▼ INTERNATIONAL UPDATE 12 UNITED KINGDOM The BBC plans to spread the wealth across the UK. 16 ASIA A recently signed, 15-nation economic partnership will bring substantial trade and investment opportunities to the region. 22 QUEBEC The power players behind recent electric mobility projects. 26 WORLD REPORTS World’s longest suspension bridge nears completion; African free trade deal to boost agriculture trade; Hyundai readies a fuel cell system plant in Guangzhou; China’s super-busy airports. 32 NORTH AMERICAN REPORTS Apple doubles down; a telescopic project in Illinois; an all-North American railway takes shape. 71 THE GLOBAL BEST TO INVEST REPORT Site Selection’s 12th annual recognition of world markets lists the countries and metros with the most economic momentum and promise, based on a new index of data. 80 THE PROSPERITY CUP North Carolina climbs fi ve spots on our ranking of most competitive state economic development agencies to claim the 2021 Prosperity Cup. 100 THE MAC AWARDS Our Top U.S. Economic Development Groups win a Mac Award for excellence in economic development, honoring the enduring legacy of Site Selection’s founding publisher, Mac Conway. 154 TOP DEALS We look back at a year’s worth of major corporate facility projects with major economic impact on their regions, states and countries. ▼ COVER STORY V O L UM E 6 6, NUM B E R 3 May 2021 T H E M A G A Z I N E O F C ORPOR A T E RE A L E S T A T E S T R A T E G Y A N D E C ON OMI C D E V E L OP M E N T ▼ FEATURES 28 Q&A: AMAZON A conversation with the e-commerce giant’s head of worldwide economic development. 34 NORTH AMERICAN AUTOMOTIVE Batteries for electric vehicles are in short supply worldwide, but that’s changing. 40 HEALTH TECH The chemistry behind Fujifi lm Diosynth Biotechnologies’ $2 billion North Carolina project. 52 WATER SUPPLY Ohio’s Lake Erie metros are luring industry with their copious supplies of fresh water. 140 RESOURCE GUIDE TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES 2 MAY 2021 S I T E S EL E C T I O N p.71 Cover design by Negin Momtaz S I T E S E L E C T I O N MAY 2021 3 F OLL O W US! s i tes e l e c t io n . c o m ▼ INVESTMENT PROFILES 18 MALAYSIA 39 GREATER RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 50 ABILENE, TEXAS 78 HUNGARY 98 CONSUMERS ENERGY, MICHIGAN 109 HAMPTON ROADS, VIRGINIA 138 MARYLAND 152 SOUTH CAROLINA PORTS AUTHORITY 166 SALT RIVER PROJECT, ARIZONA 199 FLORIDA 214 FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT ▼ INVESTMENT REPORT 55 COSTA RICA INVESTMENT REPORT Corporate leaders from Intel, Autodesk, Concentrix and other global leaders tell us why a vibrant blend of high-end services, life sciences, lifelong learning, free zones and the pura vida lifestyle makes Costa Rica the near-shoring destination of choice. ▼DEPARTMENTS 4 EDITOR’S VIEW: TIME TO CHANGE YOUR GAME PLAN? 239 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS ▼ CORRECTION 6 IAMC INSIDER: A letter from the Chair; a look back at 34 years at Conway Data, Inc., from IAMC’s Joel Parker, who is retiring this spring. ▼SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION 234 SHOVEL-READY SITES ENTERGY INTELLIGENCE REPORT 117 ENTERGY INTELLIGENCE REPORT ▼ AREA SPOTLIGHTS 168 ARIZONA Why semiconductor manufacturing investment is on a tear. 179 OHIO How a fast-growing online lending company picked Columbus for a second headquarters and R&D lab. 203 FLORIDA A look at what’s behind so many out-of-state relocations to the Sunshine State. 216 KENTUCKY How the Lieutenant Governor is applying her basketball coaching skills in her new role as Secretary of Education and Workforce Development. 228 IOWA Resiliency and opportunity mark industries that were growing well before the pandemic. MARCH 2021 ISSUE: In the feature on the Mississippi River Corridor, the population of No. 1 per- capita community Clinton, Iowa, was printed incorrectly due to a typo. The correct population is 48,051 … and climbing.4 MAY 2021 S I T E S EL E C T I O N EDIT OR’S VIEW MEMBER Site Selection (ISSN: 1080-7799) (USPS ), May 2021, volume 66 number 3. Published six times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November by Conway Data, Inc., 6625 The Corners Parkway, Suite 200, Peachtree Corners, GA 30092 USA. Periodical postage paid at Peachtree Corners, Georgia, and additional mailing offices. Single issue: $20 plus shipping. Annual subscription: $95 in the United States; $135 to non U.S. addresses. PRINTED IN USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Site Selection, 6625 The Corners Parkway, Suite 200, Peachtree Corners, GA 30092 USA. ©2021 CONWAY DATA, INC. Publisher/Director LAURA LYNE Executive Vice President RONALD J. STARNER VP of Publications & Editor in Chief MARK AREND Managing Editor ADAM BRUNS Senior Editor GARY DAUGHTERS Managing Editor of Custom Content SAVANNAH KING Art Director SCOTT LARSEN Production Coordinator/Designer BOB GRAVLEE Lead Designers SEAN SCANTLAND RICHARD NENOFF NEGIN MOMTAZ Editorial Database Manager KAREN MEDERNACH Research Associate BRIAN ESPINOZA McKENZIE WRIGHT GLOBAL SALES & MARKETING Vice President of Sales CHARLES FITZGIBBON Vice President, Global Innovation GUILLERMO MAZIER Regional Director — Northeast U.S. MIKE GLENNON Regional Director — Midwest U.S. CATHY McFARLAND Regional Director — Southeast U.S. MICHELE RABALAIS Regional Director — Western U.S. PAUL NEWMAN Regional Director — U.S. MARGARET ROSE Global Director POLLYANNA TOWNSEND-ROSE Central America BOBBY PEREIRA, +507 6673 1160 Regional Director — Latin America PILAR CERÓN, +507 6980 1533 Europe BRENDAN DOHERTY, +44 7999 786752 Japan HIROKO MINATO, +81 50 8882 3456 Korea CHUL LEE, +82 2 466 5595 Marketing Assistant CATHIE WENDT BUSINESS DEPARTMENT Chief Financial Officer DEBBIE PORTER Accounting Associate MICHELLE STROZIER CIRCULATION Circulation Manager JULIE CLARKE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TEAM Webmaster BEN YAWN Director of Programming & Analytics DANIEL BOYER IT Coordinator MARK BERTRAM The publishers believe that the information contained in this publication is accurate. However, the in formation is not war ranted, and neither Conway Data, Inc., nor the Industrial Asset Management Council, assumes any liability or responsibility for actual, consequential or incidental damages re sulting from inaccurate or erroneous information. Site Selection incorporates Industrial Development. PHONE: (770) 446-6996 FAX: (770) 263-8825 TOLL FREE: (800) 554-5686 EMAIL: editor@conway.com WEB: www.siteselection.com year after my May 2020 Editor’s View, “On Plexiglass and the New Normal,” I’m still working at home 90% of the time. I could go to our offices — several Conway Data staff members are there regularly. But I don’t miss the commute, and after producing several issues of Site Selection remotely, we have that down pat. After a year of change, not much has changed, it seems. What has changed is a complete overhaul of our Global Best to Invest rankings, thanks to the efforts of Managing Editor Adam Bruns and Conway Data data crunchers working tirelessly behind the scenes. They still reflect successful countries and metros around the globe. But important components have been added to the methodology that add even more weight to the exercise of evaluating capital investment destinations worldwide. How many of you have assigned a staff member the task of indexing, analyzing, and ranking locations using multiple sources of global investment-attraction data? If you haven’t, don’t worry. It’s in this issue. You also will find here winner of the 2021 Prosperity Cup, which is awarded to the state-level economic agencies that were most effective in landing direct investment — and creating prosperity — in the past year. It recognizes the competitive strategies that were most effective. Many are at work in the high-ranking states, of course, on many levels involving many entities. In this year’s winning state, two competitive strategies drive all the others: Never take for granted that a project is won, and make sure every player’s timing and deliverable is executed flawlessly at every turn (change). Such strategies are no doubt behind the winners of the Mac Conway award, recognizing similar economic development agency success on the regional and local levels. They, too, are part of our Best to Invest content — not because the editors think so, but because all rankings in this annual content set are objectively determined by what the project data and other data sets tell us. Other highlights of the May issue include new takes on the importance of water to industries of all kinds. You’ll see how locations that have plenty are using that asset to their advantage, and how a desert location in a drought has a lot more water available for industry than you would ever think. And the Q&A with Amazon’s head of worldwide economic development is not to be missed. You’ll find some timely insights in that interview about how the e-commerce behemoth manages its rapidly changing footprint in the U.S. and around the world. Change is good, even when it seems routine. Till next time, Mark Arend, Editor in Chief Time to Change Your Game Plan? A6 MAY 2021 S I T E S EL E C T I O N www.iamc.org BOARD OF DIRECTORS Fall 2020 - Fall 2021 insider May 2021 Chair Jennifer Roth Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc. Vice Chair Scott Cameron Sonoco Secretary/Treasurer Karen Shchuka Penske Truck Leasing Past Chair Colleen Caravati Corning Inc. Matt Boehlke Xcel Energy Michael Connors CORT Business Services Corp. James Eckert Owens Corning Jim Hazard, SIOR esrp Gregory Hitchin, CEcD City of Waynesboro Patty Horvatich Pittsburgh Regional Alliance Linda Larson Andersen Corp. AJ Magner CBRE Betsy Power PepsiCo Pete Quinn IV, SIOR Colliers International President J. Tate Godfrey, CEcD The topics of diversity and inclusion are big in the news today but have been explicit in IAMC’s strategic plan for over two years now. The board, committees and staff are committed to these principles. While certainly not new concepts, recent events in the U.S. and elsewhere have put them freshly before us. “In simple terms, diversity is the mix, and inclusion is getting the mix to work well together,” GlobalDiversityPractice.com tells us. “Openness to diversity widens our access to the best talent. Inclusion allows us to engage talent effectively. Together, this leads to enhanced innovation, creativity, productivity, reputation, engagement, and results.” Focusing on IAMC’s diversity levels, the first question will be “What’s our status now?” The most readily available information we have concerns membership gender ratios. Overall, women account for 30% of membership. Only five years ago, this number was about 20%. So, the direction is progressing, but not nearly to the levels where we should be for a balanced organization. A recent Wealth Management magazine article said this about commercial real estate industry diversity: “Recent months have been marked by internal and external discussions throughout the industry on how a notoriously white male-dominated industry can improve its diversity and inclusion.” The piece was more generally about CBRE’s promotion of Tim Dismond to Chief Responsbility Officer, responsible for the company’s Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) efforts. Note that Dismond has been invited by IAMC to address a June 21 plenary session of the Fort Worth Professional Forum. We are looking forward to hearing his comments. In a similar move, minority- owned Mohr Partners has elevated a senior manager to the new role of head of diversity and inclusion. IAMC members CBRE and Mohr have made a splash in pursuit of these principles. But I should say there are other companies with good diversity and inclusion programs that have not been so highly publicized. Both IAMC’s Membership Committee as well as our Emerging Leaders Task Force actively support growing our diversity and inclusion. The latter group supports recruitment of women and culturally diverse professionals who are beginning their careers in industrial corporate real estate. As I shared earlier, women are a growing proportion of IAMC members, and, further, I should say four sit on our board of directors. But diversity principles should extend beyond giving women a fair share of the work. Their participation in leadership is equally important. IAMC is committed to recruiting and integrating members from both genders and the full range of cultures, races and sexual orientation communities. As board chair, I’m committed to this, and I hope you too will throw your support and enthusiasm behind this important effort so that diversity, belonging and equity are visible through the organization’s DNA. Jennifer Roth Chair, IAMC Board of Directors IAMC Working Hard on Diversity in An Industry with a Ways to Go Mark Your Calendar … Jennifer RothNext >