Travels along Interstate 75 can take one from the Florida shores of Miami all the way to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to the waterfront city of Sault Ste. Marie. The 1,786-mile stretch of I-75 flows directly through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan, making it a vital transportation route and economic lifeline for businesses and commuters.
Site Selection took a look into qualifying projects tracked by the Conway Projects Database from January 2024 until March 2025, which gave insight into investment activity taking place on or near the six-state route. The five sectors that saw the most investment activity during this time were Machinery, Equipment & Construction (102 projects), Business & Financial Services (66), Food & Beverage (49), Automotive (44) and Transportation & Logistics (39).
Project types were led by distribution warehouse and manufacturing facility investment, followed by office, headquarters and R&D announcements.
Of the six states I-75 runs through, Ohio led in the total number of projects that were announced over the course of the year at 207 projects across 10 counties. Not far behind was Florida with 166 projects across 13 counties. Michigan followed with 69 projects, Kentucky with 47 projects, Georgia with 27 projects and Tennessee with 12 projects.
A closer breakdown (map on facing page) shows exactly which counties were pulling in the majority of a state’s project share.
Cenovus Energy made a big splash in Ohio during 2024, as the company announced a $1.5 billion investment into both its Lima and Oregon facilities over the next five years. This move comes as Cenovus looks to upgrade facility maintenance, reliability measures and market access projects. The company additionally announced it would be expanding its U.S. regional headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, creating 115 new jobs.
“As we continue to grow our business in Ohio, with its strengthening energy sector, keeping our U.S. regional headquarters in Dublin was an obvious choice,” said Cenovus Executive Vice President Downstream Doreen Cole. The company noted the decision to grow its base in Ohio is a result of the state’s strategic location, skilled workforce and strong business environment.
In Cincinnati, Medpace broke ground on a $327 million upgrade to its Madisonville headquarters campus, representative of one of the city’s largest corporate expansions. Medpace’s investment will introduce a new nine-story office building, a Clinical Pharmacology Unit and a six-story parking garage. Increased space will allow the company to hire an additional 1,500 employees at the campus.
Welcome to Miami-Dade
Whether it’s business or pleasure, I-75 continues to be a well-traveled route within Florida, running 471 miles from Miami up Florida’s Gulf Coast through Tampa, heading in toward Gainesville before crossing the state line into Valdosta, Georgia.
Miami-Dade County’s role in the corridor didn’t arrive until after a 1968 approval from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to extend I-75 from Tampa, with the final conversion of Alligator Alley to I-75 not taking place until 1992, completing the highway’s national north-south route. That piecemeal extension was a catalyst for growth in South Florida and remains a vital element today.
“It is a major thoroughfare that is a connectivity opportunity for talent and business,” says Miami-Dade County Economic Development Director James Kohnstamm. “It reaches across the state to the southwestern region of Florida. We have the Big Cypress National Preserve between that separates our communities, but it’s this type of asset that allows us to build business and talent bridges between communities across southern Florida.”
The county drew in 62 new and expansion projects from January 2024 to March 2025. The majority of these investments were in Business & Financial Services (23 projects) and Transport & Logistics (10 projects). Businesses coming to the region are largely opening new distribution warehouses, occupying office space or establishing headquarters within the Miami area.
“Miami-Dade is a large county from a land mass perspective, but the developer area is relatively small along the coastline, so when it comes to developing sites, we have our limitations,” says Kohnstamm. “The northwest part of the county, accessed by I-75, and south Dade are the areas where there is the most opportunity for development, so that is driving a lot of growth you’re seeing for commercial trade and warehouse developments.”
For Kohnstamm, the decision to locate in northwest and south Dade is driven by the talent pipeline that can be accessed via I-75, which connects the county to the larger Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro. The tri-county area encompasses over 6.1 million residents, making it Florida’s largest metropolitan area.
“The workforce’s ability to commute is driving some of this economic development,” says Kohnstamm. “There’s public transit and other transportation solutions, but it’s really because of the Interstate that we’re competitive in locating business in the northwest Dade community, because they can source talent from our tri-county area.”
A recent 2025 U.S. Investor Intentions Survey conducted by CBRE revealed that Miami has been ranked as the No. 2 most attractive market for commercial real estate, behind Dallas, Texas.
“Investors are demonstrating a growing interest in Miami and South Florida office properties,” said CBRE Vice Chairman of Capital Markets Christian Lee. “Equity funds are fiercely competing for top-tier assets, while private buyers, both foreign and domestic, remain the deepest source of liquidity. As a result, sales volume and pricing are trending upward, and financing is becoming more accessible, with spreads beginning to tighten.”
This insight is bolstered by the city of Miami securing 22 new office investments since 2024 from companies including Verizon Wireless, Sony and Amazon. The post-pandemic push for back-to-office has been a tricky challenge to navigate nationwide, although quality office space has set Miami apart.
“We have a fairly strong office market,” says Kohnstamm. “New companies are relocating to the market, others are expanding, and they’re really able to make those investments and see the future because of not only the quality of the facilities that they’re occupying, but the culture that these companies are creating to bring talent back to the office.”
Access to I-75 has been a key selling point for economic development officials, and state leadership is keen on ensuring travel runs smoothly. In February 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Transportation announced a new $70 billion investment would be headed toward a number of transportation infrastructure projects, with I-75 primed for a welcomed upgrade as the state’s population grows. As part of the state’s Moving Florida Forward Infrastructure Initiative, new auxiliary lanes will be added in both directions of I-75 in the Ocala region. In addition, the initiative will include reconstruction of the Fruitville Interchange on I-75 in Sarasota into a “Diverging Diamond” design, which will boost capacity by 40,000 vehicles while reducing traffic on and off the Interstate.
