SEPTEMBER 2024 Volume 69 • Number 5 SITE SELECTION2 SEPTEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION ▼ INTERNATIONAL UPDATE 12 ASIA A new, nine-square-mile Capital City is being developed in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor, which is at the forefront of the country’s foreign investment strategy. 18 NORTH AMERICAN REPORTS Pending CHIPS funds boost a $3.8 billion Indiana project; a solar cell manufacturing facility will create 900 New Mexico jobs; two Mexican states win Harman plants; Amazon plans to open a Puerto Rico delivery center and a data center campus expansion in San Antonio. 24 WORLDREPORTS Pfi zer expands in Singapore; a green hydrogen facility takes shape in Germany; Malaysia lands a silicon carbide power semiconductor fab; Portugal to host Europe’s largest colocation site. 92 MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA Qatar embarks on its third National Development Strategy. ▼ COVER STORY 28 CANADA’S BEST LOCATIONS The Canadian provinces, regions and metros that outshone their competitor locations to attract the most capital investment, facilities and jobs both cumulatively and per capita. THE MAGAZINE OF CORPORATE REAL ESTATE STRATEGY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ▼ FEATURES 58 ADVANCED MATERIALS Where companies on the cutting edge of product development are locating their new facilities. 61 TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT How an urban rail project is revitalizing and energizing Portland, Oregon. 70 GLOBAL GROUNDWORK INDEX Ohio, Indianapolis and the United Kingdom top the rankings in our unique blend of corporate end-user and public infrastructure project data. 84 RARE EARTH OPERATIONS Processing critical minerals domestically is ramping up as companies invest in facilities designed to bring the supply chain home from overseas. 95 LOGISTICS & DISTRIBUTION The logistics landscape in a post-pandemic world and how an Ohio River bridge is transformational. 112 TOP UTILITIES IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Power provision factors into this year’s recognition of utility economic development winners along with capital investment and job creation success. 128 DIRECTORY OF UTILITIES 138 SITE DEVELOPMENT Is it time for a national standard for site readiness programs? 175 EDS & MEDS Wexford’s Tom Osha knows innovation districts, some of which are now overlapping with federally designated Tech Hubs. 177 QUALITY OF LIFE Recent WalletHub analysis reveals the best states to live in and, more specifi cally, the states with the best quality of life. 180 OUTDOOR RECREATION The U.S. outdoor recreation economy is booming, and several western states are capitalizing on that momentum. VOLUME 69, NUMBER 5 September 2024 42 CANADA DIRECTORY Cover design by Negin Momtaz SITE SELECTION SEPTEMBER 2024 3 siteselection.com ▼ INVESTMENT PROFILES 20 SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 26 ARDMORE, OKLAHOMA 86 WASHINGTON, D.C. 110 CONSUMERS ENERGY 194 ANTIOCH, CALIFORNIA ▼ DEPARTMENTS 4 EDITOR’S VIEW: 231 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS ▼ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTIONS 228 BIOTECH LOCATIONS ▼ INVESTMENT REPORT 63 DOWNTOWN ATLANTA, GEORGIA 6 IAMC INSIDER: Letter from the incoming Chair; IAMC members’ global infrastructure impact. GREATER PHOENIX INTELLIGENCE REPORT 155 ▼ AREA SPOTLIGHTS 48 UPPER MIDWEST Why a leading soy sauce producer keeps expanding in Wisconsin; the region’s transformation into a high-tech haven is gaining momentum. 68 I-80 CORRIDOR Sites along this Interstate are proving to be the right ones for data centers, especially in northern Indiana. 88 MID-ATLANTIC Recent legislation boosts Maryland’s off shore wind industry; Virginia lands a subsea cable manufacturing facility; a new port takes shape in Delaware. 142 TEXAS Demand for power in the Lone Star State is set to double over the next six years. Can suppliers keep up? 182 CALIFORNIA A roundup of recent capital investment activity in six Golden State regions. 198 PENNSYLVANIA Population growth is helping meet a growing demand for labor in the Lehigh Valley. 202 NORTH CAROLINA Novo Nordisk’s investments in the Tar Heel State keep getting bigger. Its latest is north of $4 billion. 210 NEVADA Tech Hub status boosts northern Nevada’s lithium ecosystem ambitions. 216 UPSTATE NEW YORK This region’s electricity transmission grid is getting a $4 billion upgrade as its semiconductor sector expands. 222 ARKANSAS A central Arkansas town checks all the boxes for a Tractor Supply Company distribution center. 225 IDAHO Micron’s new memory manufacturing fab in Boise lures workers with a child care facility. 226 MASSACHUSETTS Why the Boston area’s life sciences sector is outperforming national growth rates. Olympic-Level Excellence FOLLOW US!4 SEPTEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION D id you enjoy the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in France as much as I did? The excellence of the athletes across 32 sports was surpassed only by the choice of stunning venues, then magnified by the endorphins of wall-to-wall coverage on NBC and Peacock network’s Gold Zone. I checked in with mountain biking and road race events over morning coffee. Lunchtime viewing featured anything from water polo or the pommel horse to the insane event of kayak cross. Evenings found me taking in the speed of swimmers from that incredible overhead camera or the height of a tumbling leap in gymnastics. How was I supposed to get anything done? I read that Peacock’s service was “over the top.” That sounded a bit hypercritical to me. Then I was reminded it was an industry term for custom streaming of content directly to viewers, going over the top of traditional content distribution channels. The publication you’re reading now is a traditional content distribution channel. A print run of Site Selection ships out from Liberty, Missouri, after using about 500 pounds of ink, our printer’s rep tells me. It’s humbling to think of the work we take such care to assemble being distributed across the nation, pressing out a 55-gallon drum’s worth of ink like pizza dough until it’s fed our tens of thousands of subscribers the business intelligence they crave. Most of us went over the top a long time ago, supplementing print with a different type of scroll. Site Selection is preparing to unfurl a newly redesigned website and continuing to discover new ways to deliver stories to you by newsletter, social media and other channels. But in the scrum of content distribution and audience metrics (hey, how about that thrilling women’s rugby bronze medal?!), it’s important to remember: The story is not consumption of content. The story is the athletes. In our sport — and in this annual infrastructure issue — the athletes are people like the ironworkers shaking hands on completing the $6 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge. They’re the utility linemen and women restoring power. They’re the engineers, heavy equipment operators and construction workers repaving the highway interchange, driving a heavy load cross country or tilting up a new factory wall. And they’re the corporate site selectors, economic developers and service providers delivering victory in the form of projects that win jobs and prosperity, not medals. The stories in this issue (and every issue, come to think of it) show these professionals, like Olympians, doing their best work when they play as a team. We hope you, like us, enjoy the process of discovering what they can achieve. — Adam Bruns, Editor in Chief Site Selection (ISSN: 1080-7799) (USPS ), September 2024, volume 69 number 5. 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. ©2024 CONWAY DATA, INC. Publisher/Director LAURA LYNE Executive Vice President RONALD J. STARNER Head of Publications & Editor in Chief ADAM BRUNS Editor Emeritus MARK AREND Senior Editor GARY DAUGHTERS Associate Editor ALEXIS ELMORE Assistant Custom Content Editor LINDSAY LOPP Art Director NEGIN MOMTAZ Production Coordinator/Designer BOB GRAVLEE Lead Designers SEAN SCANTLAND RICHARD NENOFF Designer ASHLEIGH PORTER Data Services Manager KAREN MEDERNACH Senior Research Associate BRIAN ESPINOZA Research Associate McKENZIE WRIGHT GLOBAL SALES & MARKETING Vice President of Sales CHARLES FITZGIBBON Regional Director — Northeast U.S. MIKE GLENNON Regional Director — Midwest U.S. CATHY McFARLAND Regional Director — Southeast U.S. MARTA RUSSELL Regional Director — Western U.S. PAUL NEWMAN Director of Sales & Marketing for Custom Content U.S., Central & South America MARGARET ROSE Europe BRENDAN DOHERTY, +44 7999 786752 Japan HIROKO MINATO, +81 50 8882 3456 Korea CHUL LEE, +82 2 466 5595 Sales Administrator CHRISTI STANSBERRY Sales Development Representative BRE ROGERS BUSINESS DEPARTMENT Chief Financial Officer DEBBIE PORTER Accounting Associate DAVIS WILSON CIRCULATION Circulation Manager JULIE CLARKE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TEAM Director of Programming & Analytics DANIEL BOYER IT Coordinator MARK BERTRAM Webmaster DANIEL MONAGHAN 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 OLYMPIC-LEVEL EXCELLENCE EDITOR’S VIEW Corrections Due to a faulty hectares-to-acres conversion, the size of the separate ABO and World Energy GH2 wind energy projects in Newfoundland and Labrador described in the Atlantic Canada article in the July 2024 issue was inaccurately reported as 264 acres each. The correct size is approximately 266,000 acres each. The TexasEDConnection Intelligence Report published in the July 2024 print issue contained a continuity error that caused some of the copy to be obscured behind the member directory. The error was immediately corrected in the issue’s Digital Edition and in the web version of the report, both of which can be found at siteselection.com.6 SEPTEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION insider September 2024 Mark Your Calendar … www.iamc.org BOARD OF DIRECTORS* Fall 2024 - Fall 2025 Chair Cary Hutchings BNSF Railway Company Vice Chair Matt M. Boehlke Excel Energy Secretary-Treasurer Jim P. Horigan Corning Inc. Past Chair Betsy Power PepsiCo James Chavez South Carolina Power Team William DeBoer Kohler Co. Connie Fricke Land O’Lakes Lindsay Friedman Prologis Robert Kontur EnerSys Dave Quinn, CEcD Fairview Texas EDC Eric Zahniser Cresa Marcus Rose NFI Industries Jonathan Majors Mohawk Industries Kristin Cahayla-Hoffman Lehigh Valley EDC *pending membership vote IAMC President & CEO J. Tate Godfrey, CEcD Holistic View Draws from Different Perspectives B eing a member in IAMC has been an important part of my professional development. In fact, IAMC has been woven through the fabric of my entire career. As the new Board Chair, I am excited to share and expand that passion for career development and mentorship that are core tenets of IAMC. I also bring a unique perspective of the organization to the table: I am the first chairman to have been a member in all three IAMC categories: I joined IAMC as an economic development member with the State of Indiana and then with the Dallas Regional Chamber (2002-2007); was a Service Provider member with Staubach, JLL and BNSF Economic Development (2007-2022); and now currently am a corporate member with BNSF Railway, where I am the Director of Real Estate. The experience of holding all three positions has allowed me to be a link, connector and partner with many of you. With the help of IAMC, I hope to share the great successes of the organization and highlight things that enhance us all: 1.Growth Matters: IAMC is about fostering relationships and becoming involved with both the organization and your professional community. 2.Expansion with a Purpose: Intentional membership balance with economic development, service providers and corporate end user members creates an ecosystem that maximizes benefits for all of us. 3.Connecting the World: How the supply chain affects and connects communities, customers and corporate members, and how the organization has impact in all three areas. 4.Content Matters: IAMC provides members with valuable content and creates an inclusive atmosphere, offering insights relevant to today’s market and future trends to better anticipate the needs of our businesses. 5.Professional Development: IAMC focuses on how you can continue to develop both personally and professionally. 6.The IAMC Team: The IAMC team is the best in class, thanks to their commitment and passion for this organization. During my time as Chair, my goal is to emphasize the importance of interconnections and putting in the effort to work and develop collectively so that your experience with IAMC becomes personal to you as well. As I’ve served on the Executive Committee over the past two years, close friends have asked me why IAMC is so valuable, how I can best represent their interests and what I want to accomplish. It’s that care and commitment that others have invested in helping me that makes this organization special. Trusted with this role, I’m eager to return the favor many times over as I continue to learn and connect with all of you. LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Cary HutchingsNext >