As the executive director of the local economic development organization, I have often wanted to tell potential companies how I, in my world of developmental wisdom, can make your site-seeking job easier. Economic Development 101 begins with either you or your site selection consultant calling the local economic development professional. Why call us? The answer lies in the question.
        The local economic development professional knows the community best. Generally, economic developers are not paid a real estate commission; therefore, we can represent the buyer, seller and local community without potential conflicts of interest. Local economic developers are your match-making service, putting buyers in touch with the most suitable site or building.
        To be able to best serve your company, we need you to be prepared to answer some basic questions.
        • How much land or what size building do you require?
        • What are your utility needs, and are there any special requirements, such as metals or chemicals discharged in your sewers?
        • Do you need rail?
        • Is Interstate or highway accessibility a requirement?
        • Are there environmental concerns requiring permits or other special use considerations?
        • What is your proposed tax base in land, building and equipment?
        • How many employees will you have and what are their skill needs? Are any employees transferring in with you?
        While this is a short list, having answers to these questions will speed your search along. To demonstrate the importance of the local economic development organization in your site search, consider the following case study of how our local economic development organization won a $12-million project after the company eliminated our site.

NASCAR Technical Institute (NTI) is an automotive repair training school, teaching the skills for an automotive technician career. The parent company is Universal Technical Institute of Phoenix, Ariz., which also runs Marine Technical Institute and Motorcycle Technical Institute. NTI began its search in North Carolina due to its plans to affiliate its newest campus with NASCAR and the motorsports industry. North Carolina is home to over 80 percent of the suppliers of the motorsports industry, which led to North Carolina being the featured state in the site search.
        While we did not have to fight in a state search, at first glance, any community in North Carolina could have been a fit for this company. It seemed like every community in the region was certainly vying for the opportunity to get this new location. Our community, Mooresville, is nicknamed "Race City, USA" due to our 47 race teams and 120 motorsports suppliers. Even with motorsports in our favor, becoming home to this newest facility was not a given.
        Land requirements included 30 acres of available space, accessibility to a highway, and general proximity to related motorsports companies. We negotiated land details, utilities to the site, price, road improvements, and other issues related to the transaction. After several visits, we continued to make the cut, bringing Mooresville closer to landing the final prize. However, we were disappointed to learn on the last round we had been eliminated as a final site, though the corporate officials agreed we met all their site needs. It took work -- as only a local economic development team could provide – to overcome the last obstacles and to be able to land the final deal.
        This project had unique, non-land-related needs for the 2,000 students who would be attending the school. We learned that company officials were no longer considering our town due to the belief there were not sufficient part-time jobs for the students and not enough apartments to meet their housing needs.
        I scrambled to the phone to call the company president in Arizona to request another meeting with them to discuss jobs available in our community and to address the questions on housing. To prepare for this meeting, we assembled a panel consisting of representatives from our local Employment Security Commission, our largest industrial employer, our largest retail store, and one of our temporary employment agencies. NASCAR Technical Institute agreed to meet with the panel to hear about jobs available in our community. NTI learned from the panel discussion that with a 3-percent unemployment rate, the Mooresville community was in need of employees. The company left the meeting that day with the panelists begging the company to start construction immediately. They had part-time jobs and needed employees.
        The second obstacle involved the company's belief that we did not have sufficient housing to meet the students' needs. Our staff immediately performed a vacancy study of all apartments and townhomes in the community. Additionally, we were able to provide the company details of which they were previously unaware; for example, construction was slated to begin on two new apartment complexes within the next few months, one of which was within walking distance of the prospective site.
        With these two obstacles eliminated, things began to turn back in a favorable direction for our community, and ultimately we were chosen. Through the focused work of our local economic development team, we created the ultimate win-win solution. Our community is now home to the $12-million, 125-employee facility, and NASCAR Technical Institute proudly calls Mooresville home.

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