< PreviousOpportunity Arises in the Great Outdoors Alook into the nation’s outdoor recreation industry reveals a sector experiencing robust growth as nationwide participation reaches new heights. According to recent data released by the Outdoor Satellite Account and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the outdoor recreation economy produced $. trillion in economic output in . is refl ects an added value of $ billion, or .% of U.S. GDP. In , participation hit a new record with a reported . million Americans getting active. e Outdoor Industry Association’s (OIA) Outdoor Participation Trends Report shows that record accounts for .% of Americans aged six or older. With the country on the move now more than ever, various U.S. states are unveiling new projects and targeted funding to drive new employment opportunities while also promoting innovation. OREGON OIA’s Outdoor Retail Sales Trends Report showed that retail sales saw a .% decline last year compared to data. While apparel, footwear and equipment sales slumped, the report states that accessories sales were on the rise. Nike, Adidas and Columbia Sportswear are among the over outdoor gear and apparel businesses operating in the state, supporting more than , jobs as of . “ ere has been relatively fast employment growth in this sector over the past years, up .%,” says Business Oregon Innovation and Entrepreneurship Manager Mark Brady. “Which stands out compared to the national trend where employment declined by .% from and . is means Oregon has seen its market share increase dramatically over the past decade. As of , the concentration of employment in outdoor gear and apparel, excluding HQs, was % higher than the national average.” Not interested in allowing the state’s momentum to slow, Business Oregon aims to promote fresh innovation with the Outdoor Gear and Apparel Matching Grant Program. Announced in July , the state will provide $, in matching grant funding to non-profi t organizations and business accelerators to help emerging companies enter the industry. Organizations or accelerators that apply for the grant will be required to provide at least a % cash match of the cost associated to the proposed project. If contributing more than %, the match can include an “in-kind” match which accounts for the value of services, time and equipment used for a project and not covered by the program. is program looks to the expertise of Oregon residents who drive innovation by ALEXIS ELMORE alexis.elmore@siteselection.com OUTDOOR RECREA TION 180 SEPTEMBER 2024 S I T E S EL E C T I O N Opportunity Arises in the Great Outdoors Oregon experienced its second busiest tourism year in 2023, pulling in 52.2 million visitors across 180 parks in the state. Image courtesy of Travel Oregon S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2024 181 through lived experience, presenting an opportunity to diversify Oregon’s industry ecosystem. Excluding large corporate employers that operate in the state, the average number of employees for an outdoor gear and apparel company is around . New businesses create new employment opportunities outside of legacy companies and spread into new regions of the state. “Rural areas in Oregon are well positioned to advance the industry and this program seeks to support rural businesses and organizations as much as possible,” says Brady. “We will be thoroughly considering every application and recognize that since this program requires a membership organization or accelerator to run it, our applicants may be more diversely scattered throughout Oregon, including the metro areas. But the goal of this program is to support emerging and rural businesses as much as possible.” COLORADO In alone, Colorado pulled in over . million visitors. Capital city Denver saw . million tourists, according to a study conducted by Longwoods International. While Colorado’s most popular destinations like Aspen, Boulder and Vail tend to draw a majority of visitors, state leadership is intent on supporting outdoor recreation industry growth across all of its communities. e Colorado State Outdoor Recreation Grant (COSORG) program was unveiled in by the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Offi ce (OREC) and the Colorado Offi ce of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT). COSORG was created to provide fi nancial assistance to support a variety of projects specifi c to their locations. is activity includes workforce development programs, creating new roles, marketing and outreach, accessible youth programs, creating industry partnerships and more. “Over the last year, the OREC team has met with Coloradans across the state and had the opportunity to see the impact of these grants fi rsthand,” said OREC Director Conor Hall. “ e recipients are increasing access to the outdoors, bolstering destination stewardship and conservation, creating jobs and a diversifi ed workforce to fi ll them, boosting their local economies and proving every day that a thriving outdoor recreation industry is good for the whole state.” e latest round of the program provided over $. million to new recipients. Awardees received grants ranging from $, to $,, tackling a number of fresh initiatives. e city of Pueblo will use its $, grant to create a municipal Offi ce of Outdoor Recreation as a central location for resources and advocacy for industry businesses and residents. ree hours northwest in Gunnison, Western Colorado University is putting its $, toward construction of an outdoor industry lab, providing lab space and equipment to promote entrepreneurism and workforce development. As of , the state has distributed over $. million in COSORG funding toward projects in counties, creating nearly direct new jobs. NEVADA Outdoor Recreation in Nevada currently employs over , residents. Increased demand for outdoor industry professionals throughout Nevada led to a new partnership between the Nevada Division of Outdoor Recreation and the University of Nevada, Reno in July . e budding collaboration is focused on the development of a new specialization and minor program for students. As part of the university’s College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science program, a Sustainable Outdoor Recreation Management specialization will be implemented in the fall of . “We want graduates to be able to apply environmental science concepts in business decisions to help sustain outdoor recreation opportunities and our natural environments,” said University of Nevada, Reno Associate Dean of Academic Aff airs Claus Tittiger. “ is specialization will provide students with a much broader spectrum needed to help make both profi table and environmentally responsible decisions in careers in the outdoor recreation sector.” e development of the Outdoor Adventure and Leadership (ODAL) minor will be administered through the university’s Kinesiology Department within the School of Public Health. is pathway will create a number of new courses to teach leadership and communication skills. e program takes a place-based approach to teaching leadership skills to students in locations such as the Sierra Nevada, Great Basin and Lake Tahoe regions. “While the ODAL program focuses on developing outdoor competency in activities like backpacking, rock climbing, backcountry skiing and riding, and whitewater rafting, the transferable skills like leadership, communication, risk assessment and management, teamwork, tolerance for adversity and uncertainty are relevant lessons in many personal and professional settings, making this a valuable minor for any student,” said University of Nevada, Reno Teaching Associate Professor and ODAL Minor Director Andy Rost. Colorado’s outdoor recreation industry supports nearly 130,000 jobs and over $6 billion in wages.182 SEPTEMBER 2024 S I T E S EL E C T I O N L.A.-based Nanotech Energy aims to revolutionize U.S. battery manufacturing with its graphene-based batteries produced in Chico. Photo courtesy of Nanotech Energy 1JEFFERSON: California Innovation Looks to California Locations As one might expect in this pristine region known for its mountains and natural landscape, this area boasts more landscape than logistics. Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database has tracked fewer than a couple dozen major corporate facility projects there over the past decade, in six of the 14 counties, led by Chico in Butte County, whose project portfolio includes an investment by Los Angeles–based Nanotech Energy in a manufacturing facility for graphene- based battery cells. Called Chico 2, it follows the Chico 1 facility located there in 2016. Nanotech Energy’s roots are Californian: It was founded in 2014 by Dr. Jack Kavanaugh and UCLA scientists Dr. Richard Kaner and Dr. Maher El-Kady. The company says its “very-high-surface-area, single-layer graphene material is already being used in multiple applications, including non-flammable lithium-ion batteries, transparent conducting electrodes, conductive inks, printed electronics, conductive epoxy, antistatic coatings and EMI (electromagnetic interference) shielding.” The 50,000-sq.-ft. Chico facility went into full production in spring 2024 and aims to eventually generate 30,000 battery cells per day by 2025. The first wave of hiring aimed to add 100 jobs, the company said as trial runs concluded in late 2023. At that same time, the company announced a new partnership with Rockwell Automation that was expected to not only boost the Chico site’s performance and processes but also fuel best practices at the gigafactory Nanotech plans to site at a yet-to-be-determined brownfield location somewhere in the United States. In Redding in Shasta County, Arelac (doing business as Fortera) in April launched production at a new low-carbon cement plant. “Located on FIELD NOTES FROM CALIFORNIAS California S T A TE SPO TLIGHT A decade ago the latest of many efforts to separate California into smaller, more manageable states got underway. Venture capitalist Tim Draper’s “Six Californias” concept, like all the others, fell short of making anything actually happen. But it still provides a practical framework for reporting on the state’s enormous economy. So our editorial team went hunting for stories in each of those six regions: the 14-county “Jefferson” region to the far north near the Oregon state line; the 13-county North California region; the eight counties of Silicon Valley; the 14 counties of Central California; the four-county West California region (including Greater Los Angeles); and the five counties of South California (including San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties). And Ron Starner reports on one issue uniting them all: water. – Ed. (Continued on page 186) 6A D V ER T I S EM ENT In the next 25 years, the Inland Empire is projected to grow by more than 20 percent, increasing in population by nearly 970,000. This growth trajectory will place the SanBernardino-Riverside- Ontario metropolitan area in the top-10 largest in the U.S., ahead of Phoenix, Boston, and San Francisco- Oakland. This surge in population represents a huge opportunity for the right kind of commercial and residential development to promote the region’s business growth. In the heart of San Bernardino County, the City of Rancho Cucamonga has a long history of planning for the future. Its City leadership recognized the magnitude of this upcoming opportunity and is undertaking several transformative developments in housing, retail, transportation, and o ce to support current and prospective business growth in the region. Because the need for new housing in California has reached a critical point, Rancho Cucamonga adopted a growth mindset toward housing development in the City, cutting red tape and processes to reduce development and construction time and costs, especially for “middle housing” options. By going above and beyond the minimum requirements of state housing laws, the City was recently recognized with a Prohousing Designation through the state’s Prohousing Designation Program, joining 46 other unique jurisdictions that have received this designation in California. The City’s commitment to cutting red tape goes beyond its entitlement processes, as well. Its Building and Safety Services Department was recently recognized with an International Accreditation Service® (IAS) Accreditation for Building Code Regulatory Agencies and Third-Party Service Providers (AC251®), which is based on customer service levels and audits of the City’s plan check, permitting, and inspection policies and procedures. Rancho Cucamonga is the only active building de- partment in California and the fi rst in Southern Califor- nia to receive this accreditation, and one of fewer than 30 accredited building departments in the nation. “The exclusive nature of this accreditation is a true testament to the Building and Safety Services Department’s outstanding customer service to the community,” said City of Rancho Cucamonga Mayor L. Dennis Michael. “It’s all part of how we approach our vision of creating an equitable, sustainable and vibrant city built on innovation and excellence.” To o er an economic catalyst to the region, the City developed a new transit-oriented, mixed- use housing, retail, and commercial district called the HART District. With nearly 2,100 units of housing and several hundred thousand square feet of non- residential retail, o ce, hospitality and manufacturing space being developed, the HART District area will be the largest transit-oriented city center and urban neighborhood in the Inland Empire. To ensure the City’s businesses keep people and goods moving e ciently, the HART District includes Cucamonga Station, a transformational, multi-modal transportation hub that will connect Brightline West, the fi rst true high-speed passenger rail system in the U.S., directly to air, bus, and local passenger rail service in time for the LosAngeles 2028 Summer Olympics. “Having served on the City Council for 20 years has given me fi rsthand experience into how far ahead RanchoCucamonga is with its long-term planning to promote regional business expansion, and we support it with people-fi rst designed, master-planned communities and fi rst-class service from City sta ,” added MayorMichael. “Businesses across every industry sector — including new ones such as medical, high-tech, and advanced manufacturing — recognize this superior service and choose to locate their business in our City.” Rancho Cucamonga Ideally Positioned for Population Expansion and Business Growth It’s all part of how we approach our vision of creating an equitable, sustainable and vibrant city built on innovation and excellence.” — L. Dennis Michael, Mayor of Rancho Cucamonga A D V E R T I S E M E N T186 SEPTEMBER 2024 S I T E S EL E C T I O N CalPortland’s campus at Redding, California, the Fortera Redding ReCarb Plant takes industrial CO2 from CalPortland’s kiln and mineralizes it through Fortera’s patented ReCarb process,” the company explains, creating a green cement solution it has named ReAct®. Fortera was selected as the U.S. national winner in the outstanding projects category in the 2023 Net-Zero Industries Awards. Fortera was established in Silicon Valley in 2019. – Adam Bruns NORTH CALIFORNIA: Greater Sacramento Is a National Economic Performance Leader California’s capital, Sacramento, anchors the 13-county region of North California. The 2.4 million population Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA is by far the largest metro, and it’s among the best performing metros in the U.S. by several measures, according to the Brookings Institution’s Metro Monitor 2024, released in March. The report quantifies the economic performance of 54 very large metros from 2012 to 2022 based on five categories: growth, prosperity, overall inclusion, racial inclusion, and geographic inclusion. Each category uses three indicators to arrive at a national ranking, and the Sacramento metro is in the top 10 nationally in three of the five categories. It’s third in geographic inclusion, fourth in overall inclusion and ninth in racial inclusion. It ranks in the top 20 in the other two categories — 15th for growth and 17th for prosperity. Among other findings: The Sacramento region has the second highest decrease in relative poverty rate nationally at -5%. Median income in underserved neighborhoods grew by more than $7,200, and the racial employment gap rate fell by 4.3%. Sacramento’s Gross Metropolitan Product grew by 34.2% from 2012 to 2022. “What is outstanding about this data is that we are not only seeing incredible economic growth, but that we are growing in a way that creates equitable opportunities for the region’s residents, regardless of their background or zip code,” said Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC), in a press release. “This progress is a testament to the work of the 40+ CEOs, 22 communities and higher educational institutions on GSEC’s Board of Directors, who have rallied around a shared vision for inclusive economic growth over the past nine years.” Meanwhile, the Sacramento area has emerged as a hub for semiconductor capital investment. In August 2023, Bosch acquired the assets of TSI Semiconductor in Roseville. Robert Bosch Semiconductor LLC will invest $1.5 billion to equip the facility for the production of silicon carbide semiconductors. (See sidebar on water for more.) Also in 2023, Solodigm, which makes NAND flash memory solutions, picked Rancho Cordova 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 2.26 Industrial power cost per kWh: $17.09 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 100.5% Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT (M$) Controlled Thermal Resources Salton Sea Beach 1,850 Pacific Steel Kern Cnty. 540 Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Los Angeles 230 BYD Energy Lancaster 60 Tau Motors Redwood City 60 Source: Conway Projects Database B Y THE NUMBERS CALIFORNIA 48th 1st 30th 3rd 47th 41st Number of NCRCs: 27,105 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 15.49% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: 0 Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 112,111,505 The headquarters of Solodigm in Rancho Cordova Photo courtesy of Solodigm (Continued from page 182) (Continued on page 190) 2The City of Vacaville is an established biomanu- facturing center and proven breeding ground for biotech powerhouses, such as GENENTECH Vacaville, the largest biomanufacturing facility in the world. Destination Vacaville didn’t happen by accident. A lot of hard work, along with assistance from industry partners and a willingness to do what was needed, went into creating this biotech ecosystem. While many are familiar with Genentech, Vacaville is home to other biomanufactur- ing facilities such as Johnson & Johnson, Novici Biotech, Polaris Pharmaceuticals, Synder Filtration, Mettler-Toledo RAININ, and RxDNova Pharmaceuticals. With a long history of supporting biomanufacturing, the City is catalyzing the growth of the bioeconomy. Building the Talent Pipeline Just as early humans gathered and settled around ready sources of food and water, today’s leading biomanufacturers tend to build their operations around groundswells of skilled, trained, and talented employees. Thanks to the existing cluster of biotech businesses in and around Vacaville, the city is already home to some 1,300 biotech employees working for five of the nation’s strongest pharmaceutical companies. But that’s just the beginning— Vacaville is also at the mouth of a veritable pipeline of talent coming out of UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and its own institution: Solano Community College. “These established biotech companies are getting highly trained employees from the nationally recognized biotech program at Solano College, right here in Vacaville.” Says Jim Dekloe, Professor and Director of Solano’s biotechnology program. Primed For Growth As one of the most affordable communities in the Bay Area, employees can afford to live in the city they work in, thus improving quality of life, reducing commute time and creating a sense of community. In addition to a talented workforce, Vacaville also has the most available and affordable land in the Bay Area. Currently, this land is being prepared to be a cutting-edge Life Science and Technology business park. “Working with our biotech industry partners, and education partners to learn what the industry needs, we developed a strategy that will bring more biotech companies to Vacaville,” said John Carli, Mayor of the City of Vacaville. “To ensure their success, the City has strengthened and expanded the Economic Development Department; brought on recognized experts in the field, established a Biotech Zone to accommodate biotech uses in specific areas, and created the Biotech Fast Track program with a guarantee of a rapid review and approval process specifically for biotech companies.” Expanding The Bio Ecosystem “We are capitalizing on our successes and are taking major steps toward realizing our goal to position Northern California as a Biomanufacturing Center of Excellence,” said Don Burrus, Director of Economic Development Services for the City of Vacaville. Since the launch of the City’s Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing Initiative in 2020, they have been able to attract Agenus Bio, Mettler-Toledo Ranin, Polaris Pharmaceuticals, and Transwestern Ventures who will be breaking ground soon on Axiom Point, a 375,000 sq. ft. biotech campus. In continuing to build out their bio ecosystem, the City recently partnered with LifeSpace Labs, an organization that provides coworking wet lab space for emerging life science companies. “We are excited to be working with the City of Vacaville to provide emerging life science companies with resources like shared equipment, lab space, office amenities, venture capital connections and much more,” said Dipesh Lad, CEO and Co-Founder. With a plan in place and investments top of mind, the City of Vacaville leadership has positioned the City to become the epicenter of biomanufacturing in Northern California’s growing life science market. ———————————————————————————— This Investment Profile was prepared under the auspices of the City of Vacaville. For more information, visit www. choosevacaville.com. The City of Vacaville Continues to Actively Grow Northern California’s Bioeconomy A D V ER T I S E M EN T Genentech Vacaville, one of the world’s largest biomanufacturing facilitiesNext >