Site Selection’s Third Annual “Big Muddy Cup” Goes to Burlington, Iowa-Ill.

Press Release

Site Selection’s Third Annual “Big Muddy Cup” Goes to Burlington, Iowa-Ill.

Atlanta, March 3, 2016: Greater Burlington, Iowa-Ill., is the recipient of the Big Muddy Cup, an award from Site Selection magazine recognizing the top metro area along the entire length of the Mississippi River for private-sector facility projects per capita.

The award from the 62-year-old Atlanta-based magazine is based on new and expanded corporate facilities tracked over the 18 months ending Dec. 31, 2015, by Site Selection publisher Conway’s proprietary Conway Projects Database. Corporate projects in the Burlington area, which totaled 14 in 2014, are coming from such companies as Silgan, Shearer’s Snack Foods and GE.

Jason Hutcheson, president and CEO of the Greater Burlington Partnership, says area leaders united a few years ago to turn around an uncompetitive business climate, passing new incentives and renewing their focus on companies already operating in the community.

“We had to do something radical, to realign the cost structure, so they could be competitive within the US and across the globe,” he says. The results have been transformative, taking concrete form in everything from road improvements to fiscal soundness. And companies are noticing. “Our people work hard, and know how to use things,” he says. “We’re not a fit for every industry out there, but we are a good fit for companies that want to be globally competitive in making things.”

Ranking just behind Burlington were last year’s Big Muddy Cup winner Dyersburg, Tenn.; Natchez, Miss.-La.; Muscatine, Iowa; and Blytheville, Ark. A Top 10 list of per-capita leaders and a list of the top areas in total projects appear below.

The Big Muddy Cup will be presented to Burlington-area leaders at a special ceremony at the annual conference of the Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals Association in Natchez, Miss., where Site Selection Managing Editor Adam Bruns will also deliver a presentation on river corridor economic development projects and trends.

Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database focuses on new corporate end-user facility projects with significant impact. New facilities and expansions included in the analyses must meet at least one of three criteria: (a) involve a capital investment of at least US$1 million, (b) create at least 20 new jobs or (c) add at least 20,000 sq. ft. (1,858 sq. m.) of new floor area.

Site Selection magazine, published by Conway Inc., delivers expansion planning information to 48,000 executives of fast-growing firms. The senior publication in the development field, Site Selection is also available via Site Selection Online.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Conway, publisher of Site Selection magazine, the Conway Analytics Report and a family of online industry newsletters, has been a trusted advisor to corporations, government economic development and investment promotion agencies around the world since 1954. Conway owns and manages London-based Conway Events, organizer of worldwide FDI events; Berlin-based FDI advisory firm Terrain Consulting; and New York-based Conway PR & Marketing, a leading PR and lead-generation firm. Conway also manages the Industrial Asset Management Council and the Global FDI Association. Conway in 2013 launched a Custom Publishing Division that has published a number of prominent state economic development guides, and in 2015 published the second edition of The World’s Most Competitive Cities in partnership with Moody’s Analytics, Tractus and Oxford Economics. Conway in 2015 cemented location advisory and lead generation cooperation agreements with Silverlode Consulting in the US and Tractus in Asia. Conway employs over 80 people in 10 offices in seven countries.

(Note: All circulation information is publisher’s own data unless otherwise specified).