Investor Watch: February 13, 2025

“Palmer Luckey, the famed 32-year-old California entrepreneur who revolutionized the way the world sees virtual reality through Oculus, is about to change the way America wages war,” writes Ron Starner. “This time there is nothing virtual about it.”

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

The state’s Industry Partnership Program is a key factor in the decision by hyper-fermentation company Cauldron Ferm to invest in Mackay, where the first of many envisioned bio-fabs around the world will soon rise.

AI IN SITE SELECTION

Could AI help you pick your next major facility investment location? Here’s what two consultants at Biggins, Lacy. Shapiro and Co. think, and how one AI professional responds.

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Archive photo of 2019 RAGBRAI ride courtesy of The Des Moines Register

Scioto Analysis Principal Rob Moore in late January unveiled his firm’s study of the economic and health impact of bicycling and trails in the state of Iowa to around 650 attendees at the Iowa Bicycle Coalition’s Bike Banquet in Des Moines. If the photo atop that study looks familiar to Site Selection readers, it may be because of the publication’s past reports on Iowa in May 2020 and May 2023 that used the towns along the route of the annual RAGBRAI bike ride across the state as an appropriate framework for a tour of Iowa economic development projects. The report estimates that bicycling contributes $1.4 billion annually to the state’s gross product, supports over 21,000 jobs and generates $690 million in wages.

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The Bridge District in Washington, D.C. — designed to be the home of the National Campus for Cyber Leadership — is an approximately $1 billion community revitalization project made possible in part by Opportunity Zone legislation.

Photo-rendering courtesy of ZGF Architects

Today land, property and real estate analytics curator ATTOM released its Year-End 2024 U.S. Opportunity Zones Report. ATTOM looked at 3,783 zones around the United States with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least five home sales in the fourth quarter of 2024. “The report found that median single-family home and condo prices increased from the third quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2024 in 49% of Opportunity Zones around the country with enough data to measure,” ATTOM states. “They were up annually in 61% of those zones.”

Among location-oriented findings: “Among states that had at least 25 Opportunity Zones with enough data to analyze during the fourth quarter of 2024, the largest portions of zones where median prices increased annually were in Indiana (medians up from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024 in 75% of zones), Missouri (74%), Wisconsin (73%), Kentucky (72%) and New Jersey (71%). States where prices were up annually in the smallest portion of zones included Louisiana (median prices up in 44% of zones), Alabama (44%), Arizona (46%), Florida (50%) and Texas (50%).”

OZs are a hot topic in the nation’s capital as they may be renewed in forthcoming legislation. See Site Selection’s most recent coverage of the topic from our November 2024 issue as well as our November 2023 report featuring insights from former Economic Innovation Group Research Director Kenan Fikri, now director of the Regional Economic Research Initiative for the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Micro-markets inside Opportunity Zones continue to reap remarkably consistent benefits from the home-price boom that is still reaching far and wide across the country,” said ATTOM CEO Rob Barber. “Again and again, we are seeing notable levels of economic potential in these areas that have long been in need of revival. This keeps happening as rising values and tight supplies of homes for sale push many buyers on limited budgets into areas they may not have considered a few years ago … Opportunity Zone price trends are far from consistent, with the lowest-end areas struggling to keep up. That’s a warning sign for those neighborhoods. But the big takeaway from the latest data is that significant money is flowing into these locations, which can provide a steppingstone for the investment that the Opportunity Zone legislation is intended to spur.”

Photo courtesy of Dominion Energy

Dominion Energy last week provided several updates for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project. “The 2.6-GW, fully permitted project is now approximately 50% complete and remains on track for on-time completion at the end of 2026,” the company said in a release. “CVOW is credited with creating 2,000 direct and indirect American jobs and $2 billion of economic activity.” The project’s price has increased from $9.8 billion to $10.7 billion, but Dominion noted it was the first increase since the “original project budget was submitted to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) in November 2021, approximately 39 months ago.”

“CVOW continues to achieve significant construction milestones including the successful installation of the first 16 transition pieces which serve as the junction between the foundation and tower for each of the 176 wind turbines,” the release explained. “Delivery of the first of three 4,300-ton offshore substations to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal in Virginia Beach [pictured] occurred at the end of January. Fully fabricated monopiles, transition pieces, undersea cable and other major components continue to be delivered in preparation for on-schedule installation.”