< PreviousMORE THAN DIRT. Trusted since 1954 by those who dig corporate location decision-making and economic development. Connect with us 800.554.5686 @SITESELECTIONMAGAZINESITE SELECTION MAGAZINE@SITESELECTION.COM@SITESELECTION.COM SITE SELECTION NOVEMBER 2024 159 BY THE NUMBERS MONTANA Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 343,156 Number of NCRCs: 1,872 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 0.54% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: 0 Industrial power cost per kWh: $7.49 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 108.5% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.46 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M Brixtel Defense Glendive 125 Montana Renewables / Calumet Specialty Products Great Falls 90 Vacom Vakuum Komponenten & Messtechnik Gmbh Lewistown 90 Dvele Butte 80 Olympus Arms Helena 50 Source: Conway Projects Database S o many Hollywood types have come to Montana over recent decades that some refer to Bozeman as Boze-Angeles. e incursion is a familiar complaint from native Montanans and from those who pioneered the scenic-peace-and- quiet migration and forgot to shut the door behind them. But all is forgiven as long as those stars keep bringing fi lm productions to the state. If one Montana movie is lodged in most people’s memories, it’s the moving fi lm “A River Runs rough It,” based on the book by Norman Maclean — part of an equally stellar tradition of writers who have graced Montana’s landscape for generations. But fi lming in the state goes back a whole lot further to , when the Edison Manufacturing Company fi lmed a tourist train leaving Livingston. Like the proverbial large employer whose CEO goes on a trip and decides to bring the company there too, the fi lm industry has since evolved from tourist to longtime economic engine. While other states have only discovered the virtues of establishing a fi lm offi ce in recent years, the Montana Department of Commerce created a Film Offi ce years ago in . In , the Montana State Legislature passed the Montana Economic Development Industry Advancement Act (MEDIA Act) to off er an income tax benefi t to entice fi lm, television and other media production. From July through June , the state welcomed productions resulting in $. million in local economic impact, full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs and $. million in tax revenue. From July through mid-May , the state saw more productions resulting in $. million in economic impact, , FTEs and tax revenue of $. million. In June, the Department of Commerce announced that, after receiving applications requesting more than $ million in funds from its Big Sky Film Grant (BSFG) program, fi lm creations will share more than $. million in grants to fi lm on location across the state. “ ese fi lm projects are expected to spend an estimated $ million in Montana,” said Paul Green, director of the Montana Department of Commerce, “and will bring in productions that will help boost the economies of many rural Montana communities, including Plentywood, Cohagen, Lame Deer, Poplar, Dillon, Clyde Park, Choteau, Pryor, Roberts, Virginia City and Pray.” e largest grant of $, is going to “ e Unholy Trinity,” a western set in the s featuring Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s directed by Richard Gray, whose fi lmography includes other Montana-located fi lms such as “Robert the Bruce” and “Murder in Yellowstone City.” Like others before him, Australian native Gray was enamored enough with the state to move his family in to Livingston — the same town where fi lm in Montana got its start years earlier. ere, he and co-founders Carter Boehm and Colin Davis have founded Yellowstone Film Ranch, which they describe as a “one-stop shop Montana fi lming location with industry-leading tax credit services, an operational western town backlot, vast prairie and forested land available, medieval sets and a spacious production offi ce available for rent.” e train fi lmed by Edison himself left Livingston in . But like a steam locomotive rolling down the track, the industry’s back in town with more momentum than ever. by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns@siteselection.com After 127 years, the Montana fi lm industry is aging well. Livingston, I Presume Montana Filmmakers are drawn to Montana’s compelling quality of light and quality of life. Photo by Laura Lyne STATE SPOTLIGHT160 NOVEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION J ust because you don’t literally “make” the news anymore doesn’t mean you can’t make the news. “ e Miami Herald started going downhill,” said former Herald sportswriter and longtime broadcaster Dan Le Batard recently, “when it was realized the land where its building was located was more valuable than the entire news operation.” at might sound a little harsh: News organizations are still committing valuable acts of journalism, after all. But as the old saying goes about the value of land, they’re not making any more of it. Look around the Southeast — and the nation, for that matter — and they pop up like alerts on a police scanner: e Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s former printing plant will give way to the $ billion Centennial Yards development. e former home of the Greenville News in Upstate South Carolina has been subsumed by the lively Camperdown development. In Birmingham and Memphis, former newspaper buildings have been transformed into storage. But more often than not, the properties are turning into hot new downtown hubs. If printing the news is on its way out, then hip repositioning of the routinely high-value, center-city premises that used to produce the daily newspaper is most defi nitely in. And as with old tobacco and mill buildings, companies are attracted to those places’ recast narratives. Alabama Ever since Nick Saban retired as football coach at the University of Alabama, they can’t name things after him fast enough. Sure, Saban Field at Bryant- Denny Stadium is nice. But before that happened this fall, another place in Tuscaloosa — a place that could infl uence the futures of more than NFL draft picks — was graced with his surname. e Saban Center soon will rise on the spot previously occupied by e Tuscaloosa News on what was previously called th Avenue. But it too has been renamed with Saban’s moniker in the new name: Nick’s Kids Avenue is so named after Nick’s Kids Foundation, an organization established by Saban and his wife Terry in during their time in Lansing, Michigan, to honor his father Nick Saban, Sr. Its mission is to help nonprofi t organizations that support children, family, teacher and student causes. ose causes have included Habitat for Humanity houses, career tech classrooms at the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile HOT OFF THE PRESSES: by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns@siteselection.com SOUTHEAST Cool Projects Make the News at Properties That Used to Print It The Camperdown Plaza development on the banks of the Reedy River in Greenville, South Carolina, has welcomed news of new headquarters from Find Great People and United Community Bank in the past year. Photos/renderings courtesy of Visit Greenville and Find Great People SITE SELECTION NOVEMBER 2024 161 Detention Center and the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk Playground, among others. Now they include the Saban Center, an innovative community partnership that will bring together community, STEM-centered children’s organizations. Saban Center Director of Development Brandt LaPhish tells me there’s been “lots of confusion” about what the Saban Center will be. So he’s here to clear that up. “Saban Center is an active learning campus that includes the Tuscaloosa Children’s Theatre, The Children’s Hands-On Museum (which will be reimagined as IGNITE), and the State of Alabama STEM Hub,” he writes. “Here arts, education, discovery and innovation come together to prepare the workforce of the future.” Partners include the Alabama Power Foundation, Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Mercedes-Benz, Parker Towing, The University of Alabama and, most recently, Shelton State Community College (SSCC), designated as The Community College of the Fine Arts by the Alabama Legislature. “Furthermore, SSCC’s prominence as the premier training entity for West Alabama’s industrial sectors — automotive, manufacturing, construction, health care and more — positions it uniquely to create relevant programming for exhibits related to STEM and career technologies,” said a June release. “This includes robotics, computer programming and networking, electronics, welding, truck driving, health care, child care and numerous other subjects pertinent to the West Alabama region.” Demolition of the Tuscaloosa News building is occurring this fall, with an official groundbreaking next spring and an opening kickoff sometime in summer 2027. The project is supported by around $40 million, $15 million in private funds and $25 million as a result of the Elevate Tuscaloosa tax plan, which has funded parks, transportation and 162 NOVEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION community projects across the city. It’s the second time a Tuscaloosa News building has given way in the name of progress. The paper’s longtime home at Sixth Street and 20th Avenue was demolished in 2007 as part of the city’s Downtown Urban Renewal and Redevelopment Project. In Mobile, after the Mobile Press-Register, the state’s oldest newspaper, decided to stop printing a paper edition in 2023, its headquarters is being occupied by beer distributor Gulf Distributing. In Montgomery, after nearly two centuries in publication, the Montgomery Advertiser has moved from Molton Street into the hip Kress on Dexter redevelopment on the city’s historic Dexter Avenue. That same address is home to The Eagle Institute, an Air University Innovation Center designed to convene stakeholders to boost innovation within the Air Force. In Huntsville, the former headquarters of The Huntsville Times near downtown is now occupied by Times Plaza, a mixed-use office and retail development. The paper itself relocated to a bypass in the 1950s before relocating back downtown in 2013. North Carolina Even as the former News & Observer building in downtown Raleigh awaits action six years after being sold by McClatchy, the footprint of the Charlotte Observer on South Tryon Street from 1927 to 2016 has given way to tomorrow in the shape of Legacy Union, a 10.2-acre mix of office towers, green space, retail and dining owned by Lincoln Harris. “The vision for Legacy Union has always been to create a dynamic gateway for Uptown Charlotte, and with three first-class office towers totaling more than 1.5 million square feet of space, that vision is certainly becoming a reality,” said Johno Harris, president of Charlotte-based Lincoln Harris, when the company, in partnership with the real estate business of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, closed on the sale of the 18-story 367,000-sq.-ft. Legacy Union SIX50 building at 650 South Tryon to Highwoods Properties Inc., a company also involved in the redevelopment of the former site of The Tennessean and Nashville Banner newspapers in the hip North Gulch district of Nashville. “This is the culmination of more than seven years of effort to entitle, develop, lease and sell more than 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use commercial real estate on the former Observer site which has redefined Charlotte’s skyline,” said Chris Nelson, managing director, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “We’re excited for the next phase of office development at Legacy Union currently underway, and congratulate Highwoods on their acquisition as they expand their footprint in Charlotte.” That next phase has arrived with the delivery this year of 600 South Tryon, a 300,000-sq.-ft., 24-story building with expansive amenities located at the exact same address as the Charlotte Observer’s longtime home. South Carolina The mill-to-mixed-use motif mixes with the newspaper theme in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. The Camperdown Plaza redevelopment sits by the Reedy River at the same location once A conceptual rendering depicts IGNITE, a STEM discovery center to be located at the Saban Center campus devoted to STEM and the arts in Tuscaloosa. Rendering courtesy of The Saban Center SITE SELECTION NOVEMBER 2024 163 occupied by Camperdown Mill, a 260-employee cotton thread factory that operated from 1876 to 1956. The site was also home to The Greenville News, whose legacy of 75 years in operation is now honored in the Press Room, a speakeasy-style bar inside the AC Hotel at Camperdown. The 35,000-sq.-ft. Greenville News building this past summer was sold to a new ownership group and will be managed by The Furman Company Investment Advisory Services. Its main tenant will be Find Great People, the Greenville- based HR and recruiting company that operates around a mission of “gratitude, growth and great people” and maintains other offices in Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee. The company aims to move into the new location by the summer of 2025. “The Greenville News has been a landmark in our community for decades, and we are grateful for the opportunity to move into this cornerstone building,” said John Uprichard, CEO of Find Great People, of the newspaper that was one of the first tenants at Camperdown when it arrived there in 2017. “The Camperdown Plaza has become a vibrant hub, and we are excited about the opportunity to be in the heart of our city. This move will provide an enhanced experience for our clients and employees, as well as future opportunities to positively impact our community,” Practically next door on Camperdown Way, United Community Bank recently opened its new $65 million, 300-employee HQ overlooking Falls Park and that same Reedy River that once powered mills and today powers tourism and quality of life. Redevelopment of the former Miami Herald waterfront HQ site owned by Malaysian gambling operator Genting Group has been slow to materialize. In the meantime, the location where the newspaper building was razed in 2015 has been leased to the Art Miami and Context art fairs. Photo courtesy of Art Miami164 NOVEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION 3 M, the technology and health care giant based in Minnesota, has a lengthy history in Valley, Nebraska, a town of , people about half an hour west of Omaha. M is Valley’s biggest employer, its manufacturing plant there having opened when Jimmy Carter was president. Small wonder, then, that a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the facility’s recent expansion drew a stream of high-level dignitaries that included M leadership, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts and nd district Congressman Don Bacon, all of whose remarks saluted the plant’s valued legacy. “Forty-fi ve years of age and you’re still growing and still making things happen,” observed Pillen. by GARY DAUGHTERS gary.daughters@siteselection.com Nebraska’s newest incentive program is paying dividends. NEBRASKA Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (maroon jacket) helped cut the ribbon on 3M’s expansion in Valley, Nebraska. Photo courtesy of 3M ImagiNE That! SITE SELECTION NOVEMBER 2024 165 3M’s $67 million expansion, completed in May, increased the plant’s footprint by 90,000 sq. ft., thus boosting production capacity for its hand-held respirators, demand for which has surged starting with the COVID-19 pandemic. The plant also produces hearing protection products such as industrial earmuffs. The Valley operation, said Chris Goralski, president of 3M Safety and Industrial, “is essential to our mission to deliver solutions that help protect people worldwide, whether during a crisis like COVID-19 or on the job every day.” To facilitate the expansion, 3M leveraged the ImagiNE Nebraska Program, a tax incentive- based regime created in 2020 to spur economic growth by providing support for qualifying businesses. As of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development’s most recent report to the state legislature, 50 companies have signed economic development agreements under ImagiNE Nebraska, with combined investments totaling $1.55 billion and projected full-time job creation approaching 2,500. Mutual of Omaha’s $ million headquarters project in downtown Omaha is the largest such investment. Others include a $ million Clean Harbors incinerator project in Kimball ( new jobs); a $ million precision fermentation plant in Blair from California-based Perfect Day ( jobs); and a $ million expansion of a Novozymes biotech facility, also in Blair ( jobs). Getting the Most Out of Corn Recently cited by Yahoo! Finance as one of the country’s top renewable energy stocks, Omaha- based Green Plains is another promising company to have tapped into ImagiNE Nebraska. In March, the company held a grand opening for a $ million biofuels production plant in the rural town of York, west of Lincoln, a project also made possible through a partnership with Shell. “Green Plains,” reported Yahoo!, “is one of the largest biofuel companies in the world, producing nearly billion gallons every year.” Technology embedded in the company’s new facility was developed with the intent of squeezing BY THE NUMBERS NEBRASKA Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 627,294 Number of NCRCs: 6,797 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 11.83% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: -1 Industrial power cost per kWh: $7.21 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 104.5% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.25 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M Costco Wholesale Corp. Fremont 1,000 JWC Gburg Gothenburg 750 Google Lincoln 600 White River Soy Processing North Platte 400 Norfolk Crusher Hire Norfolk 375 Source: Conway Projects Database 166 NOVEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTIONadded value from every part of the corn kernel, Nebraska being the country’s third-largest corn producer. According to a Green Plains statement, the plant’s advanced capabilities will allow it to extract 100% of a kernel’s renewable oil, about 50% more than current industry maximums. Ethanol produced by the plant could also be used to produce sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel fuel, the company believes. “This is all about adding more value to the corn our Nebraska family farmers are so proficient at producing,” said Devin Mogler, senior vice president of corporate and investor relations at Green Plains. Development officials in York County express hope that the high-profile investment will serve as a welcome mat for other companies within the surging biofuels industry. “Green Plains and Shell understand the value of operating in York County,” said Lisa Hurley, director of York County Development Corporation. “As their ventures succeed, we expect others to take notice and decide to bring their operations to our region as well.” Two More of Note Founded in 1955 on the plains west of Omaha, the Lindsay Corporation has expanded into a worldwide force in irrigation systems, with manufacturing operations in Europe, Brazil, South Africa and China. This year and next, the company is investing $50 million to expand and modernize its biggest global manufacturing facility, which happens to be in the town from which the company draws its name and original location. “This investment,” said President and CEO Randy Wood, “will accelerate Lindsay’s ability to bring its latest innovations to market.” Lindsay’s Smart Pivot, which uses sensors and high-resolution imagery to monitor crop health, is among the new products the plant is to bring to bear. Modernizations, the company says, include advances in data connectivity, analytics, artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. Expansions such these require all manner of building materials — perhaps most importantly cement — demand for which is an underappreciated barometer of economic vitality. Last spring, Holcim US, the country’s leading cement producer, announced the addition of a $20.5 million storage dome in Fremont, also west of Omaha, to support residential, commercial and industrial growth in Nebraska and beyond. “Nebraska, Omaha in particular, and nearby Midwest cities are experiencing an influx of construction projects, with new infrastructure being introduced every day,” said Patrick J. Cleary, Holcim’s senior vice president of cement sales. “We’re proud to meet this demand with local operations in one location.” Next >