< Previous86 SEPTEMBER 2025 SITE SELECTION In terms of capital investment gleaned over the past year and a half, Stafford County, Virginia, led the way with $6 billion in total project investment. In terms of employment tied to facility deals, New London County, Connecticut, is No. 1 with 3,349 new jobs announced. Another way to gauge trade and commerce in a metro area is to look at traffic congestion. The American Transportation Research Institute, based in Atlanta, produces an annual report titled “The Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks” in America. Along the 1,906-mile-long freeway that is I-95, stretching from U.S. 1 just south of downtown Miami north to the Houlton-Woodstock border crossing between Maine and Canada, four metro areas make the list of the 10 worst bottlenecks in the country: New York City (No. 1); Miami (No. 2); Philadelphia (No. 4); and Washington, D.C. (No. 7). The most congested interchange in the nation, per ATRI, is the intersection of I-95 and State Road 4 near the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey. This bottleneck claims the No. 1 distinction for the seventh year in a row, and it is the only I-95 interchange to make the top 10. A total of 18 interchanges on I-95 crack this year’s top 100 list. Rebecca Brewster, president and CEO of ATRI, says the I-95/S.R. 4 junction earns its No. 1 ranking because “six roadways converge at that interchange to start the toll bridge over the Hudson River into New York City. Given the population densities in New York City, you have a lot of freight demand for trucks to deliver goods into the city. We look at highways that are freight-significant. We drive the data off of trucks in real-world operations. Where you have huge population densities and lots of freight, you will always have traffic congestion. Nationwide, this results in a $108 billion cost annually to the trucking industry.” CarGurus Parks in Boston Back Bay While Bostonians have complained about traffic for decades, one thing they are not griping about now is the economic development success of Eastern Massachusetts. “The draw to Boston and its Suffolk neighbors remains strong,” says Peter Abair, executive director of MassEcon, the state economic development agency. “A commercial real estate building boom to feed high demand, especially for lab space, is only now running its course. Combined with the effects of the pandemic on the office market, this resulted in an increase in availabilities. For example, the lab market had a vacancy rate under 1% in 2021. More recently, with all the new space coming online, that rate has been closer to 20%.” With developers offering favorable tenant improvement packages, Boston is now “a renters/ buyer market,” says Abair. “This has caused a lot of repositioning within the market by businesses and given many new entries to Boston the best deals in two decades.” One company taking advantage of these deals is online automotive retailer CarGurus Inc. After spending 20 years in Cambridge, Massachusetts, CarGurus celebrated the opening of its new global headquarters in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood on October 17, 2024. The 225,000-sq.-ft. office space on the top 10 floors of a 20-story building brings together 1,000 employees who had been working in two separate offices in Cambridge. With panoramic views of the Massachusetts Turnpike, Back Bay and other parts of Boston, workers at CarGurus now have a commanding view of Boston traffic and the many CarGurus customers who navigate it daily. That is not by accident. When IA Interior Architects designed the new workspace, they said they drew inspiration from the concept of “an epic road trip.” They wanted the new space to reflect “the idea of journey and motion,” and they incorporated those elements into the design. Structure Tone Boston built the new headquarters space inside a brand-new office building that sits atop the Mass Pike. It is the first TOP 10 COUNTIES ON I-95 IN TOTAL PROJECTS JANUARY 2024 – JULY 2025 RANK COUNTY PROJECTS 1 Suffolk County, MA 51 2 Duval County, FL 39 3T Broward County, FL 37 3T Palm Beach County, FL 37 5 Middlesex County, NJ 36 6T Fairfax County, VA 29 6T Norfolk County, MA 29 8 Fairfield County, CT 24 9 New Haven County, CT 23 10 Chatham County, GA 21 Source: Conway Projects Database/Conway Data Inc.88 SEPTEMBER 2025 SITE SELECTION such project to be awarded the air rights to build directly over Interstate 90 — and it was a decade in development. Today, the LEED Gold-certified building at 1001 Boylston Street stands as one of the signature landmarks in all of Boston. CarGurus, which was founded in Cambridge in 2006 by TripAdvisor co-founder Langley Steinert, signed a 15-year lease to occupy this space. CarGurus trades on the NASDAQ exchange as CARG and has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, making it one of Boston’s most valuable companies. Future of Transit Finds Jacksonville While an online car retailer engineered one of Boston’s biggest comeback wins of 2024, two mobility companies helped drive Jacksonville- Duval County to new heights along the southern end of I-95 in Northeast Florida: Holon and Otto Aviation. Germany-based Holon announced last September that it will become the first automotive OEM to manufacture vehicles in Florida when the Benteler Group subsidiary begins assembling the first industrialized, autonomous, electric shuttles in the U.S. in 2026. The company plans to construct a $100 million, 500,000-sq.-ft. facility in Jacksonville where it will initially employ 150 workers before eventually scaling up to 1,000. “Jacksonville has demonstrated tremendous enthusiasm for our vision from the beginning, making the city a national leader in the deployment of autonomous transit,” said Henning von Watzdorf, CEO of Holon. The self-driving, all-electric Holon shuttle will have a top speed of 37 mph and a capacity for up to 15 passengers. The company projects that the new Duval plant, located on a 40-acre site just off Zoo Parkway, will annually produce around 5,000 vehicles to be sold worldwide. Holon said the people mover will be distributed through a collaboration between Benteler Mobility and Orlando- based Beep Inc. Incentives helped seal the deal. The state is providing Holon with an $8 million incentive award and tax credit, while the city is offering $7.5 million in the form of a Recapture Enhanced Value (REV) grant plus a training grant of $1,000 per employee for up to 200 workers. An analysis by the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida estimates that the economic impact of the project will exceed $200 million during construction and $87 million annually once the plant reaches full production by 2028. “Holon’s decision to build this facility here has the potential to be a game-changer for Jacksonville, solidifying our leadership in the autonomous vehicle space and driving growth across multiple sectors,” said Aundra Wallace, president of JAXUSA Partnership. According to people at JAXUSA, the Holon project was very competitive, with South Carolina and Michigan making strong runs. State and local incentives, streamlined permitting assistance, workforce training help and crafting a multi- party partnership were the difference-makers, the JAXUSA leaders said. With the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) signing on to be the first American customer to use Holon’s transporters, “that was a big draw to Holon,” according to a JAXUSA spokesperson. The new CarGurus headquarters overlooks Boston and surrounding Suffolk County. It is the first structure to be built atop an Interstate in the city. CREDIT: Photo courtesy of CarGurusOtto Makes Soft Landing at Cecil Airport Duval reeled in its second big catch in the mobility sector on June , , when Texas-based Otto Aviation announced that it had selected Cecil Airport for a $ million manufacturing facility. e fi rm said it will build its next-generation Phantom aircraft at the site and relocate its corporate headquarters from Fort Worth, Texas, to Jacksonville. e move came a month after the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) approved a $. million package of investments and incentives for the deal. e announcement also came one day after the Jacksonville City Council approved a REV grant of up to $ million. Otto cemented the deal by securing a temporary lease at a former Boeing Company hangar at Cecil Airport. e new , -sq.-ft. plant will be built on to acres of vacant land at the airfi eld, with construction set to begin in . Combined with Otto’s plans for the east side of the airport, the project represents the largest investment and potential job creator for any new development or Texas-based Otto Aviation is moving its headquarters and production to Cecil Airport in West Jacksonville, where the company will assemble the Phantom 3500 jet. Rendering courtesy of Otto Aviationtenant in JAA history. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joined Otto leaders to make the formal announcement at the Paris Air Show on June 16. The project is expected to create 389 high-skilled jobs that pay an average annual wage of $90,388. That workforce could grow to 1,200 jobs by 2040 as the company ramps up production. Speaking at the Paris Air Show, Otto CEO Paul Touw said, “Jacksonville stood out as a city that shares our long-term vision: pushing boundaries in aerospace innovation while creating high-quality jobs and meaningful impact.” Otto’s 10-passenger midsized jet breaks convention by incorporating a sleek windowless design that maximizes laminar airflow to reduce drag and maximize fuel efficiency. Adam Slepian, chief strategy officer for Otto, says, “We took on an exhaustive site search that took over a year. We looked at 55 airports across 12 states. We were looking for an airport that meets our requirements and a location that was the right place from a talent perspective. Jacksonville provided that place. It offers a great cost of doing Otto’s SuperNatural Vision™ redefines the passenger experience by replacing traditional windows in the rear cabin with state-of-the-art high-definition digital displays that seamlessly integrate real-time external views. Rendering courtesy of Otto Aviation92 SEPTEMBER 2025 SITE SELECTION business balanced with incentives from state and local agencies.” e more they studied airports around the country, Slepian said, the more “Jacksonville and Cecil Airport bubbled up to the top. From an engineering perspective and for front offi ce staff , we found the requisite workers are in place.” Duval County passed every other test too, he adds, including a quality-of-life assessment from MIT. He also cited aff ordable housing; arts and culture; food areas; lively downtown and beaches; and ample support for military veterans. “ is area off ers a great opportunity to provide mission-fi rst work: Do your job and take care of your people. We know we can do that in Jacksonville,” says Slepian. Founded in California in , Otto has been based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for most of the time since. Slepian says the company will attract and hire talent from all over the country. “We will have access to talent from Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University, Georgia Tech and all the legacy aerospace OEMs in Florida,” he says. “And we love the military community in Jacksonville.” A Puncher’s Chance Wins the Day JAXUSA’s Wallace says that his organization took the lead to land Otto. “Our approach was simple: We understand what it takes to compete in the heavyweight division,” he says. “I also understood that if we hit away at certain areas of the body, we would win this project. By that, I mean that we had all the fundamentals: talent, site and quality of life. If you keep hitting at those things and make the company feel wanted, they will never feel taken for granted. We were always in a touchpoint with them from a customer service standpoint.” JAXUSA managed Project Bluebird from start to fi nish, says Wallace. “We are the regional economic development organization for the seven counties of Northeast Florida. We handled all aspects of project management: fi nding the site; workforce coordination; incentives negotiation, etc.,” he says. “We maintained close coordination with Kelley Rendziperis [senior partner of Dallas-based Site Selection Group], who was handling site selection for Otto.” JAXUSA coordinated all tasks with JAA, the Jacksonville Electric Authority, the City of Jacksonville and the Florida Department of Commerce. “We prepared a comprehensive proposal that covered all the bases,” adds Wallace. “It came down to three fi nalist sites in Florida. Cecil Airport was one of them.” Sites in Texas and Indiana were still in the running as late as September , but Florida emerged as the clear leader, says Wallace. “Of the three sites in Florida, Cecil Airport became the top one. e hangar, the ,-foot runway and the incentives helped close the deal, but the icing on the cake was workforce development. By aligning Otto with the University of Florida, Jacksonville University and CareerSource Northeast Florida, they knew we would provide a robust talent pipeline. ose factors, coupled with our high quality of life, are why Otto chose our region.” is area off ers a great opportunity to provide mission-fi rst work: Do your job and take care of your people. We know we can do that in Jacksonville.” — Adam Slepian , Chief Strategy Offi cer, Otto is area off ers a great SITE SELECTION SEPTEMBER 2025 93 GLOBAL GROUNDWORK INDEX T aking in all the corporate data since (number of projects, capital investment and jobs) and the most current infrastructure funding data, Site Selection Director of Programming & Analytics Daniel Boyer crunched the numbers on a cumulative and per-capita basis to determine the Top U.S. states, Top U.S. metros and Top countries outside the United States in the Global Groundwork Index. After running - for two consecutive years, Ohio and Indiana switched places this year, with the Hoosier State coming out on top, followed by Ohio, Texas, Illinois and Arizona. Texas, driven by the same impressive employer investments, transportation and energy projects and talent attraction that have won the state plaudits in this publication and elsewhere, made the biggest move up among the top , from No. to No. . Among metros, four of the top fi ve involve the top two states, as Columbus, Ohio, and Lafayette- West Lafayette, Indiana, take the top two spots with the tri-state Cincinnati region taking third, the Indiana state capital of Indianapolis in fi fth and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, sliding in at No. . Among countries, Canada jumps up from No. last year to No. , followed by Australia and Ireland maintaining their ranks achieved last year at No. and No. respectively. e Indianapolis International Airport (IND), a crucial element in Indiana’s infrastructure for business, set an all-time new record on Memorial by ADAM BRUNS, CHRISTOPHER STEELE AND SCOTT BROWN adam.bruns@siteselection.com LOOKING FOR STABILITY? LOOK TO THE HEARTLAND. The iconic Monument Circle encircles the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the heart of Indianapolis, nicknamed Circle City. Indiana ranks No. 1 in this year’s Global Groundwork Index, with Greater Indy tied for No. 5 among metros with Syracuse, New York. Photo: Getty Images94 SEPTEMBER 2025 SITE SELECTION Day 2025 with 23,473 passengers. “A sold-out Indy 500, the Pacers’ playoff run and expanded nonstop service all contributed to this record-setting day,” said Marsha Wuster, Indianapolis Airport Authority senior director of commercial enterprise. In May alone, new flights launched out of Indy to Austin on Delta Air Lines, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas and Los Angeles on Spirit Airlines, Portland on Allegiant Air and Dublin, Ireland on Aer Lingus. In addition, Air Canada relaunched its daily service to Toronto, Canada. Ohio may be No. 2 in this year’s index after two straight years at No. 1, but it’s still No. 1 in CNBC’s estimation, as the network’s “Top States for Business” ranking released in July awarded the Buckeye State top billing in the infrastructure category due in large part to its ready-to-build sites supported by the All Ohio Future Fund and Ohio Site Inventory Program. The ties between transportation and employer growth were at the heart of a June announcement by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jim Tressel and Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Director Pamela Boratyn awarding $8.9 million in Transportation Improvement District Program funding to support 26 projects in 19 counties. “The roadwork projects will provide access to developable land, create easier access to existing businesses and alleviate traffic congestion around commercial areas,” said an ODOT release, noting the projects are expected to support more than 19,400 jobs and more than $3 billion in private sector capital investments. “It’s hard for any business to succeed without road infrastructure to get people to and from their site,” said Lt. Governor Tressel. Made in America — But Where? This year, in the first of a two-part series examining the convergence of investment data, infrastructure, tariffs and FTZs, Christopher Steele, CEO and president of economic analysis and research firm EBP US, and his colleague Scott Brown, senior analyst, offer this commentary that incorporates Global Groundwork Index findings into the larger site selection context as companies deal with shifting supply chains and shifting policies: For the last four decades, U.S. infrastructure investments have prioritized offshoring, expanding ports, intermodal hubs, and just-in-time, last-mile distribution. Meanwhile, domestic manufacturing capacity and its requisite infrastructure have fallen behind. But amid ongoing trade tensions and reciprocal tariffs with the U.S.’s key trading partners, manufacturers are reevaluating their supply chains. For many, reshoring or nearshoring operations to the U.S. is becoming not just a financial hedge but also a strategic imperative. We’ve heard from our public- and private-sector clients across North America more interest in becoming investment- (and tariff-) ready. Our firm is approaching this challenge with an eye for two key factors — infrastructure and tariff resilience. While these are certainly not the only factors, they are some of the biggest and most consequential. Part of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s $76 million interchange project, a new I-270 south to I-70 east flyover ramp opened in August in Columbus, ranked No. among metros in this year’s Global Groundwork Index. Photo courtesy of Ohio DOT Global Groundwork Index TOP STATES 2024 RANK 2025 RANKING STATE 2 1 Indiana 1 2 Ohio 6 3 Texas 5 4 Illinois 2 5 Arizona 4 6 Louisiana 7 7 Georgia 7 8 Kentucky 10 9 Michigan 9 10 North Carolina Methodology for Top States and Top Metros: Cumulative and per-capita calculations based on Conway Projects Database projects, project-affiliated job creation and project-affiliated capital expenditure, Jan. 2021 through July 1, 2025. Cumulative and per-capita calculations based on project and funding data from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Maps Dashboard. Retrieved from https://d2d.gsa. gov/report/bipartisan-infrastructure-law-bil-maps-dashboard)Next >