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From Site Selection magazine, November 2002



NORTH AMERICAN REPORTS


Edited by ADAM BRUNS















Lilly Growing in Puerto Rico Too



Lilly groundbreaking in Carolina, Puerto Rico
NOTHING COULD BE FINER: Eli Lilly executives join with local residents and community officials to break ground on a $450-million facility in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The plant is Lilly's third major facility announcement of 2002, with total investment surpassing $1 billion.




In addition to major investments in its hometown of Indianapolis and in Prince William County, Virginia, Eli Lilly and Co. broke ground in July on another whopper: a $450-million facility in Carolina that will manufacture Humalog®, Lilly's biotechnology product derived from recombinant DNA that is used in the treatment of diabetes.


       
It is merely the continuation of a longstanding presence on the island for the pharmaceutical giant, which built its first facility there in 1965. Lilly Puerto Rico currently employs approximately 1,100 workers at three plants in Carolina and Mayaguez and 220 in its sales and marketing offices in San Juan.


       
Since the initial announcement in April 2001, the company has acquired property, filed permits, completed conceptual design and begun hiring new employees. Along the way, the project was expanded to include a dedicated warehouse facility, a utility building, an administration building and an independent laboratory facility for the site ? increasing the total investment from $250 million to $450 million and raising the number of new employees from 300 to 450. New jobs to be created as a result of the new facility include positions for biochemists, microbiologists, protein scientists, manufacturing operations and administrative personnel. Hiring will continue over the next two years until the 300,000-sq.-ft. (27,870-sq.-m.) facility becomes fully operational by late 2004.









All Play Means New Work in South Dakota




Faced with the availability of a huge parcel of land and one of the largest buildings in the state, residential playground equipment manufacturer Rainbow Play Systems has announced it will accelerate its expansion plans in Brookings, South Dakota, a move that will bring 100 new jobs and a new product line to the university town in 2003.


       
"This company has huge growth potential," said Gov. Bill Janklow in welcoming the good news. There will be plenty of room to do that, what with the 518,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, 39 loading docks, and a rail spur made available by the departure of TruServe Corp., the Chicago-based wholesale hardware cooperative that vacated the premises last February as part of a streamlining effort. Rainbow will immediately start to phase out its Minnesota operation and consolidate its entire operation in Brookings, which will bring the company's total employment to more than 300 ... about equal to TruServe's employment at its peak of operations.


       
"The impact over the long term is going to be huge," says Richard L. (Dick) Smith, executive director of the Brookings Economic Development Corp. "Of course it helps preserve the tax base. Large boxes like that deteriorate quickly if left empty.

A BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Rainbow Play Systems is now moving its entire operation to South Dakota, aided in part by a $1.5-million low-interest loan from the state's REDI Fund, which awards incentives based on job creation.






       
The company beat out several competing bidders in purchasing the facility, including another hardware distributor and a clothing distributor. A $1.5-million low-interest loan was made available through the state's REDI Fund, which awards the incentives based on job creation. Rainbow has grown quickly since first locating about seven years ago in the hometown of South Dakota State University, about 50 miles north of Sioux City on Interstate 29, and just west of the Minnesota border. The initial plan -- creating 75 jobs in a 35,000-sq.-ft. facility -- was outgrown long ago, as the company already occupies more than 400,000 sq. ft today.


       
Other major employers in the area include 3M Corp., Larson Doors and electronic scoreboard system manufacturer Daktronics, which spun out of the university in the early 1960s and now employs 1,200. Rainbow has rapidly become part of the community's corporate core.


       
"As the owner of that business has proclaimed," says Smith of the more than doubling of space, "'I have underestimated everything since the day I started in Brookings, and I don't want to underestimate again.'"








Austin Tops Economic Strength
Rankings for Fourth Straight Year




The 8th annual study by Florida-based POLICOM Corp. of 318 U.S. metros found that Austin, Texas, retains its title as the nation's strongest local economy. Edging out runner-up Denver and third-place Atlanta, Austin displayed the power of endurance that is the primary trait of the ranking study, which is based on performance over a 25-year span.


       
"This is not a 'quality of life' or 'best places to live' study," says William H. Fruth, POLICOM president. "Nor does it try to identify the latest economic 'hot spot.' The study measures the economic soundness of an area. The perspective of the study is how the economy affects people who work and live in an area. If companies are looking for a location for long-term growth in a stable environment, go to one of the top 50 in my study and you're going to find that."


       
The study considers 18 factors based purely on data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis -- among them earnings per capita and sector, employment and distress measures -- and giving double emphasis on the metrics over the most recent decade. The most obvious trend? A diversified economic base in the thriving communities, and a one-trick pony base for those that are faltering. In addition, unlike most headline-grabbing locale studies, rapidity of growth is assessed in equal measure with growth over time. Raleigh, North Carolina, is the prototype, with about seven different economically contributing sectors. Over the eight years of the study, in addition to Austin's consistent victories, Denver and Dallas have shown the steadiest growth.


       
Fruth, author of Where the Money Is: America's Strongest Local Economies, is a sought-after expert on geographic economics. His credentials include four years as mayor of Tiffin, Ohio, and the honor of Florida Economic Development Professional of the Year in 1987. Over the past four years, he has worked with communities in 28 states to help them see where their true strengths and weaknesses are.


       
"If you're rated high, it's a great study, and if you're rated low, it's a bad study," he quips in relating typical feedback from chambers of commerce and ED groups. "After they discover that this is not opinion, it is mathematics, there have been many, like Flint, Michigan, that say 'Okay, we have a real problem, what can we do about solving this problem?'"

William Fruth
William H. Fruth






       
Fruth observes that many areas in gradual decline don't necessarily recognize it.


       
"I've gone into many areas where the trend lines have been straight downhill for some time and the community is just shocked," he says, "and they say, 'No wonder the young people are all moving away.'"


       
On the other side of the coin is a state like Texas, whose leaders made the conscious decision 25 years ago to diversify from oil and cattle, or a city like Green Bay, Wisconsin, which has made the Top 25 from the beginning.


       
"They don't have the most rapid growth, but they're like a rock," says Fruth. "They've had some industries falter up there, but at the same time they've had others grow."


       
The hot topic on Fruth's agenda today is the impact of what he calls punitive growth management regulations, which artificially increase costs and threaten to slow growth.


       
"The old reason why economies declined was an unstable work force -- that's a kind term for militant union labor activity," he says. "The modern-day reason is regulations, fees and taxes."







ABB Breaks Ground for New Power Circuit Breaker Factory




ABB Inc., part of the Switzerland-based ABB Group, held groundbreaking ceremonies in August for a new high-voltage power circuit breaker facility in Greensburg, Penn., that will employ 250-300 people.


       
Expected to be operational in March 2003, the 130,000-sq.-ft. (12,077-sq.-m.) facility is located on approximately 20 acres in Westmoreland Distribution Park, not far from the company's present plant, which employs around 200. That plant's capabilities came to the fore last year in helping New York City restore its power systems after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.


       
The new project is being developed by Dallas-based McMahon Development Group, which will lease it back to ABB. Company officials pointed to their existing work force and supplier base as key factors in the decision to expand in Southwestern Pennsylvania, a process helped along by a $450,000 economic package that includes grant and job training funds.


       
The ABB Group of companies operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 150,000 people in the manufacture of technology products for power transmission and power distribution, including transformers, switchgear, breakers, capacitors and cables. The Swedish-Swiss corporation recently unloaded its entire portfolio in Sweden for approximately $300 million, with plans to lease back 75 percent of the 1.1 million sq. m. (11.8 million sq. ft.) of Swedish space as part of a global $1.5-billion debt reduction plan. Another part of that plan was accomplished in September, when ABB sold off its structured finance unit to General Electric's Commercial Finance unit for $2.3 billion, amid talk that its petrochemicals division might be unloaded in a similar fashion.







Two Bridges, One Goal



Kentucky and Indiana leaders have come together on a plan to build two new bridges across the Ohio River, a $1.4-billion recommendation that now awaits federal approval.


       
"Two bridges have been part of the transportation plans for this region for many years," said Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon. "We want them to be built as one project."


       
"Gov. O'Bannon and I are united in this recommendation and confident that it is the right decision," said Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton. So far, elected officials from both states have helped to secure $42 million in federal appropriations.


       
The recommendation came after several years of intensive study. Working with the project consultant, Community Transportation Solutions, agencies with the two states have maintained a Web site, hosted 300 community meetings and reviewed nearly 5,000 public comments. The final recommendation was deemed the best long-term solution for the region's economy and its accompanying growth in both commuter and commercial traffic. It also holds promise for industrial development: for example, one new related interchange will provide access to planned development at the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant site and the nearby Clark Maritime Center.


       
If final approval by the Federal Highway Administration comes by year's end as anticipated, design and right-of-way acquisition should take 2-3 years, with construction taking an estimated 10 years.







Going With the Wind:
Raytheon Moves On Down the Road



Leading defense, aerospace and electronics contractor Raytheon will build a new 150,000-sq.-ft. (13,935-sq.-m.) global headquarters in Waltham, Mass., with construction slated to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2003.


       
The company's former headquarters, three miles away in Lexington, has been sold to a joint venture for an undisclosed amount, with proceeds going toward the new facility. The land for the headquarters, located in Waltham Woods Corporate Center, will be leased from the Massachusetts Medical Society, and Leggat McCall Properties will develop and build the facility.


       
"This move gets us a more modern, efficient and attractive facility at a lower cost of operation," said Daniel P. Burnham, chairman and CEO of Raytheon.


       
After finishing ahead of schedule on a project that began in February 1999, Daimler-Chrysler Corp. recently opened a new US$37.5-million wind tunnel facility that will provide the company with state-of-the-art aerodynamic and acoustic testing capability in the design and engineering of future vehicles.


       
The 31,000-sq.-ft. (2,880-sq.-m.) Aero-Acoustic Wind Tunnel facility, which will also be used for racing vehicle development, can accommodate vehicles up to 10,000 pounds. The 18-foot turntable permits precise positioning of vehicles during testing. The facility's fans can generate winds in excess of 150 miles per hour to assess aerodynamic drag and wind noise.

       
"The wind tunnel is the cornerstone of our lab and test facilities," said Donald Goodwin, Vice President and head of the Scientific Laboratories and Proving Grounds for Chrysler Group. "Our proximity to the rest of the vehicle design and engineering functions will reduce the time and cost of bringing a new vehicle to market. For example, we can provide test results on new clay models to the Design Center on an overnight basis."


       
A team of seven aerodynamic and acoustic engineers will conduct operations at the new facility, which is already fully booked through the end of 2002.





















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©2002 Conway Data, Inc. All rights reserved. SiteNet data is from many sources and not warranted to be accurate or current.




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An Eco

The new Conway Eco-Site project involves several elements: A small, privately maintained nature preserve, the Mockernut Botanical Garden. A family residential compound in a quiet rural area surrounded by magnificent vegetation. A private library and research facility away from distractions and interruptions. A farm for growing vegetables and fruit — and later, a greenhouse. A […]

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Features

Editor’s View: A Relocation Roadmap

T ry to image a more daunting task than relocating a plant to another location. Better yet, to another country. Building a new plant is just part of the task. Relocating a plant also involves moving equipment, materials and production lines to the new facility — and disposing of the original site.       […]

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Linerboard Maker Brings New Life to Old Paper Mill in Ashland, Virginia

The plant manager outlines the past, present and future of Canada’s Cascades.

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Flexible Assets

A Vital Resource When Disaster Strikes

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Global Stage

Biotech has reached a significant level of development in Belgium, and the sector is poised for continued steady growth, say executives with two thriving young companies.

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World Reports: Energy City is Qatar’s Latest Leap Forward — Site Selection Magazine, May 2006

From Site Selection magazine, May 2006 WORLD REPORTS Energy City is Qatar’s Latest Leap Forward by John W. McCurry john.mccurry bounce@conway.com Esam Janahi, chairman of Gulf Energy and Energy City Qatar, center, wearing the red headdress, discusses a model of Energy City Qatar with, to his immediate right, Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Qatar’s prime […]

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State of the Decade

How does one state dominate for 10 years? Three key traits set the tone.

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Features

Real Estate Services, September 2002, Site Selection Magazine

Worldwide Practice Named Real Estate Law Firm Of the Year The law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, founded in Los Angeles in 1951, was named the International Real Estate Law Firm of the Year at the Chambers Global awards in London, which honors the finest performers in international commercial law. Philip Feder   […]

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Can Kvaerner Re-Launch U.S. Shipbuilding?

PLEASE VISIT OUR SPONSOR ? CLICK ABOVE JANUARY 1999 Can Kvaerner Re-Launch U.S. Shipbuilding? by Jack Lyne Riding a wave of lofty expectations, and $430 million in incentives, European power Kvaerner has sailed into Philadelphia with the future of U.S. shipbuilding at stake, many observers insist. T“In the global economy, it is a bit funny […]

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Ready, Set, Georgia!

State tourism office led industry in gaining market share during worldwide pandemic.

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Quantum Leap

How Ohio is pushing the boundaries of innovation.

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CHINA Slowing Down? Not Really.

The rising number of middle-class households in the developing world should support increased investment.

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Wireless Growth Spurs Cox Projects

Atlanta-based media and communications company Cox Enterprises in late January announced plans to build a new 600,000-sq.-ft. (55,740-sq.-m.) office complex on its campus headquarters in Sandy Springs, Ga.

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Features

Question and Insight: Operation Sea Change

T ony Miele’s job could be compared to that of the captain of a supertanker making a U-turn in a swiftly moving river.         Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC) for generations has served as the Canadian province’s property asset management arm, an agency charged with owning and operating facilities in which government ministries […]

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How Springfield Became the Stainless Steel Capital of the U.S.

Springfield sparkles with more than two dozen companies supplying everything that’s made of stainless steel.

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GCL-Poly Rolls On

A Hong Kong-based solar manufacturing and power company ramps up at record speed to reach the world’s markets at the right time.

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Lights Out

Hurricane Maria hobbled drug makers in Puerto Rico. The new US tax law could hit them, too.

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Georgia’s Project Pipeline is Full

Maintaining the No. 1 business climate in America doesn’t just help companies and workers during the good times.

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A Heartland Recipe for Wellness

A governor with an ambitious agenda is proving that Iowans are even more resilient than he thought. Battling recession, floods and misperceptions, Gov. Terry Branstad is ahead of schedule in reaching his four main goals.

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Features

World Reports, Site Selection Magazine, September 2002

From Site Selection magazine, September 2002 WORLD REPORTS   | CHINA | ENGLAND | MEXICO | EUROPE | AMSTERDAM | FREE AND OPEN TRADE | As Rest of World Shuffles, China Sprints Even amid widespread concern about too much reliance on China as the new industrial powerhouse, the capital and projects just keep coming.   […]

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N.C., China Firms Forge Alliances

Research Triangle Park-based Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences and the XY Group International of China have signed a memorandum of understanding

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Many Rivers to Cross

A new plan aims to address a stubborn problem in Jamaica.

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Defending Champs

Texas and Nebraska retain their status as top performers in Site Selection’s annual facilities race.

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Good Sports: Big Leases in The Big Apple

Two of the nation’s leading professional sports leagues are deepening their roots in Manhattan with major office leases in Midtown.

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Learning Curves

All politics aside, it’s workforce and training that continues to cinch deals.

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Features

Rating Best Places: Going Beyond Real Estate in Making Location Decisions

A fter a period of rapid growth, company managers may step back and ask if their current facilities structure — often haphazardly cobbled together through mergers and acquisitions and building on existing operations — can be rationalized in a strategic manner to more efficiently and cost-effectively meet the needs of the integrated firm.     […]

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Cisco: The Internet Poster Child Reaches for the New World Workplace

They called it “the Building of the Month Club” at Cisco Systems ( http://www.cisco.com) , and it was exactly that. For 19 consecutive months in 1998-99, Cisco brought yet another new building online in North San Jose. By the time that flurry finished — however momentarily — Cisco had built 35 separate facilities spanning 6.3 […]

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The 2021 Regional Workforce Development Rankings

See which states lead the way in talent cultivation, training and attraction across seven U.S. regions.

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Governor Signs $1-Billion Economic Development Package

Governor Charlie Baker signed comprehensive economic development legislation into law deepening the state’s economic competitiveness.

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A Life-Changing Place in the Sun

In Pensacola, Fla., a research institute that has been nationally recognized for its groundbreaking work is teaching the lame to walk and the blind to see.

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Joe Moravec: Man on a Mission, Site Selection Magazine, July 2002

J oe Moravec, commissioner of the Public Buildings Service of the U.S. General Services Administration, recently sat down with Site Selection’s Director of Publishing Ron Starner for an interview on the changing role of GSA and how the agency’s new direction will impact corporate America.         The linchpin of Moravec’s strategy is […]

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Features

Broadband: The Next Utility

B roadband Internet access is rapidly being perceived by governments and business as an essential utility which will soon be as important as water or electricity to economic development. Cities or regions that embrace this concept and make this new utility widely available are variously described as being “intelligent, smart or wired.”       […]

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Building On Solid Momentum

DCEO Director Richards outlines how state government partners with private industry to create expansion opportunities.

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Hungary Fills the Sweet Spot of Europe

What do a major international automotive manufacturer and one of the world’s top-selling furniture companies have in common?

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China Adjusts Course

Foreign direct investment headwinds prompt welcome reform measures.

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New Anchor Employer Catalyzes Redevelopment of Legacy GE Complex In Fort Wayne

The project speaks to the transformative momentum in northeast Indiana.

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A Fertile Field

Research Park at the University of Illinois is a driving force behind agriculture technology.

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Features

Big Blue’s Big Investment in a Smart City

TAMPA — IBM didn’t have to turn to its Deep Blue supercomputer to find the answer for this site location decision. It really wasn’t that complicated.         “The Tampa Bay Area has been a long-time focus IBM. We have many clients in this area and more than 1,300 employees involved in the […]

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Colorado Makes a Name for Itself

With a robust mix of startups and giants of the aerospace industry, Colorado hopes to become known as America’s “Aerospace Alley.”

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Decades in the Making

The Monterrey region’s rich educational resources did not appear overnight, and they are growing.

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Leading From the Front

Michigan remains the automotive industry epicenter.

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Q&I: PeopleSoft’s John Igoe

PeopleSoft’s John Igoe Keeps People in The High-tech Real Estate Management Equation John F. Igoe knows a thing or two about managing real estate assets in the high-tech arena. As vice president, facilities and real estate, at Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft Corp. (www.peoplesoft.com), he manages a portfolio of 1.8 million sq. ft. (167,000 sq. m.) in […]

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The Sky’s the Limit

TexasEDConnection communities are an important part of the workforce development fabric set to receive $5 billion in state higher education funding over the next two years.

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Features

Introducing The Competitiveness Institute

The mission of The Competitiveness Institute is to improve the living standards and local competitiveness of regions across the world by enhancing cluster-based development initiatives.         Our focus is primarily on regional clusters – geographic groupings of firms in the same or closely related industries. The Institute’s members are active in 38 […]

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60 Years of Excellence

While other publications’ circulation shrinks, Site Selection continues to grow. Entering our seventh decade Site Selection’s global distribution has never been stronger, with new readers in all corners of the world.

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Smarter Cities

New industrial urbanism calls for reassessing the relationships among cities, people and industry.

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Seasons of Change

These small towns in Massachusetts prove there’s more than just history to experience in the state.

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The Home Stretch

It’s appropriate in a way that this last letter in our series on building a new strategic plan happens as the IAMC Fall Forum convenes in Boise when we meet with our peers to share ideas and grow relationships. Over the course of the series, we’ve studied the necessary steps to crafting a business plan […]

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World Reports : Ryanair lands in Lithuania; why FDI in Costa Rica is rising; a fresh look at R&D outsourcing.

A work-force development partnership between Ryanair and the School of Mechanics at Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania is paying off in capital investment and jobs.

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Features

2002 Global Infrastructure Report

P hil Condit, chairman and CEO of The Boeing Co., knows a thing or two about the importance of infrastructure to economic development. After all, without the airports and transport systems providing access to them, his global, multi-billion dollar aerospace company wouldn’t be around.         “Economic growth follows infrastructure,” Condit told members […]

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Legacy Food Firms Aren’t Stuck in The Past

Nor are a range of other companies growing in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.

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A Haven for Brewmasters

The oldest brewery in the US had the right idea when it established in Pennsylvania. Today 178 craft breweries call the Keystone State home. 

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Dynamic Destination

Only five years after accession to the European Union, Poland was the only EU nation to show GDP growth in 2009, as the rest of the EU and most of the world faltered.

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Building on a Platform of Success

Texas adopts a plan to keep raising the bar on economic development achievement.

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Best Supporting Actors

The awards go to two industries — medical devices and aerospace — with long careers ahead of them.

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Features

Business Parks: Beijing’s Science Cities

I BM and Cisco Systems call Beijing home. Now the plan for the Beijing Science and Technology Park Construction Company Ltd. is to recruit even more big names from the West to establish operations around China’s capital city.         The lure? Brand new, high-tech corporate campuses that are virtual “Science Cities” — […]

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What Makes for a Good Fit

States that know what they're good at make a stronger case for corporate investment than those that don't.

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Innovation to Spare

Can a nation be stable and dynamic at the same time? The answer from Canada is a distinct “Yes.” A look at the corporate projects unfolding across the nation reveals both Canadian stability and Canadian outreach.

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Stockholm To Unveil its New Airport City Development

A new "unique urban design strategy" has been announced for the area surrounding Stockholm Arlanda Airport, in a bid to transform the region into "an attractive international meeting point for businesses, logistics and transportation".

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They Want Your Blood

Scheduled to coincide with World Blood Donor Day June 14, last week was blood donor week in Canada.

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Sky’s the Limit

Global Logistic Properties has grown up fast.

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