< Previous220 SEPTEMBER 2024 S I T E S EL E C T I O N chain projects to its 3,500-acre Griffiss Business and Technology Park, which sits on the grounds of the former Griffiss Air Force Base. The base was stripped of its military mission in 1995 under the Pentagon’s Base Realignment and Closure program. The Griffiss park is currently home to the Air Force Research Laboratory, which develops cutting- edge technologies for military and civilian applications. The park hosts dozens of other tech-focused businesses that employ close to 8,000 workers, Bruno says. “It’s another awesome testament,” he says, “to what we have going on here.” In March, Oneida County was awarded $23.6 million from the state’s Focused Attraction of Shovel-Ready Tracts New York (FAST NY) program to develop the park’s 332-acre “Triangle Site” into a semiconductor supply chain campus. Further boosted by a local $2.7 million match, the FAST NY grant is being funneled into electrical upgrades, water and sewer extensions, roads and other site work. “Conveniently located in the center of New York State and positioned adjacent to Wolfspeed and Micron, Oneida County’s Triangle Site at Griffiss is positioned to be the state’s premier semiconductor supply chain campus, offering up to 50 megawatts of new power,” said County Executive Anthony Picente. “This largest shovel-ready site in the state will unlock up to 2.6 million square feet of new construction and the potential for 3,000 jobs. This is,” Picente said, “a huge opportunity for our community.” The Hits Keep Coming Adding to the Upstate’s semiconductor buildout, a $10 billion public-private partnership that includes Micron, IBM, Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron is funding a semiconductor research center at the Albany NanoTech Complex. “Reliability is a huge selling point.” — Nicholas Bruno, Mohawk Valley EDGEEstablished in 1997 and measuring 1.65 million sq. ft., Albany NanoTech is touted as the country’s largest and most advanced non-profit semiconductor R&D facility. The cornerstone of the project, announced in December, will be the acquisition and installation of a High Numerical Aperture (High NA) Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tool, a Dutch-made instrument that allows for dramatically improved resolution in chip manufacturing, thus enabling the creation of smaller transistors and features on semiconductor chips. “The new High NA EUV Center at Albany NanoTech will secure a strong pipeline for semiconductor innovation, keeping New York State at the center of semiconductor expertise,” said IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna in a statement. Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra added that the project “is a critical step in advancing next-generation semiconductor R&D in America and will put New York at the forefront of future innovation and technology leadership.” The massive investment, which includes $1 billion from the state, is seen as having been instrumental to the acquisition of “Phase 2” implementation funding under the Biden Administration’s Tech Hubs program for the New York Semiconductor Manufacturing and Research Technology Innovation Corridor (NY SMART-I) consortium. NY SMART-I won a $40 million federal grant, one of 13 nationwide hubs to receive Tech Hub funding announced July 2. “With this transformative federal grant, New York is taking another major leap toward building Chips Country in our state,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul. The Tech Hub consortium comprises the Western New York, Finger Lakes and Central New York regions. It is led by the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership, ROC2025 and CenterState CEO and includes more than 80 members, including economic development organizations, governments, workforce development groups, labor, industry and academia. ANashville-based company that caters to working farmers has forged a highly successful retail business over the past years. Now this fi rm is betting big on a small town in central Arkansas. Tractor Supply Co., a $. billion retail chain with , stores in states, opened its th and largest distribution center on May in Maumelle, a city of fewer than , people in the Little Rock metropolitan area. e .-million- sq.-ft. plant represents a capital investment of $ million and creates more than jobs for local workers, the company said. Tractor Supply is no stranger to Arkansas. e company opened its fi rst Arkansas store in Pulaski County in , and today TSC has stores throughout the state. TSC also owns and operates eight Petsense by Tractor Supply stores in Arkansas. Colin Yankee, chief supply chain offi cer for TSC, tells Site Selection that Maumelle beat out a host of sites in the south-central U.S. for this new plant. Jones Lang LaSalle assisted TSC in the site search. “When we are looking at distribution center sites, we are looking for the long-term perspective of to years,” Yankee says. “We look at our existing store base, our future store base, real estate costs, roads and highways, traffi c congestion, and utilities like gas, water, sewer and electric power. Once those base criteria are met, we look at workforce skills and quality, the cost of labor, and quality-of-life attributes like recreation, housing and schools. We want to be able to attract people to move to that area.” Four-State Search Ends in Arkansas Yankee says TSC found all that and more in Maumelle. “We looked across four states: Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. We fi ltered the search based on the data,” he notes. “We visit the sites and then narrow the list down to the fi nalists. We meet with local leaders, Arkansas S T A TE SPO TLIGHT B Y THE NUMBERS ARKANSAS Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 419,028 Number of NCRCs: 106,474 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 12.56% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: 2 Industrial power cost per kWh: $7.38 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 102.1% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 0.65 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M Lockheed Martin Corp. Fort Smith 765 Zekelman Industries / Atlas Tube Blytheville 120 Wayne Farms Danville 43 Hope Baking Co. Hope 37 Walther Arms / Umarex USA Fort Smith 30 Source: Conway Projects Database Tractor Supply Co. store and distribution center in Arkansas. Photo courtesy of TSC 222 SEPTEMBER 2024 S I T E S EL E C T I O N How a Farm Store Firm Fell in Love With Arkansas How a Farm Store Firm Fell in Love With Arkansas by RON STARNER ron.starner@siteselection.com224 SEPTEMBER 2024 S I T E S EL E C T I O N fire and police officials, etc. We network with managers of other companies in the area. We meet with local real estate agents to assess housing and find the neighborhoods where our people will live. We go to schools and meet with local colleges. We look at local traffic and weather patterns. It comes down to different factors.” One of those factors is the available incentives package. “For us, state and local incentives are important in practice and principle,” says Yankee. “They can greatly influence the overall cost. Operating costs can be in the tens of millions of dollars per year. Incentives signal to us the openness of the state and community to the jobs and what we bring. The Arkansas Economic Development Commission was very helpful. No amount of incentives can ever outweigh all the other factors, but they are important.” The new logistics complex in Maumelle will serve 250 stores in the south-central U.S. and is designed to accommodate growth. “We are adding 89 stores this year and will eventually grow to 3,000 stores,” says Yankee. “We started with our first store in Minot, North Dakota, in 1939, and now we are in every state but one.” Readers may be familiar with Tractor Supply because of country music sensation Lainey Wilson. She has appeared in various commercials for TSC and partners with the company in mentoring emerging country music artists. “She grew up riding horses in Louisiana and shopping at Tractor Supply,” says Yankee. “She is the perfect ambassador for our brand.” Yankee says the town of Maumelle fits that brand. “Maumelle is a community where many people live the lifestyle that we cater to — hard, physical work with a lot of heavy lifting. For us, 50% of the leadership team for this new center will be hired from the local community.” The company is not done growing, either, he adds. With total sales doubling in the last six years, “we have plans to open another distribution center in the Pacific Northwest. We have a site that we are doing due diligence on now. We just have not announced it yet.” Tax Cuts Grab CEOs’ Attention Clint O’Neal, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, says that TSC is, in many ways, emblematic of the Arkansas success story. “Arkansas is full of salt-of-the- earth people who care about each other,” he says. “People have a need to be in a good community, and that is exactly what we offer in Arkansas.” He adds that companies like TSC are attracted to Arkansas because the state has a governor who believes in lower taxes, less burdensome regulations and more freedom for both individuals and businesses. “The last round of tax cuts took us to 3.9% at the top end rate for personal income taxes and 4.3% for corporate income taxes,” O’Neal says. “That is down from 7% and 6.5% before the cuts started. We just had a $700 million budget surplus after having a $1 billion surplus. We still had a very healthy state budget even after these generous tax cuts.” O’Neal says that is the governing philosophy of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and that it will continue. “This is why companies like Walmart, Tractor Supply and others are investing and re-investing in Arkansas,” he says. “Tractor Supply is an economic development success story for Maumelle. The city had undertaken an initiative to make that site a certified site for development. Our pipeline for the remainder of 2024 is strong. We will have some major announcements across the state in the coming months. Many of those will take place in rural communities.” S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2024 225 Memory Fab Plant To Include Child Care Center When Micron Technology announced a $ billion investment through the end of the decade in a new memory manufacturing fab in Boise in September , it was and still is the largest private project in Idaho’s history. Construction commenced in October on the plant which will employ about , people when complete. It’s the rst new memory fab project in the U.S. in years. e company says dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, production will begin in the latter part of the decade. In April, Micron and the Department of Commerce signed a non-binding Preliminary Memorandum of Terms for $ . billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding, some of which will support the Boise project. “ is is a historic moment for semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.,” said Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra at the signing announcement. “Micron’s leading-edge memory is foundational to meeting the growing demands of arti cial intelligence, and we are proud to be making signi cant memory manufacturing investments in the U.S., which will create many high-tech jobs.” Solving Barriers to Entry With access to child care a key consideration for potential employees, Micron broke ground in May on its Childcare Center located adjacent to its headquarters and the future memory fab. It will be run by the Treasure Valley Family YMCA and will provide STEM- based programming. “I’m proud of Micron’s comprehensive approach to workforce development and our work to make childcare accessible and a ordable for our employees,” said Micron Senior Vice President, Chief People O cer and President of the Micron Foundation April Arnzen at the groundbreaking. “We recognize that there are systemic barriers to workforce entry and re-entry, including child-care services, which is why we are focused on providing child care options that support and expand the workforce, and bene ts the broader community.” In June, French industrial gas provider Air Liquide announced plans to build a gas production facility in Boise to supply Micron and other customers with ultra-pure nitrogen and other gases. e company will invest $ million in the project. by MARK AREND mark.arend@siteselection.com Idaho S T A TE SPO TLIGHT B Y THE NUMBERS IDAHO Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 180,926 Number of NCRCs: 195 | % Improved 2022–23: 1.04% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: -1 Industrial power cost per kWh: $6.71 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 107.6% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.43 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M Air Liquide Boise 250 Mountain View Equipment Co. Jerome 10 Bunker Hill Mining Corp. Kellogg 1 Kenworth Sales Co. Post Falls — Frito-Lay North America Boise — Source: Conway Projects Database Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra is shown here at the May 2023 groundbreaking for a child care center at the company’s site in Boise. Photo courtesy of MicronLife sciences and Massachusetts have long been synonymous. With no shortage of prestigious universities producing a pipeline of highly skilled scientists and remarkable innovations, the Boston area remains one of the top life sciences clusters in the United States. is metropolitan area, which also includes Cambridge, Worcester and Waltham, is home to over , biotechnology companies, ranging from startups to pharmaceutical giants such as Biogen, Shire and Takeda. Companies continue to expand their presences in the region to access this exceptional talent pool and assist in developing the innovations the bright minds at Harvard, MIT, Boston University and Tufts are conceptualizing. MassBioEd reports that the state’s life sciences employment increased by .% from to , outpacing the national growth rate of .%. Even with layoff s in hindering growth, Massachusetts life sciences employment still managed to increase by .% last year. And over the next years, it is expected to increase by %, adding , new life sciences jobs to this ecosystem. With new and expanding companies continuing to open operations in the area, this prediction seems to be on the path to fruition. Bolstering Bright Ideas On August , Eli Lilly and Company announced the opening of the Lilly Seaport Innovation Center (LSC), a research and development facility in Boston dedicated to advancing RNA and DNA-based therapies as well as discovering new drug targets to create medicines across several disease states, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegeneration and chronic pain. Encompassing , sq. ft. in a -story building in the rapidly expanding Boston Seaport, LSC is fi tted with laboratories and offi ce space to support its research goals as well as house the fi rst Lilly Gateway by LINDSAY LOPP lindsay.lopp@siteselection.com Massachusetts S T A TE SPO TLIGHT 226 SEPTEMBER 2024 S I T E S EL E C T I O N A LEADING BIOTECH CLUSTER KEEPS GROWING On August 13, Eli Lilly and Company opened its new Lilly Seaport Innovation Center (LSC) in Boston. Photo-rendering courtesy of Eli Lilly and Company S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2024 227 B Y THE NUMBERS MASSACHUSETTS Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 4,843,389 Number of NCRCs: 1,387 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 17.54% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: -12 Industrial power cost per kWh: $17.06 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-2021: 96.4% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.05 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M Sublime Systems Holyoke 150 Sage Therapeutics Cambridge 15 Remtec Canton 12 WuXi Biologics USA Worcester – Wilkie Technical Textiles / Bradford Industries Lowell – Source: Conway Projects Database Labs location on the East Coast. Lilly Gateway Labs is the company’s innovation hub that strives to connect promising, early-stage biotech startups with the guidance needed to navigate and expedite the development of life- changing medicines. Companies that participate maintain full ownership of their intellectual property while gaining access to wet lab spaces, operational support and Lilly expertise. In off ering this program, Lilly aims to not only foster scientifi c breakthroughs but help entrepreneurs avoid common pitfalls. is new location has the capacity to accommodate approximately Lilly scientists and researchers, as well as people from the companies participating in Gateway Labs. Since opening its fi rst location in December , Gateway Labs in San Francisco has hosted over biotech companies, with more than therapeutics and platforms currently in development, and more than $ billion raised by partner companies. In addition to this new site in Boston, Gateway Labs is expanding to four sites across San Francisco and San Diego in , cementing its foothold and ability to impact innovation in three of the nation’s leading life sciences clusters. Joining the Pharma Frontier Eli Lilly and Company isn’t the only pharmaceutical giant that decided Boston was the perfect location to open an innovation hub. In February, Novo Nordisk opened its newest location at its U.S. R&D hub in Greater Boston. Already spanning four locations in Cambridge, Watertown and Lexington, with the addition of this new site Novo Nordisk will be creating one of its largest R&D hubs outside of Denmark. “ e Boston area is the leading center of biopharmaceutical innovation in the U.S.,” said Marcus Schindler, PhD, executive vice president for Research & Early Development and chief scientifi c offi cer of Novo Nordisk, in . “With more than , life science companies, world-renowned institutions at the forefront of scientifi c discovery, and leading academic institutions, the life sciences community in greater Boston has produced some of the world’s most innovative ideas in medicine. With today’s announcement, we are committing to further expansion and to having a major life sciences presence in the Boston area, to support pipeline expansion into new modalities, with the ultimate goal of delivering new innovative medicines to people living with chronic diseases.” is project coincides with the company’s plans to establish Greater Boston as the home of its primary U.S. R&D operations. rough this shift, Novo Nordisk plans to transfer its lab-based discovery activities from Seattle to other locations in its global R&D network as well as close its R&D facility in Indianapolis — which happens to be the home of Eli Lilly headquarters as well. While this change will eliminate approximately positions in Indianapolis and another in Seattle, the company has announced that it will off er aff ected employees the opportunity to pursue open positions at other locations. On a more positive note, Novo Nordisk’s expanded presence in Massachusetts is expected to create more than local jobs, with many of these positions involved in data science, biology or chemistry research, and ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) research and clinical development. More is still to come. e company expects to add another site to this network in and has announced that it will be leasing , sq. ft. at a building in Waltham that’s being redeveloped into lab space by Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. Previously Verizon Communication’s complex, the building was purchased by Alexandria as one of three sites in for $ million.228 SEPTEMBER 2024 S I T E S EL E C T I O N In May Sanofi announced an investment of more than €1 billion to create new bioproduction capacity at its sites in Vitry-sur- Seine (Val de Marne), Le Trait (Seine-Maritime) and Lyon Gerland (Rhône). “This plan brings to more than €3.5 billion the amount committed by Sanofi since the COVID-19 pandemic in major projects to keep production of medicines and vaccines in France for patients around the world,” the company stated. The projects include a 350-job, €1 billion investment in a new facility in Vitry-sur-Seine that will double the site’s monoclonal antibody production capacity; €100 million to develop new capacity for biologics formulation, filling, device assembly and packaging in Le Trait, where the project will support 150 jobs; and €10 million to locate the production of TZield, a biologic for type 1 diabetes, in Lyon Gerland. Until now, the product, which Sanofi acquired in April 2023, has been manufactured outside of Europe. The company said it carries out more than 60% of its global production in the EU (compared to an average of 80% in the pharmaceutical industry) and sources only 5% of its active ingredients in Asia. “Thanks to this industrial footprint, Sanofi’s contribution to France’s trade balance amounted to more than €13 billion in 2023,” the announcement stated. “With these unprecedented industrial investments,” said Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson, “we remain true to our history by once again choosing France to produce these future medicines and make them available to patients around the world. France is, and always will be, at the heart of Sanofi’s strategy.” If France is the heart, then Germany looks to be at least a major artery. The company on August 1 confirmed a €1.3 billion investment to expand insulin production by constructing 36,000 sq. m. (more than 387,500 sq. ft.) at its BioCampus site in Frankfurt am Main. Germany Trade & Invest said the project is being supported by the German national government and the government of the State of Hesse, pending EU approval. “Our planned investment underscores the central role played by the Frankfurt BioCampus in strengthening the resilience of global insulin production,” said Heidrun Irschik-Hadjieff, chairman of Sanofi in Germany. “The strong support of both the national and regional German governments is a powerful signal for the biopharmaceutical industry.” In 2023, the German national government adopted an official pharma strategy bolstering support for companies, streamlining approval procedures and improving conditions for R&D, says Germany Trade & Invest. In addition to Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Company is building a new €2.3-billion German production facility, and billion-euro investments are also on the way from Japan’s Daiichi-Sankyo and Swiss giant Roche. SP ECIAL AD VER TISING SECTION B IO T E CH L OC A T IO N S Sanofi Bets Big in Europe by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns@siteselection.com Investments in its home country and in Germany demonstrate French biopharma giant Sanofi’s commitment to European production. Even before its newly announced investment, Sanofi already employs 6,600 at its BioCampus in the Höchst Industrial Park in Frankfurt, Germany. Photo by C. Stoll courtesy of SanofiNext >