Investor Watch: October 20, 2025

Switzerland’s Ypsomed injects itself into the bustling life sciences cluster in Holly Springs. Google is bringing billions more dollars to its data center site in Wallonia. Morocco lands an MRO and much more from Paris-based Safran.

ARKANSAS

Corporate America is following the movement of younger workers.

MID-ATLANTIC

Why do more than 2,300 international companies employing a combined 367,000 workers have operations in the Mid-Atlantic region? Analysis from the Global Business Alliance (GBA) provides some answers.

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The complete Digital Edition of the inaugural Great Lakes Investment Guide is now live. Read all 68 pages, then explore further coverage of the region’s eight states and two Canadian provinces throughout Site Selection magazine’s archives, including Kikkoman’s longstanding investment in Wisconsin; a 2018 conversation with former Council of the Great Lakes Region President and CEO Mark Fisher (who was appointed the first president of the Canada Water Agency earlier this year); and a 2022 report on a resurgence in shipping tonnage tracked by the Great Lakes Seaway Partnership.

Then get yourself over to Detroit for the inaugural Great Lakes Economic Development Council Annual Conference taking place later this week.

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Photo by Feverpitched: Getty Images

Among the valuable business intelligence made available on a regular basis by NAIOP is its quarterly industrial space demand forecast, which in August reported only 27 million sq. ft. absorbed during the first half of 2025 with demand shrinking by 11.3 million sq. ft. in the second quarter. The report’s authors expect that “heightened uncertainty will likely persist at least through the rest of the year and lead to reduced leasing activity. Given this continued uncertainty and persistently high interest rates, the current NAIOP Industrial Space Demand Forecast projects that net absorption will be nearly flat over the second half of 2025 (2.8 million sq. ft.).”

Last week saw the release of the NAIOP CRE Sentiment Index for September 2025. The Index is 56, “an increase from the March 2025 score, indicating that respondents expect conditions for commercial real estate to improve over the next 12 months.” Asked in which property types they expect to be most active over the next 12 months, 37.1% said industrial, 21.1% said multifamily and 12% said data centers.

Photo courtesy of PIT

Two Saturdays ago, more than 300 guests gathered at the new Pittsburgh International Airport for a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the airport’s new terminal. “The project, which broke ground in 2021, was backed through unanimous support of PIT’s airline partners, which are covering majority of the $1.7 billion cost,” an official release stated. “No local tax dollars were used to fund the project.”

The new terminal was described as “the centerpiece of PIT’s transition from a hub connecting passengers from around the country to an origin-and-destination (O&D) airport tailored to better serve the Pittsburgh market.” Over the past decade the airport’s nonstop destination network has growth from 36 destinations to 62 and the number of airlines has gone from seven to 15. Throughout the project, over 14,300 jobs were created with an estimated impact of $2.5 billion in economic activity, the airport stated, and over $1 billion in direct labor income.

Among the terminal’s design features, structural tree columns and the terrazzo flooring’s intricate leaf patterns, created by artist Clayton Merrell, reflect the region’s forests, while more than 4,000 lights comprise the terminal’s constellation lighting emulating the night sky.