|
| O |
n the occasion of my turning 40 in November, a slightly older, out-of-state friend sent me an e-mail, saying, “Welcome to the prime of your life – it’s better over here.” As Site Selection turns 50, my colleagues and I are busy making sure the next 50 years of publishing this magazine are even better than the first 50.
We are more than proud to have worked on this particular issue, commemorating five decades of leadership in the industries we cover. An eight-page section beginning on page 29 recaps the roles Publisher Mac Conway, Site Selection, and Conway Data, Inc., have played in the evolution of the corporate real estate and economic development industries. No matter what connection to those fields you may have, it is a remarkable story.
The organization behind this publication has weathered more than a few economic recessions, industry contractions and other slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, to borrow from The Bard. But it is better known for growing a regular gathering of a handful of corporate real estate executives into the International Development Research Council, the world’s pre-eminent association of real estate executives, development agencies and service providers at the time of – and for many years prior to – its merger with another group.
With past as prologue, the Industrial Asset Management Council, organized by Conway Data in 2002, is meeting the needs of today’s corporate real estate professional with content-rich professional forums, member-driven industry research and Site Selection magazine as its official publication.
With so many economic indicators pointing at press time to an economically prosperous 2004, a reinvigorated national business climate cannot be far behind. More capital investment will generate more projects, which will create new jobs, which will expand the economy globally.
For our part, it also means more competition for projects, which means an even more competitive Governor’s Cup and Competitiveness Award (the latter was inaugurated in May 2003) and lots of fodder for our annual infrastructure report in the September issue.
In the meantime, watch for two new features in the March issue. The first is a regular column on technology for corporate real estate executives. The second is the Site Selection/NAI Industrial Location Index, which will run biannually in March and September. The North America version will debut in March. Think of the Index as a snapshot of the current status of key site-selection criteria in the continent’s primary industrial markets. My thanks to those involved at NAI, based in Hightstown, N.J. (www.naidirect .com), for their invaluable contribution of time and expertise to this project.
To those who count their years of reading Site Selection in decades or years, our thanks for your loyalty and support.
Till next time,
