A new report from the Inter-American Development Bank finds that
mistrust is an acute problem that limits socioeconomic development in
Latin America and the Caribbean.
Austin’s office fit-out costs are the lowest of those tracked by JLL in 52
North American
markets.
Archive photo by Heather Overman
JLL this week released its 2022 U.S. & Canada Office Fit Out Guide, a
33-page office construction benchmarking report. Amid the report’s
useful tables, market spotlights and appendices you’ll find data on 52
North American markets. When I extracted the numbers and ranked the
markets by lowest fit-out costs, I found that the top three — and four
of the top eight — were in red-hot Texas, led by white-hot Austin. The
table shows the 10 lowest-cost markets of those 52 when measured by
average fit-out costs per rentable square foot for a moderate-style,
medium-quality office. — Adam Bruns
Just in time for the PGA Championship taking place this week one state
to the north, meet the Texas entrepreneur who’s turning bad golf shots
into money.
Leaders from Double Negative (DNEG), the London-based visual effects and
animation studio whose work has won seven Academy Awards for “Best VFX”
in recent years, were joined by Toronto Mayor John Tory and Toronto
Global CEO Stephen Lund for the official opening of their fourth North
American studio location last week. The firm said more than 150 new
employees had already been hired: “The company remains on track to hire
200 employees for its Toronto studio in year one, including many new
technology positions,” DNEG said, “and is planning to scale the studio
even further in year two in response to demand from clients for its
premium VFX and animation services.” DNEG said it has embraced a
flexible, hybrid in-office workforce approach to address ongoing
COVID-19 precautions and to maximize the company’s appeal in securing
top talent. “We remain committed to our long-term growth strategy,” said
DNEG Chairman and CEO Namit Malhotra, “as DNEG expands from feature film
and episodic TV content to take advantage of opportunities in adjacent
markets, including gaming and the metaverse.” The company’s current
headcount of 1,500 in Canada includes approximately 850 in Montreal and
520 in Vancouver, which includes the company’s new DNEG Animation
location in Vancouver, and its ReDefine brand, which has employees in
Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. DNEG employs nearly 7,000 people at
locations that also include Los Angeles, and Bengaluru, Chandigarh,
Chennai and Mumbai in India.
Imagine 75 million sandwiches. That’s how many more sandwiches
ready-to-eat sandwich, burrito and baked goods company E.A. Sween Co.
figures to be making after a new $38 million, 300-job operation is
completely up and running in Hodges in Greenwood County, located in
Upstate South Carolina. “From the moment we first visited the community,
we knew it was a perfect fit,” E.A. Sween Company President and CEO Tom
H. Sween said at the announcement yesterday. “South Carolina is a place
where people, partnerships, relationships and opportunity matter to
everyone we came across. This is an incredibly important moment in our
history as we expand our business and bring quality products closer to
our customers in the Southeast and beyond.” The company, which already
makes 100 million sandwiches annually, is based in Eden Prairie,
Minnesota (part of the Twin Cities metro area), not far from where late
founder Earl August Sween launched the company in Bloomington in 1955.
A screen-based facsimile of the print edition complete with messages
from supporting advertisers, the Digital Edition features the publication’s
Global Best to Invest rankings of countries and global metros;
Prosperity Cup rankings of U.S. states; Mac Conway Awards for top U.S.
economic development groups; and Top Deals of the year in North America.
You’ll also find a top-notch resource guide to economic development
agencies, with live links directly to their websites.
The May Digital Edition includes industry reports on water supply, the
North American automotive scene and health tech and life sciences, as
well as expert coverage of Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and
Quebec. In addition to the in-depth Charlotte Region Intelligence Report
and Costa Rica Investment Report, you’ll also find state spotlights on
Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio, Arizona, Colorado and Utah, and regional
roundups from New England and the Great Lakes. And don’t miss the Site
Selection Investment Profiles about 10 different territories and
organizations: Jamaica; Consumers Energy territory in Michigan;
Delaware; Puerto Rico; Greater Philadelphia; Greater Richmond; Wilmer,
Texas; Grupo Karim’s in Honduras; Florida; and Salt River Project
territory in Arizona.
It’s 216 pages of business intelligence you’ll find nowhere else,
designed to inform how you approach your company’s site portfolio and
location decision-making.
SITE SELECTION
RECOMMENDS
Light lingers until after 10 p.m. on a summer night along Strandvägen (“beach
road”), located in Östermalm in central Stockholm.
Photo by Henrik Trygg/imagebank.sweden.se
Courtesy of Image Bank Sweden
If you’re wondering why the Nordic countries always seem to top global
rankings of places to do business, work and live, Nordregio offers its
share of evidence. A research institute focused on regional development,
policy and planning, the Stockholm-based organization is an official
research entity of Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Watch for insights from Nordregio and other valuable resources in a
spotlight on the Nordics appearing in the July
issue of Site Selection.
PHOTO OF THE
DAY
Fresh off emcee duties at the World Forum for FDI in Edinburgh last
week, Site Selection Vice President of Sales and lifelong golfer Charles
FitzGibbon and his wife Suzy made the pilgrimage to St. Andrews Golf
Club, site of the 150th Open Championship scheduled to take place July
14-17. Word in town was that Tom Watson, the Kansas City-born golf
legend who in 2018 became only the fifth “distinguished stranger” (after
Tom Morris, Sandy Herd, Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer) to become an
honorary member of The New Golf Club, St. Andrews, was due in town the
following day. Among the valued assets in St. Andrews beyond the Old
Course is the University of St. Andrews, founded in 1413 and
the third oldest university in the English-speaking world. Last year the
university was ranked the top university in the UK, according to The
Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022, the first time in the
near 30-year history of the guide that a university other than Oxford or
Cambridge has topped the rankings.
