< Previous114 JULY 2024 SITE SELECTION philosophical approach to economic development and how our state and our department work to grow business in Louisiana. The challenge that was the impetus for me accepting the job is that for a very long time in Louisiana we have accepted a misperception that our children have to choose between home and family versus economic and career opportunity. We’ve wrung our hands and accepted that as if it’s our lot in life. Well, I have 20-somethings, and I’m not willing to accept it. And I feel like we in state government are the only ones who have the opportunity to change it. So, that was the fuel that got me to say, ‘Sure, I’ll forego yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays and come in and do this job.’ It’s been about 100 days since I landed here, and it has been lightning speed, hair-on-fire ever since. 2 “Blowing it up” is a process. It started with identifying successful economic development models pioneered in other states. Upending the culture at LED became a key component, as did statutory changes underpinning the agency’s mission. Bourgeois happened to speak with Site Selection just hours after the Louisiana House approved the “Positioning Louisiana to Win Bill,” which codifies some of those changes. Bourgeois: We looked at best practices around the country, particularly with our Southern states that have some similarities to us, to identify what their systems look like and why they’re seeing more job growth success than we are. We looked at those states and we took the common threads. So, the bill aligns us closer to a South Carolina model. We also looked at the Virginia model, and we all look enviably at the Ohio model with their aggressive funding stream. We’re building an organization that can be reflective of and responsive to the private sector by breaking The State Capitol in Baton Rouge Photo: Getty Images116 JULY 2024 SITE SELECTION down the bureaucratic barriers that exist inside government to allow us to respond at the speed of business instead of the speed of government. Number one is having a private sector voice and vision attached to our economic development plans and strategy. In Louisiana, we have a very strong chief executive and the governor’s politics have historically determined what the strategy of economic development was — which is maybe not in the best practices playbook. Solving that was critical, which is why our bill creates a way for the private sector to be involved in determining the strategy that is going to transcend gubernatorial administrations. Our bill creates an oversight, guidance and policy board for our department made of private sector leaders representing the sectors that have built the economy of Louisiana. eir greatest charge is to create a strategic plan that is both acute and immediate. at is happening as we speak. 3 Louisiana has unique assets that owe to its geography, legacy industries and culture. ey translate well to emerging trends and industries. Bourgeois: We have a really robust river system that off ers new opportunities Number one is having a private sector voice and vision attached to our economic development plans and strategy.” — Susan Bourgeois , Secretary, Louisiana Dept. of Economic Development Number one is having a private SITE SELECTION JULY 2024 117 in the agricultural sector and gives us access to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and therefore access to the world. We have two major east-west Interstates and two north-south Interstates running through our state and tremendous transportation infrastructure. Our incentives are as good as anywhere in the country. We have a pro-business climate and a pro- business governor who wants to make sure we make it easy for business and industry to succeed in Louisiana. Every state in this country has a workforce challenge, right? But what we have in Louisiana is culture where multiple generations of the same family have worked in the same industry or a one-off of that industry. So, there’s a work ethic and a commitment to those fields that is really cultural and it’s identifiable. You can talk to CEOs and leaders in industry who have either moved or expanded businesses here. They’ll say this workforce is different, and that’s a tremendous, tremendous tool for us when everywhere in the country is facing such challenges in that space. 4 Emerging energy projects represent a potential Louisiana bonanza: clean ammonia, green hydrogen, solar manufacturing, EV batteries. Louisiana is absorbing across-the-board investments in new and renewable energy technologies. Bourgeois: In the 100-plus days I have been in this job, I would say 99% — and it might even be pushing closer to 100% — of the projects that have come across my desk have involved some component of the energy evolution and what is happening with the way we are reinventing U.S. energy. There is no 118 JULY 2024 SITE SELECTION state in this country better positioned than Louisiana is to capitalize on the global pressure — not domestic pressure — the global pressure for doing energy diff erently. We have the legacy infrastructure, and we have the legacy workforce. We have the pro-business climate, the land and the grid capacity. And we have the ingenuity. Our position is to optimize Louisiana’s legacy industries so that they can lead in the future as they have in the past. In the ’ s we were a leader in the petrochemical and energy space, and we sort of let that go. Our infrastructure and our processes and our people are positioning us to win heavily in that again. I think symbiosis is the perfect word there. Our legacy energy industries have other entities co-locating and doing joint ventures with them because their methane byproduct is actually ere is no state better positioned than Louisiana is to capitalize on the global pressure ... for doing energy diff erently.” — Susan Bourgeois , Secretary, Louisiana Dept. of Economic Development ere is no state Illustration: Getty Images SITE SELECTION JULY 2024 119 a feedstock now for clean processes. At the end of the day, Louisiana has embraced an all-of-the above energy mentality. No one in this administration is going to stand up and tell you that we are not an oil and gas state, yet there are many, many, many other technologies and processes and opportunities that can be and are being embraced by those sectors to just add to it. 5 Liquefied natural gas production and exports are booming and set to grow further. The demand for LNG, which had risen steadily, began to skyrocket in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Louisiana already boasts three of the nation’s seven LNG export terminals, with more facilities planned. Not even the Biden Administration’s recent pause on approving new LNG export terminals is slowing down the investment surge, and Bourgeois views the moratorium as temporary and soon to be resolved. Bourgeois: I would argue that it’s hung up because of politics. You know, good or bad. It was a federal decision from the Biden administration. These projects are ongoing and what we’re hearing is that right around November we will be back into the business of permitting future LNG processes because the world needs it. This isn’t being driven by domestic policy but the reality of the world that we’re living in. Goldman Sachs has identified that by 2032 about $2.9 trillion will be spent on the reinvention of U.S. energy. Louisiana won’t forego that opportunity. We will not. And we think Louisiana is really going to be surprising some people. Show-Me Showbiz Missouri STATE SPOTLIGHT BY THE NUMBERS MISSOURI Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 1,711,076 Number of NCRCs: 170,010 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 7.54% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: -1 Industrial power cost per kWh: $7.67 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 102.5% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.54 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M Google Kansas City 1000 GlobalWafers Co. Saint Peters 300 Americold Realty Trust Kansas City 127 Performance Food Group Co. Saint Louis 117 Unilever Manufacturing Jeff erson City 80 Source: Conway Projects Database Situated near I-64 and Spirit of St. Louis Airport, the $150 million Gateway Studios & Production Services is scheduled to open later this year. Photo by Eric Witthaus courtesy of Gateway 120 JULY 2024 SITE SELECTION Show-Me Showbiz M issouri already is known as a logistics hub. More than one-third of the nearly corporate facility investments tracked in the state since January by Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database have a distribution function, with another one-third devoted to manufacturing sites that also need goods movement. Missouri is also already known as a legacy hub for minerals, going back to the days of lead mines for batteries and continuing to the present day, when the state, led by the University of Missouri System, has been pegged for one of the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Tech Hubs. e Critical Minerals and Materials for Advanced Energy (CMAE) Tech Hub aims “to position south-central Missouri as a global leader in critical minerals processing to provide the materials needed to support battery technology” for both lithium-ion and primary-lead- acid batteries.” But is the Show-Me State known as a hub for showbiz? Driving along I- in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfi eld in early June, my father and I (and thousands of others) were distracted to the point of pulling over by the Blue Angels rehearsing their show directly over our heads in preparation for an airshow that weekend at nearby Spirit of St. Louis Airport. Not nearly as thunderous but head- turning nonetheless was a complex rising there in the fl ats on the approach to the Missouri River, where there is already substantial investment in retail and high- quality sports complexes. Originally announced in , Gateway Studios & Production Services is not your everyday fi lm and TV production complex. Its primary focus is development of a live touring act rehearsal complex and production services company. St. Louis beat out fi lm-happy Georgia and live-act- rich Nashville for the project. e $-million, -acre site is expected to open this year and employ more than music and fi lm manufacturing and production professionals who will tend to the “manufacturing, building, testing and by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns@siteselection.com SITE SELECTION JULY 2024 121 launching of globally touring musical acts and movies.” Organizations involved in attracting the project included the State of Missouri, St. Louis County, the City of Chesterfi eld, Missouri Partnership, the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, Ameren Missouri and Greater St. Louis, Inc. As of this summer, the project was on track, complete with a main studio as big as a football stadium in order for musical acts to acclimate to that kind of performance space before heading out on tour. e complex also aims to serve the motion picture, television and video production sector. According to a March report from the Motion Picture Association (comprising six major fi lm studios), the U.S. fi lm and TV industry in supported , direct jobs engaged in producing, marketing, and manufacturing motion pictures, television shows and video content. e average wage for production-related jobs was $,. A map with dots representing individual businesses was accompanied by the statement that Motion Picture Association member companies in made $ billion in payments to more than , local businesses across the nation. A magnifi cation of the map showed distinct clusters of those businesses in the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas. To help those companies grow and attract more productions to the state, Gov. Mike Parson in July signed into law the Show MO Act, which provides a % tax credit for qualifying expenses and doesn’t sunset until the fi nal day of . A previous fi lm production tax credit in Missouri existed from through , when it expired. In March, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, which administers the credit alongside the Missouri Film Offi ce, announced that “On Fire,” a fi lm telling the story of a St. Louis native who overcomes near-fatal burn injuries, was the fi rst feature fi lm to receive funding through the Show MO Act. In-Missouri spending for the production totaled nearly $. million over days of fi lming and more than Missourians were employed, the department announced. e fi lm received $. million in tax credits. INVESTMENT PROFILE: MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY INNOVATION DESTINATION A t the doorstep of New York City, Middlesex County, New Jersey, cultivates its own doorways to discovery. Look around the county’s municipalities and you’ll fi nd places where growing companies and their employees cultivate innovation as a way of life. Sandy S. Castor, Department Head of Economic Development for Middlesex County, says the area’s innovation mindset is baked in and now is being enhanced by intentional actions around the county’s unique and growing blend of talent, quality-of-life amenities, cultural diversity, workforce development and research assets. “ e work that we’re doing in Middlesex County continues to resonate,” she says. at applies to established multinationals and early-stage companies alike. “We understand the importance and cherish the value that entrepreneurs bring to the ecosystem that we’re creating,” says Castor. e message to those young fi rms? “We are the key ingredient in accelerating your success.” One of those startups is growing fast after making headlines in with the fi rst COVID- test utilizing saliva. “We are thrilled to call New Jersey’s life science innovation corridor our home and are excited about the opportunities to expand in such a nurturing and skilled environment,” says John DelliSanti, CEO of Sampled. Formerly known as Infi nity Biologix, the company spun out of Rutgers University in . Now it’s making an expansion investment in a ,-sq.-ft. facility in Piscataway that will be home of the largest biorepositories of its kind in the world. e new complex will allow the company to store, manage, analyze, research and transport up to million bio-samples using equipment that includes over freezers and liquid nitrogen tanks. Denmark-based biotech fi rm Genmab employs employees at its U.S. headquarters in Plainsboro and is about to employ a whole lot more. In March, Genmab was approved for up to $. million in state tax credits over seven years (through NJEDA’s Emerge program) to support a $. million, -job investment in a second location in Plainsboro. e location was selected over a competing site in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, because of the tax credits and the location’s talent quotient and proximity to higher education institutions, the state said. Brain Train Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson began his professional training as a pharmaceutical apprentice. So it’s only natural that the county J&J calls home is as focused on workforce development as it is on target sectors such as life sciences, food technology and autonomous mobility. As part of Middlesex County’s $ million investment in the Jack and by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns@siteselection.com 122 JULY 2024 SITE SELECTION A yearning to discover and connect is at the heart of Middlesex County’s success. Photo by Wirestock: Getty Images SITE SELECTION JULY 2024 123 Sheryl Morris Cancer Center developed by Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and RWJBarnabas Health in partnership with the New Brunswick Development Corporation, the RWJBarnabas Health Workforce Partnership will create unique educational pathways and curricula for the benefi t of Middlesex College and Middlesex County’s nationally ranked magnet school academies, including schools focused on STEM and on allied health professions. e cancer center, New Jersey’s fi rst and only freestanding cancer hospital, is scheduled for completion in late . e life sciences also infl ect the location choice of Nokia Bell Labs — the company where Alexander Graham Bell’s innovation legacy has lived on for years. e company announced in December it will relocate its research and development campus from historic digs in Murray Hill to the new four- acre Health & Life Science Exchange (HELIX) development in downtown New Brunswick, home to the Rutgers Health New Jersey Innovation Hub now under construction. It’s one more thing that’s never been seen before in a county accustomed to breaking new ground. Nokia Chief Strategy and Technology Offi cer Nishant Batra said the move marries the organization’s legacy with a modern R&D facility. “Ultimately,” he said, “we want a facility that feels right for the next years of Nokia Bell Labs.” Expected to break ground in , the new .-million-sq.-ft. campus will be developed in three phases by SJP Properties backed by the New Brunswick Development Corporation, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and the City of New Brunswick. Nokia Bell Labs and partners also are separately launching a new venture studio. “Collaboration and cooperation are central to the Nokia Bell Labs research model, and therefore increased proximity to an ecosystem of academic centers of excellence, established industry leaders and exciting new startup ventures was a contributing factor to the site selection,” the company said. ‘Deep Cultural Competency’ All of the above takes place against an everyday backdrop of cultural diversity. With a population of ,, Middlesex County is the second most populous county in the state and also one of the most diverse, having welcomed more than , international migrants between July and July . As of , .% of county residents were born outside of the U.S. When it comes to foreign direct investment, the county is a state leader. Foreign-born populations undergird that investment. Middlesex is home to one of the largest communities of Indians outside of India itself. Now there is growing traction with Japanese fi rms. “ at’s because we possess a deep cultural competency that extends beyond the built environment and education, encompassing art, history and culture,” Castor says. “We acknowledge, appreciate, and embrace everyone” e words she uses to describe her team’s role could just as easily describe the county’s sense of community: “Our diversity is not just a statistic,” she says. “We see our role as pivotal in mirroring this mosaic. We act as the conveners and connectors, striving to weave together the various strands of our county into a cohesive whole where potential is realized. is commitment to inclusivity and collaboration is essential as we work toward shared positive economic outcomes for all.” This Investment Profile was prepared under the auspices of the Middlesex County Office of Business Engagement. To learn more, contact biz@co.middlesex.nj.us and visit www.middlesexcountynj.gov/biz. New Jersey is an important technology hub for TCS, and we are excited to be a part of its growing reputation as a center of innovation.” — Surya Kant, Chairman of North America, Tata Consultancy Services, announcing the planned hiring of nearly 1,000 more employees, February 2022 New Jersey is an d ied Innovative new environments in Middlesex County include (l. to r.) Hackensack Meridian Health’s $200 million wellness center at a transit hub in Woodbridge; one of the world’s largest biorepositories from Rutgers spinout Sampled in Piscataway; and Genmab’s second location in Plainsboro. Images courtesy of Russo Development/Hackensack Meridian Health; Genmab (photo by Connie Zhou for Gensler); and Sampled (photo by Mike Van Tassell (NJ)Next >