Businesses from all over the country call Belz's Memphis-area properties home and it is easy to see why. Belz is known for providing its tenants with strategic locations, well-kept appearances, and quality facilities. Whether a company needs office, industrial, or warehouse space — or a combination of all three — Belz lives up to its motto of 'Any Space. Any Place.'
      Located in Memphis, Belz properties are in the heart of what is known as North America's Distribution Center. There are a number of reasons why national organizations choose to locate in Memphis, from the city's location in the middle of the

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United States which allows for quicker product deliveries, to the variety of available incentives in the area, to the availability of affordable real estate.
      Memphis also offers a wide range of transportation options. Companies with shipping and other transportation needs will find that Belz properties offer easy access to Memphis International Airport, the world's busiest cargo airport for 13 consecutive years and home to the FedEx Superhub; three major railroad companies; two major interstates and multiple highways; and river ports with easy access to Mississippi River shipping lanes.
      Recognizing that strategic locations are critical to a company's bottom line, Belz's leasing team works with its customers to allow them to take advantage of all that Memphis has to offer.
      "We work with potential tenants to provide leasing structures within facilities that meet their needs," said Morris Thomas, Vice President and Director of Brokerage and Leasing for Belz. "We can offer companies the right location and facility to fit their specifications and budget, including new, build-to-suit developments."
      Another positive benefit to locating in Memphis is the number of incentive programs offered by the City of Memphis, Shelby County, and Tennessee.
      One of the more popular and well-known incentives available in the Memphis area are payments-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT programs. A PILOT is a grant of a real property tax freeze based on a pre-development assessment.
      In Memphis and Shelby County, several entities can grant PILOTs, including the Memphis and Shelby Country Industrial

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Development Board, the Center City Revenue Finance Corporation, the Industrial Development Boards of Germantown and Collierville, and the Bartlett Station Development Commission.
      Once an application for a PILOT has been made, it is reviewed by the appropriate board, which then either grants a tax freeze or rejects the application. The amount and length of the tax freeze granted depend on many factors, including the number of jobs created, target median wage, and capital investments.
      Tennessee also offers a number of Economic & Community Development (ECD) programs. Companies can apply for grants for industrial infrastructure improvements, loans for industrial buildings and equipment, grants for industrial training, and grants and loans for energy conservation.Specific ECD programs include the Tennessee Job Skills Program, the Tennessee Industrial Infrastructure Program, the Industrial Training Service Program, the Tennessee Enhancement Program, the Delta Regional Authority Program, and the Private Activity Bond Program. Companies must meet specific criteria and goals to qualify for each specific program.
      A number of Belz's tenants have taken advantage of available economic incentives. As Belz's leasing team works with new prospects, they always let the prospects know that incentives are available and help direct them to the correct regulatory board. According to Thomas, the incentives are vital to the area's continued growth.
      "Most large and mid-size national prospects are looking at other major distribution markets in addition to Memphis," he said. "The real estate tax is a key component of the costs companies look at when determining how efficient it will be to locate in a particular area. We can certainly compete on our own when it comes to lease rates, but because so many other cities offer incentives, we couldn't compete with the overall cost of occupancy without the ability to offer PILOT programs and other incentives."
      Thomas also praised the city and county's efforts over the last few years to simplify the process for obtaining PILOTs.
      "A company looking for possible incentives can now sit down with a staff member from the Memphis or Shelby County development boards to have critical questions answered. The staff member can then quickly give them an idea of the incentives for which that company will qualify, which often times is a major step forward toward leasing in a competitive market."