< Previous198 MARCH 2025 SITE SELECTION commercial airports play in South Carolina’s economic success,” said Gary Siegfried, executive director of the SC Aeronautics Commission, at the report’s release in late January. “From facilitating business operations to supporting tourism, advanced manufacturing and emergency response, these airports are vital to our state’s prosperity and competitiveness.” Supersonic Employment Growth Dr. Von Nessen also produced an economic impact study in December for SC Competes and the South Carolina Technology & Aviation Center (SCTAC) in Greenville, where Lockheed Martin builds its F- fi ghter jets. It found that SCTAC has a $. billion annual economic impact on the state of South Carolina, the bulk of which — $. billion — is concentrated in the Upstate region. “Many outstanding factors have contributed to the exponential growth of SCTAC’s economic impact, such as F- production and sustainment at Lockheed Martin and the addition of a world-class automotive proving ground on our campus,” said SCTAC President and CEO Jody Bryson in an SC Competes release. “ ese and many other signifi cant achievements at SCTAC are the byproduct of strong alliances we have forged with local, state and federal elected offi cials From facilitating business operations to supporting tourism, advanced manufacturing and emergency response, these airports are vital to our state’s prosperity and competitiveness.” — Gary Siegfried , Executive Director, SC Aeronautics Commission From facilitating business operations SITE SELECTION MARCH 2025 199 and economic development organizations, such as the SC Dept of Commerce, SC Manufacturers Alliance, Upstate SC Alliance, GADC (Greenville Area Development Commission), Greenville City EDC and SC Competes.” Since 2010, total employment in South Carolina’s advanced manufacturing cluster has more than doubled (+103.5%), which compares to a growth rate of +27.6% for South Carolina as a whole, according to SC Competes. The study found that SCTAC supports approximately 17,873 jobs in the Upstate along with more than $1.3 billion in labor income annually. Boeing announced plans in December to invest $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades at its site in Charleston County and create 500 new jobs over the next five years. Boeing South Carolina assembles the 787 Dreamliner at its facility at Charleston International Airport. Image courtesy of BoeingTop Projects Dot Maryland’s Top-Performing Metros I t pays to spend time in the data— in this case the corporate end-user facility investment data from all of 2024 that formthe basis of this issue’s Governor’s Cups, Top Metros and Top Micropolitans rankings. With just under 70 qualifying projects in both 2023 and 2024, Maryland is as solidly middle of the pack among states in this year’s Governor’s Cups race as it is middle of the East Coast in the Mid Atlantic. Maryland regions appear among the top metro areas along that stretch of the coast too. The state accounts for 20 of the 104 qualifying corporate facility projects in the four-state/district Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro area. Leading the way among those 20 projects is Frederick with eight of them, followed by three in Bethesda/ North Bethesda, two each in Rockville and Beltsville and a project apiece in Germantown, Forestville, Bowie, Lanham and Laurel. Highlights from Greater Baltimore The total of 37 projects in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson metro area — just behind the 39 projects in the Tampa and Richmond, Virginia, metros — is good enough for No. 7 among metro regions across the entire South Atlantic, beating out Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina, and the Hampton Roads region of Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk. Among the largest investments last year in the metro was from Belgium’s Cenergy Holdings, which in July 2024 reached a final decision to construct a cable manufacturing facility after its U.S. subsidiary Hellenic Cables Americas acquired a 38-acre property at Wagners Point in Baltimore. “The first phase includes the construction of a land cables plant to address USA’s growing need for Transmission & Distribution grid upgrades of cost ca. US$200 million, including the property acquisition,” the company stated in a release. “Design is complete, permitting is on track and construction works are expected to commence by the end of the year. The second phase shall include further expansion to manufacturing submarine cables subject to firm developers’ offtake agreements and related final development decisions.” The company in February won a major contract to supply cable for the Silver Run Expansion, a submarine power transmission expansion project under the Delaware River between Delaware and New Jersey. The cables for that contract will be manufactured at the company’s plant in Corinth, Greece. One headquarters project stands by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns@siteselection.com Maryland STATE SPOTLIGHT 200 MARCH 2025 SITE SELECTION An overall $300 million, 120-job investment by Belgium’s Cenergy Holdings means subsidiary Hellenic Cables, which manufactures most of its product in Greece, will be making subsea cables like this at Wagners Point in Maryland. Image courtesy of Hellenic Cables SITE SELECTION MARCH 2025 201 out for its identification with a sport long associated with Maryland. ECD Lacrosse, founded in 2011 by former lacrosse “stick doctor” Greg Kenneally, is moving from its hometown of Towson into bigger digs it purchased for $13.3 million in Hunt Valley. The company — whose name is derived from products called East Coast Mesh and East Coast Dyes that Kenneally perfected in his basement — employs 30 people and will complete the move in 2026. As reported by Melody Simmons in the Baltimore Business Journal, the deal came about when Kenneally reached out to an old high school teammate, Steele Stanwick, who went on to play Major League Lacrosse and now works as an office and industrial real estate broker at KLNB. Data Center Giant The biggest investment by far in these capital region communities is a $1.3 billion, two-facility data center investment in Frederick from Rowan Digital Infrastructure. The Denver- based hyperscaler, a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, closed $975 million in construction financing for the first phase in January. Phase one construction is well underway, the company said, with additional phases in advanced development. The project is taking up part of the 2,100-acre data center campus and fiber- optic loop envisioned and announced by Quantum Loophole and TPG Real Estate in 2021. After some friction between those partners, TPG took over sole control of the $5 billion project in late 2024 and its Catellus Development Corporation will be the sole developer. As for Rowan, “Our hyperscale data center campuses provide the critical infrastructure needed to power cloud, AI and advanced computing,” said CEO Charley Daitch, noting that data center capacity is expected to grow by 20% annually over the next decade. The company has over 1,500 MW of contracted grid capacity secured and multiple hyperscale data center projects in development across the U.S. “Rowan’s focus is on delivering energy-efficient, sustainable data centers that are the ECD Lacrosse, founded in Towson, will move into bigger digs in Hunt Valley by 2026. Image courtesy of ECD Lacrossefoundation of the digital economy and the ‘picks and shovels’ of emerging technologies.” Before joining Rowan in , Daitch led teams at Amazon Web Services and spearheaded the AWS energy and water organizations, experience that directly feeds into Rowan’s focus on sustainability at a time when many communities are concerned about data centers’ power draw. A study commissioned by the Maryland Tech Council fi nds that the construction of Rowan Frederick I, II, and III data centers is expected to generate more than $. billion in statewide economic activity and create more than , jobs, along with $ billion in labor income over the two-plus year duration. “ ese projects will also result in an estimated $. million in Frederick County tax revenues during the construction phase, not including permitting and impact fees, and more than $ million in state-level tax revenues, largely driven by increased sales tax receipts,” Rowan stated. “Once operational, the facilities are expected to support over $ million in statewide economic activity each year, creating , jobs across the state and generating approximately $ million in annual tax revenue for Frederick County and $ million for Maryland.” Rowan has launched a new STEM center in partnership with Frederick County Public Schools, is working with Frederick Community College on an apprenticeship program and is a major donor and active partner with Habitat for Humanity of Frederick County to build aff ordable workforce housing units at the community’s West All Saints Street Project. BY THE NUMBERS MARYLAND Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: $5,866,249 Number of NCRCs: 2,494 | Percent Improved 2023–24: 14.56% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2024–2025: -1 Industrial power cost per kWh:9.94 ¢ Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2008-22: 100.31% 2024 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.04 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M Rowan Green Data Frederick 500 Cenergy Holdings / Hellenic Cables Americas Baltimore 300 ECD LaCrosse Cockeysville 13 Wilmot Modular Structures White Marsh 9 Source: Conway Projects DatabaseBig Projects in Top Micro Cumberland Among the Top Micros saluted in this issue, one beacon stands out in the Maryland countryside. Cumberland, the bi-state community in Allegany County tucked into the skinny part of western Maryland against the West Virginia state line along the North Branch Potomac River and I-68 (and just below the Pennsylvania state line), tallied four projects in 2024. Among them were a 95-job investment from Ireland-based Kingspan Roofing + Waterproofing (following the acquisition of IB Roofing); a million-dollar project from Geocycle LLC in Rawlings, an 18- job expansion from Total Biz Fulfillment in Westernport and a $178 million investment by Northrop Grumman in Carpendale, West Virginia, just across the river oxbow. A thorough telling of the Kingspan project story posted by Allegany County Economic and Community Development in October said the company’s search for an East Coast location to launch U.S. manufacturing “led to the 348,000-sq.-ft. former Hunter Douglas facility in Allegany County, which had closed only 18 months prior. The building’s broker, Binswanger, facilitated initial discussions with Kingspan’s site selection consultant and business broker, Deloitte, drawing in the Maryland Department of Commerce for additional support. The Department of Commerce engaged Allegany County Economic and Community Development (ACECD) to provide key insights on the county and help facilitate communication between stakeholders.” Skilled labor and advantageous rail connections helped sway the company to choose the Maryland location over candidate sites in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, ACECD said. The skilled labor wasn’t just visible in statistics, the account says. “Angella Moon, a Maryland Department of Labor representative who was directly involved with community members and former Hunter Douglas employees,” brought real-world insights and a human touch to the discussions. “Adding context to Allegany’s workforce beyond the numbers gave Kingspan the confidence to meet their hiring goal of 95 full-time employees in the first five years,” said ACECD Senior Project Manager Nathan Price in the posted story. “We also brought Allegany College of Maryland and their Western Maryland Works program into the conversation to demonstrate that Allegany County not only has existing skilled talent but also has the means to build a workforce pipeline for the future. INVESTMENT PROFILE: MARYLAND New Frontier Biomanufacturing is expanding horizons in life sciences. D arryl Sampey, a veteran of Maryland’s life sciences community, co-founded BioFactura, a biopharmaceutical startup, in 2004. Twenty-plus later, he views the newly expanded business as a “poster child” for a homegrown Maryland biotech company. Conceived in after-hours brainstorming sessions at an earlier Maryland startup, nourished by generous state supports, fueled by Maryland’s illustrious talent pool and armed with an eight- figure government contract, BioFactura does fit a certain profile. Employing close to 50 people now, the company has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a quixotic, four-member team at a life sciences incubator in Maryland’s Frederick County. “We were in this tiny little galley, kind of like a submarine,” Sampey recalls. “And you should see the facility we’ve built now.” Covering 18,500 sq. ft., it’s fully equipped, he says, to take a new drug from inception to manufacturing for clinical trials. BioFactura, which is working with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on an antibody cocktail to target smallpox, is among a wave of biomanufacturers large, medium and small that are writing the next chapter in Maryland’s life sciences story. Theradaptive, another biotech startup founded in Frederick, is producing specialized proteins to regenerate severely damaged bones and tissues. Homegrown BioReliance, now MilliporeSigma, provides critical bioprocessing services and recently expanded to the tune of $286 million in Rockville, Maryland. The list goes on. “We’ve been nurturing R&D in the biotech space since the early ’90s,” says Jayson Knott, senior director of business development for the Maryland Department of Commerce, “with the dream that someday the actual manufacturing of product would be done here in Maryland. And that dream,” he says, “is coming true right now.” by GARY DAUGHTERS gary.daughters@siteselection.com 204 MARCH 2025 SITE SELECTION Image courtesy of TheradaptiveState Support Pays Off As Knott suggests, none of this is occurring in a vacuum. Fostered by a unique web of partnerships spanning government, world-class universities and industry, Maryland’s life sciences sector is a $3 billion a year juggernaut, having come to host more than 2,700 businesses that employ more than 50,000 workers. Maryland is part of the “BioHealth Capital Region” stretching from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. It’s considered to be the nation’s No. 3 biopharma cluster, behind only Boston and San Francisco, two locations over which it enjoys distinct advantages, including proximity to a multitude of federal health and science labs. Maryland’s tech-savvy workforce boasts one of the nation’s highest percentages of STEM professionals and its second-highest concentration of doctorate holders in science, engineering and health professions. “It’s a different environment here,” says Theradaptive founder and CEO Luis Alvarez, a former intelligence officer who served in Iraq. “When I left the military,” he explains, “we set up here in Frederick rather than in Boston for a number of reasons, including the fact that you have much more affordable real estate here. There’s also a lot of talent and the state offers a ton of incentives. It’s just very well suited for a startup.” Between them, Theradaptive and BioFactura have leveraged millions of dollars through incentive programs that include the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, Maryland Venture Fund, Advantage Maryland and the Biotech Incentive Tax Credit (BIITC), which provides a tax credit equal to 33% of an eligible investment in a Qualified Maryland Biotechnology Company. Among the windfalls provided by the state’s support of its biotech sector are massive investments by life sciences giants that have swooped in to acquire technologies developed and patented in Maryland. Billion-dollar acquisitions have come to include Amgen’s purchase of Horizon Therapeutics and the sale of Baltimore’s Paragon Biosciences by Catalent Pharma Solutions. AstraZeneca, which purchased Maryland’s MedImmune for $15.6 billion, recently announced a $300 million investment in cell therapy platforms at its facility in Rockville, an expansion that’s to yield 150 new jobs. Pathways for Growth Far from standing pat, Maryland continues to take steps necessary to accommodate major investments in its biotech sector. The state boasts millions of square feet of life sciences space currently under development. In January, the University of Maryland Baltimore and Wexford Science & Technology celebrated the opening of 4MLK, the newest addition to the 14-acre University of Maryland Biopark, a cornerstone of Baltimore’s life sciences and technology industries. The new eight-story, 250,000-sq.-ft. lab and office building was supported by a $2 million loan from the Maryland Department of Commerce through the Advantage Maryland program. More than a million dollars in state funding also helped to establish the new BioHub Maryland Training and Education Center at Montgomery County, a state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical workforce training facility in Rockville. “We set it up,” says Kelly Schulz, CEO of the Maryland Tech Council, “to be an exact replica of a biomanufacturing site.” Soon to be equipped with a bioreactor, the 8,200-sq.-ft. training center opened in October 2024 and is providing technical expertise to current life sciences workers, military veterans and high school graduates. “We are building the biopharma workforce of the future in Rockville,” says Schulz. “Our doors are open to Marylanders of all educational backgrounds.” This Investment Profile was prepared under the auspices of the Maryland Marketing Partnership. For more information, please contact Jayson Knott at jayson.knott@maryland.gov, or visit business.maryland.gov/lifesciences. SITE SELECTION MARCH 2025 205 Theradaptive designs specialized proteins to regenerate bones and tissues. Photo courtesy of TheradaptiveAA s America races toward a greener future, the demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has never been higher. Minnesota is seizing the opportunity to break into this emerging industry before the competition, leveraging its agricultural strength to kickstart a hub that could establish the state as a pioneer in SAF production. e Minnesota SAF Hub, a coalition comprising the Greater MSP Partnership, Bank of America, Delta Air Lines, Ecolab, Xcel Energy and other stakeholders, is on a journey to develop a fully integrated SAF supply chain in Minnesota. In partnership with Delta, Flint Hills Resources is in the early stages of developing a facility capable of blending up to million gallons of neat (unblended) SAF with conventional jet fuel. is project will be a fi rst-of-its-kind facility between the coasts. Located at Flint Hills’ Pine Bend refi nery in Rosemount, the facility will deliver the blended fuel via its existing pipeline to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), Delta’s second-largest hub. Shell has already committed to supplying the neat SAF for the project. A “Demand Consortium” including Bank of America, Deloitte, Delta and Ecolab will purchase the fi rst several million gallons of SAF each year, starting during the second half of . Each participating company is providing funding to scale production, drive down costs, increase continued demand and reduce carbon emissions associated with their employee business travel. “While Delta has committed to purchasing millions of gallons of SAF, there isn’t enough being produced today to fuel the world’s commercial airlines for a single week,” said Peter Carter, Delta’s executive vice president of external aff airs, in September. “ at’s why this blending facility is so important — it’s like hanging an ‘Open for Business’ sign to SAF producers to consider doing business in Minnesota, where we see SAF as a great opportunity for all players across the value chain.” Plant-Powered Progress Minnesota SAF Hub partners at the University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative are also developing a novel crop called winter camelina seed, which can be used for various purposes, by LINDSAY LOPP Lindsay.Lopp@siteselection.com Minnesota STATE SPOTLIGHT Cargill and the Forever Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota are partnering to study winter camelina and domesticated pennycress as feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel in addition to their role as oilseed soil cover crops. Image courtesy of Business Wire and Cargill 206 MARCH 2025 SITE SELECTION The Fuel of the FutureNext >