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FROM SITE SELECTION MAGAZINE, MAY 2022 ISSUE
From the May Issue

IOWA

Governor Kim Reynolds on Iowa’s Next Chapter

The governor is “determined to make Iowa the go-to state for businesses reshoring their operations and for those seeking low taxes and fiscal predictability,” writes Editor in Chief Mark Arend.

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From the September Issue

INVESTMENT PROFILE: GREATER RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

Simple Math: Greater Richmond Adds Up

Find out why AvePoint, Allianz Partners and CoStar Group are among the companies picking the Richmond metro area for their headquarters.

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 PROJECT WATCH 

Catalonia, Spain

South Korea’s Iljin Materials is making its first European investment and only the second outside Korea (after a site in Kuching, Malaysia) with this new factory announced May 16. “One of the reasons for the choice was the warm, mild climate in Catalonia, which Iljin CEO Yang Jeon-Sik describes as ideal for producing elecfoil,” says Invest in Spain of the company’s signature product: copper foils thinner than a human hair that are essential to lithium batteries. The location in Mont-roit de Camp in Tarragon, along the coast southwest of Barcelona, is anticipated to have a production capacity of 25,000 metric tons annually. But the company aims to produce 100,000 metric tons per year in Europe in order to satisfy electric vehicle industry demand, which means more European locations are likely in the offing.

Source: Conway Analytics

Guadalupe, Nuevo León, Mexico

Eleven months after announcing its plans, ZF Group on May 11 inaugurated its new HQ at FINSA Guadalupe Park in Nuevo León, Mexico. The complex will be home to a manufacturing plant, an IT center and a shared services center in charge of administrative functions for the entire North American region, said a release from FINSA. ZF employs more people in Mexico than any other German firm, with 16 plants employing more than 25,000 people. According to other reports from Mexico Business and others, the site will produce steering assistance systems and accident avoidance technology. Construction on an R&D center at the site should be complete by the second half of 2023. “Nuevo León always figured on the list [of places to settle] with a strategic place due to the enormous production of high-level students in its university centers and leading engineering schools in Latin America,” said Alberto de Icaza, director of government relations in Mexico for ZF Group.

Source: Conway Analytics

 

 

TEXAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE 2022-2023

ENERGY

Bright Horizons for Renewables

Texas leads the way in wind, branches out in biofuels and continues to diversify its dominant oil and gas portfolio.

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 SITE SELECTION RECOMMENDS 

Infographic courtesy of U.S. Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data on population shifts and growth by state and by city. As this chart illustrates, cities in Texas and Arizona took all five of the top spots in population growth between July 2020 and July 2021 among cities with populations of 50,000 or more, and the top three spots by numeric increase in population. It is important to note that the new figures apply to individual municipalities and not to metro areas. Hover over each state in the map at the link above and you’ll find many larger cities dropping slightly in population, but increases in those cities’ suburbs. — Adam Bruns

 

 PHOTO OF THE DAY 
NPS Photo by Gary Ladd courtesy of National Park Service

In the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, this photo shows the path the Colorado River once took through Reflection Canyon before Lake Powell was created. Low water levels this year have forced the closure for the remainder of the year of Dangling Rope Marina, and the temporary closure of multiple Lake Powell launch ramps to motorized watercraft. “Since 2001, declining water levels due to climate change and 20 years of drought have reshaped Lake Powell’s shoreline,” says a recent National Park Service bulletin. “Today we are experiencing low lake levels and their effects on boat ramp access points, on-lake facilities, and the landscape.” Real-time and historic water levels in Lake Powell can be viewed here.