multinational rms from plunking down lots of cash to invest in good old-fashioned, American-made, renewable energy; and, increasingly, these investors are choosing the scenic rural lands of the Rocky Mountain West. From Idaho and Utah to Colorado, Montana and Wyoming, green is the new gold, with two of the largest ventures going to the pastoral backdrops of Idaho and Utah. In Idaho, a global company with over two decades of experience in building renewable energy plants in Europe is making its rst major investment in the U.S. — a $ million biogas project in Cassia County. GESS International, a multinational conglomerate with o ces in London, the Ukraine, Raleigh, Fort Lauderdale and Oxnard, California, selected a rural farm area near Burley in Southern Idaho on June for construction of six anaerobic digesters that are planned as part of the company’s rst-tranche biogas plants in America. GESS plans to begin construction later this year and begin operations by late . e plants will be located on several dairy cattle feedlots in Cassia County and are expected to bring new jobs to the region. “GESS is excited to be a part of the welcoming community of Southern Idaho,” said Seth Daughety, grant coordinator for GESS International in Raleigh. “ ese biogas projects create a new revenue stream for area farmers and reduce the environmental impacts associated with the agricultural industry, while also producing a renewable energy that will reduce our fossil by RON S TARNER r on. s t ar ner @ site s ele c tion.c om ROCKY MOUNT AIN ST A TES Biogas producer GESS International is a sponsor of the NTT IndyCar Series. Courtesy of GESS International S I T E S E L E C T I O N JULY 2019 131 fuel use and create economic development for a wonderful area of Idaho. ere is plenty of opportunity for these types of projects in such a cattle-rich area.” Anaerobic digesters break down biodegradable material, such as manure, to produce renewable natural gas. e digesters will use , tons of dairy cattle manure and , tons of agricultural residues per plant from area farmers to produce , MMbtu worth of renewable natural gas. e amount of energy produced will be equivalent to the energy usage of , homes per year per plant. Market Forces Fueling Biogas Plants “We are developing projects all over the country,” says Daughety. “We are doing projects in North Carolina and Missouri. We are bringing Biogest technology to the U.S.” Biogest is an Austrian company that has done more than biogas projects in Europe and worldwide. When asked why GESS chose Southern Idaho, Daughety said, “ e condensed amount of dairy farms in the area attracted us. We are working with ve di erent dairies there. Each has a huge amount of dairy cattle. One of those dairies has enough manure to support two projects. Plus, there is a huge amount of space and row crop area, and we can use the agricultural waste.” Another selling point was access to a pipeline. “We are in negotiations with the Interstate Pipeline so that we can directly inject our natural gas into it and distribute it around the country,” says Daughety. “We are dealing with big utilities and other companies that need to reduce their carbon footprint. Utilities must have a certain portion of their energy come from renewable sources. Market forces are driving projects like this.” Connie Stopher, executive director of Southern Idaho Economic Development, says her organization rst learned about the project in mid-December of . “It took about six months to go from project lead to project announcement,” she says. “ e company is still looking at multiple sites in several U.S. states for more biogas generation facilities.” Daughety con rmed that, noting that “we are always looking for more potential projects in America. We are doing a big undertaking right now. We are looking to have projects in the rst tranche of our pipeline. Once we get those done, we will look at more.” e locations being scouted, he said, “deal predominantly with agricultural areas, such as swine farms in Missouri and North Carolina. We start out by site selecting animal feeding operations. We look at the utility connections and the natural gas pipelines in the area. We keep our checklist of needs within a -mile radius of the plant site.” GESS may also expand into the chicken litter and turkey markets, he notes. “Arkansas, Missouri and Pennsylvania have huge turkey and chicken markets. We’re looking at large combined animal feeding operations in those states and others. e potential is there for plenty of these projects across America.” What’s Inside the Salt Caverns? GESS is just one of many international and domestic rms that are investing heavily into renewable energy projects across the Rocky Mountain West. In Central Utah, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Magnum Development announced a joint venture on May to create the world’s largest renewable energy storage project. e grid-scale energy storage with renewable hydrogen production and usage will form the core of the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project adjacent to the Intermountain Power Project in Delta, Utah. e ACES initiative will develop ,MW of % clean energy storage, a move designed to expedite a decarbonized We are always looking for more potential projects in America. We are looking to have 20 projects in the rst tranche of our pipeline. Once we get those done, we will look at more.” — Seth Daughety, Grant Coordinator, GESS International132 JULY 2019 SI T E S E L E C T IO N power grid for the Western U.S. MHPS has developed gas turbine technology that enables a mix of renewable hydrogen and natural gas to produce power with lower carbon emissions. MHPS aims to use 100% renewable hydrogen as a fuel source, enabling gas turbines to produce electricity with no carbon emission. Magnum Development, meanwhile, owns and controls the only known “Gulf Coast” style domal-quality salt formation in the Western U.S. With five salt caverns in operation for liquid fuel storage, Magnum is continuing to develop its compressed air energy storage and renewable hydrogen storage options. By locating next to the Intermountain Power Project in Utah, the Magnum site is positioned to integrate seamlessly with the Western power grid. The ACES initiative is being designed to serve the needs of 150,000 households for an entire year. To do that, ACES will deploy four types of clean energy storage at utility scale: renewable hydrogen, compressed air energy storage, large-scale flow batteries and solid oxide fuel cells. “Central Utah is the ideal location for this project, and Utah is a business-friendly state for projects like this,” said Craig Broussard, CEO of Magnum. “Magnum’s site adjacent to the Intermountain Power Project is positioned to take full advantage of existing regional electricity grid connections, fully developed transportation infrastructure, ample solar and wind development capacity, a skilled workforce currently transitioning away from coal, and, of course, the unique salt dome opportunity.” This MHPS hydrogen gas turbine is like the ones that will be used at the ACES project in Central Utah. Courtesy of MHPSAs its retail rivals shrivel, Dollar General (DG) is bulking up across the country, having announced plans to open 750 new stores this year. With more than 15,000 locations scattered from coast to coast, the discount chain is finding particular success in rural communities, where DG sometimes is the only game in town. The company’s enviable growth continues to be a boon to small cities like Amsterdam, New York, about 40 minutes northwest of Albany, where DG is bringing some 430 new jobs. There, the company is standing up a 750,000-sq.-ft. (70,000-sq.-m.) distribution center, its 16th nationwide, to support new retail stores in western and northern New York. “Amsterdam was chosen in part for its convenient location to Interstate 90,” DG said in a statement,” while also citing proximity to DG stores throughout the Northeast. Richard Sleasman, president and managing director of CBRE-Albany, says the Albany region has seen a surge of big-box warehouses. He cites Amazon, which moved forward in June on a plan for a massive distribution center in Schodak, an Albany suburb. “Amazon typically targets million-person population centers for these facilities,” Sleasman tells Site Selection. “Albany is just at that point. They recognize our marketplace as a mature enough and large enough market to require one of their distribution centers to be here. Out of Albany, you can be in Boston in under three hours, New York in well under three hours, Montreal in three hours, and western New York in three hours. With I-87 and I-90 intersecting here, it’s perfect to be an alternative transportation hub.” ST A TE SPO TLIGHT Upstate New York S I T E S E L E C T I O N JULY 2019 133 There’s a lot to like in New York’s Capital Region. by G ARY DAUGHTERS gar y.daug hter s @ site s ele c tion.c om The city itself may be built out already, but Albany anchors a region that’s a haven of distribution. Photo: Getty Images134 JULY 2019 SI T E S E L E C T IO N Inside and Outside the ‘First Circle’ To be sure, Sleasman cautions, upstate New York is not about to supplant northern New Jersey or Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley as a mecca of distribution. Still, the region delivers value relative to other logistics hubs. “ e cost of land and construction and entitlement, especially in the north Jersey market, is getting very expensive,” he says. “Here, the entitlement process is quicker and the overall cost of land and construction is less expensive. “But,” Sleasman says, “one of the big factors today is the labor market. Some of these smaller towns have seen some real hits in upstate New York with manufacturing closing up, and they’ve got available, skilled workforces. Especially when it comes to distribution centers, they look at that as a very important part of the conversation.” An arc north and west of Albany is earning converts within the DC world. Tractor Supply Company, which calls itself the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the U.S., opened a ,-sq.- ft. (,-sq.-m.) distribution center in Herkimer County in March, an investment projected to create more than full-time jobs in the fi rst fi ve years. Ace Hardware operates a -million sq.-ft. (,-sq.-m.) distribution facility in Saratoga County. Target employs about people at a distribution center in Montgomery County, near the new Dollar General facility. Sleasman says Montgomery is a place to keep an eye on. “Due to the availability of land, I think the biggest surge we’re going to see is in Montgomery County. It’s right on Interstate . ere are hundreds of acres of land that the county has designated for this purpose. ey’ve been very proactive with trying to get the land entitled and working on water and sewer extensions. Albany County itself is pretty well built out, so we’re looking at some of the counties outside the fi rst circle.” Amazon Gets the Go-Ahead As Site Selection’s deadline loomed, Amazon took major steps toward building its $ million distribution center in Schoback. A real estate analyst in Albany tells Site Selection that the reported purchase of acres ( hectares) in mostly-rural Schoback signals “full speed ahead” for a project plagued by opposition, including a lawsuit fi led by local activists that was dismissed by the New York State Supreme Court, but on appeal even as work at the site commenced hours after the property sale was announced June . Scannell Properties of Indianapolis, a developer working with Amazon, reportedly paid $. million for adjoining parcels totaling acres ( hectares). Projected to create at least jobs and generate annual earnings of $ million, the -million sq.-ft. (,-sq.-m.) distribution center would have easy access to I-. Hope for a Neglected Technology Center e purchase of a -acre (-hectare) parcel by a Chicago real estate investor has produced a mystery in Saratoga County. InSite Real Investment Properties reportedly had been scouring the Albany region with an eye toward developing another distribution center. e Albany Business Review reports that InSite is working with Lowe’s, but neither Lowe’s nor InSite nor county development agencies have been willing to comment on the record. InSite bought land in the ,-acre (-hectare) Luther Forest Technology Campus, which, since it opened in , largely has languished in its eff orts to lure technology companies other than anchor tenant GlobalFoundries, which employs some , people at its Fab computer chip factory. e state has spent some $ million building miles of roads at the campus that are largely empty. With two-mile access to I-, the campus is set up with infrastructure for nanotech manufacturing and R&D. But it’s also minutes from rail service and half an hour to both Albany International Airport and the Port of Albany on the Hudson River. In a welcome development for the area, Key Capture Energy broke ground in September on a -MW utility-scale battery storage project that’s to enable the creation of construction jobs and nine full-time positions. Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership President Marty Vanags said she was “especially pleased to be leading the fi rst development on the Luther Forest Technology Campus since GlobalFoundries.” it comes to distribution centers, they look at that as a very important part of the conversation.” I think the biggest surge we’re going to see is in Montgomery County.” — Richard Sleasman, President and Managing Director, CBRE-AlbanyMaster sample Callout, to use as a template. Master sample Callout, to use Master sample Callout, to use Master sample as a template.Next >