“The more central business districts in large urban cores empty out,” writes Ron Starner,
“the more attractive it becomes to move the workplace closer to the workers.”
Metro Hartford, Connecticut, compares favorably to competitor cities when it
comes to tax and lease costs for insurance companies, barely behind No. 1 Des
Moines.
Graph courtesy of MetroHartford Alliance – CohnReznick analysis,
2023
Two reports to recently cross the transom at Site Selection study location trends among
insurance and financial services firms. The first is an independent analysis commissioned
by the MetroHartford Alliance and conducted by CohnReznick: “Effective Business Tax and Lease Rate Analysis: Comparing the
Hartford Region and Connecticut with Peer and Competitive Markets-2023 Update” does
exactly what its title suggests, and finds the Hartford region compares favorably to 14
other markets (including Des Moines, New York, Charlotte and Fairfax County, Virginia)
known for their concentrations of Fortune 500 headquarters, insurance and financial
services, aerospace/defense and advanced manufacturing. “Compared with peer and
competitive markets, Hartford boasts the second lowest total tax and office lease costs
for insurance and financial services companies,” the study finds. The lowest is in Des
Moines. The Hartford area also has the lowest costs for general Class A office users.
A week later, JLL Research unveiled a snapshot looking at insurance company occupier
trends. “What our researchers discovered was that insurance occupiers continue to commit
to better quality office space, especially as they enforce RTO policies,” says a JLL
spokesperson. “Since 2019, 62% of insurance tenants that have relocated have upgraded
their office building class … In an industry with a large presence across smaller markets,
the trend is particularly prevalent in Gateway Cities. Since 2019, 76% of insurance
relocations signed in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle
and Washington, D.C. have been moves to better quality buildings.” Location
decision-makers will want to hold that information next to an April 2023 report from JLL noting shifts in the
insurance talent landscape related to automation and AI.
Belgium-based vertical farm company Urban Crop Solutions announced last week its solution
for German aquaponics company Aixponic had helped achieve a new level of circularity by
successfully cultivating saltwater plants (saltwater Salicornia plants pictured) in an
indoor vertical farm to feed fish in an indoor fish farm. Urban Crop Solutions called the
arrangement “a great example of how the indoor farming industry can showcase that
applications beyond the typical leafy greens are not an item for a distant future but
deliver value already today.” Site Selection frequently reports on both sectors, including
fish farm insights from Puerto Rico, Maine and Maryland, and vertical farm reports from Quebec and a range of operations in Kentucky, Ohio, Massachusetts and
Montana.
