Sloss Incentive Newsletter 6th Edition

Dear friends (I like to think of y'all as friends more than subscribers)

Welcome to the 6th edition of our newsletter! As always, thank you for your continued support, suggestions, and articles! This edition brings you up-to-date with all the latest news and highlights in the Site Selection, Tax Incentives, and Economic Development world. Whether you're an avid reader or a first-timer, I hope you will find something of interest. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the read! You can always email me suggestions, questions, or comments: [email protected]

1. We start today in Texarkana. The Texarkana MSA is a three-county region comprising the twin cities of Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas, and encompassing the surrounding communities of Bowie County, Texas, Little River County, Arkansas, and Miller County, Arkansas. Situated at the junction of several major interstates, Texarkana provides convenient access to key markets from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast while offering abundant natural resources, lower costs, and a higher quality of life than can be found in crowded urban markets. If you are a #siteselector working for #automotive or #OEM clients you should have #texarkana on your radar for sure. The Texarkana region is an ideal location for automotive manufacturers due to its large pool of skilled workers and its commitment to training its workforce in the latest technologies. To learn more visit the link below or contact Rob Sitterley at [email protected] #texas #arkansas #manufacturing #workforceready

2. My friend and former colleague, Thane Hutcheson shared this post last week. Pallidus announced a large, $443 million dollar investment in York County, South Carolina. The company will be relocating its corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations from New York and will create over 400 new jobs.

3. The South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development recently released its 2022 Annual Report. Gov. Noem touts the state has the strongest economy in the nation, which grew at 12% in 2022. #southdakota

4. Alabama believes it set economic development records in 2022 with over $6 billion in capital investments and over 7,300 new jobs created. #alabama

5. Both sides have solid arguments for and against the development of "mega sites" in?#Michigan. Michigan has a strong history in the automotive space so it makes sense it would make a strong play for EV sites and related supply chains. However, good points are raised regarding what these sites may do to the natural resources in the area.?#siteselection?#evmanufacturing?#detroit

6. Tennessee recently announced a new project coming to Warren County. Bottling Company International (BCI) will invest over $9.5 million dollars to establish a new bottling, storage, and distribution facility in Morrison, Tennessee.?BCI has acquired the former McCormick Warehouse in Morrison, where it will bottle and distribute Nashville-based Pennington Distilling’s brand-name whiskey, vodka, and rum. (Mmmm whiskey...) #tennessee

7. For the 15th year in a row, Site Selection Magazine has honored Entergy Corporation, the parent company of Entergy Texas, as being among the top electric utilities in economic development for job creation and capital investments.?#energy #economicdevelopment

8. Cowlitz County, Washington (Just north of Portland, OR) will discuss how three new projects are expected to create 750 new jobs at its upcoming Annual Meeting on February 28th. #washingtonstate

9. Has anyone heard of something similar to what Princeton, West Virginia is doing? They are offering three different types of incentives to people or businesses who add their properties within the city boundaries.

There are three incentives that will last between three to five years; business and occupancy tax forgiveness, free trash pickup, and forgiveness of building permit fees.?#westvirginia #countrymama #takemehome #countryroads

10. The White House recently announced nearly $1 billion in investments to address economic causes of migration in several Central American countries, an effort being spurred by Vice President Kamala Harris. #centralamerica

11. Graphic Packing (GP) recently announced a new facility that will be built in Waco, Texas. GP will invest over $1 billion into this new facility over the next 3 years. The company said that the 119-acre campus will be home to 640,000 square feet of production and warehousing facilities and will offer roughly 230 new jobs with an average annual salary of $65,000 and full benefits.

12. Corporate real estate advisory firm, Aline Capital has announced a new division that will provide?#siteselection?services for its clients. It is interesting to see how decisions like this will play out. Many firms have decided to add, either by acquisition or organically to add these services to their tool belt.? #corporaterealestate?#cre

13. Site Selection Magazine released their top states, by region, for workforce development. The top states by region are as follows:

1. Northeast - Connecticut
2. East North Central - Ilinois
3. South Atlantic - Virginia
4. South Central - Alabama
5. West North Central - Iowa
6. Mountain - Colorado
7. Pacific - California

14. I am never sure what to make of stories like this one. You often hear that schools are being robbed of funding when tax incentives are offered to companies. Would the schools have actually received all this money though? Or would the money instead, find its way into the pockets of politicians, donors, and unions? #fingerlakes #school #taxincentives

15. The?Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority recently approved tax captures for the $1.5 billion District Detroit project. The plan exceeds 2.5 million square feet for housing, retail, hotel rooms, and office space in downtown Detroit and the Cass Park neighborhood. #brownfields

16. Curious how the federal government is attempting to address workforce issues via the CHIPS, IRA, and IIJA legislation? Here is a link highlighting workforce development in each act and how the feds hope things will improve via these types of initiatives. #chips #IIJA

17. The IRA of course addresses not just workforce development but many other areas, with a special focus on energy-related projects. Here is an article highlighting how a company can take advantage of the act for energy-specific projects. #ira

18. In New Mexico a battle is playing out in the legislature over the status of the state's Film Production Tax Credit program. In recent weeks legislators have introduced bills to kill the program. More recently, Gov. Grisham introduced a bill to revise and extend the program. #newmexico #filmcredits

19. It will be interesting to see what Texas does regarding the 313 Agreements. They have been such an important tool to attract projects and stay competitive with other states. Having done several projects that used a 313, I hope they can find a way to revive the program or develop something similar. My former colleague at EY Kelley Rendziperis discusses this below. #propertytax #abatements

20. West Gate One recently announced one of the largest advanced microchip manufacturing operations in the country. It plans on investing $84 million dollars in Indiana (Daviess County). The project will create 549 new, highly paid jobs over the next 4 - 6 years. #indiana #microchip

21. Everyone likes to pick on New York City. There may be more Corporate HQ's coming to Naples but I doubt they can rival the sheer number of HQ's already in NYC. Having assisted on several corporate HQ's to New York City and the surrounding area I can tell you New York state is welcoming to these types of projects. Yes, taxes and cost of living are high but where else would you want to be other than the Big Apple? #NewYorkCity #Florida #bigapple

22. The United States Treasury Department announced they will open Advanced Energy Tax Credit applications. Applications will open on May 31st. Congress approved a total of $10 billion worth of advanced energy project tax credits, with $4 billion reserved for hard-hit coal communities, among the $369 billion worth of clean energy incentives in the IRA legislation.

23. Having worked on both side of the Economic Development aisle (private vs public) this article by Josh Bays rang true for me. Companies could do a much better job leveraging Economic Development Organizations when engaging in a site selection project.

24. A community in Minnesota is trying to solve its childcare shortage by helping to fund it via a sales tax increase. Most notable was the fact the childcare center changed to a non-profit to help raise additional money. I still believe the childcare shortage should be in the forefront of most EDO's and companies radar's as something that needs to be fixed. People can't work, even from home (most of the time) if they don't have care for their children. #minnesota #childcare

25. Ford just announced a new $3.5 billion dollar EV battery manufacturing facility in Marshall, Michigan. The BlueOval Battery Park Michigan facility has an employment multiplier of 4.38, meaning that an additional 4.38 jobs in Michigan’s economy are anticipated for every new job at the site. These new jobs are expected to generate more than $29.7 billion in personal income over 20 years. In turn, this increase will support small businesses and create opportunities for families in the community for generations to come.

26. LEGO recently announced it has chosen Virginia for its newest manufacturing facility. For the LEGO Group, the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program services included a customized recruitment website that went live with the project announcement and drew more than 3,000 job candidates within 36 hours. Brightpoint Community College and the Community College Workforce Alliance will support the project and the company’s long-term needs with customized recruitment and training services.? #virginia #lego

27. Omco Midwest Roll Forming Plus, has announced an expansion of its footprint in Kosciusko County. The company, which makes components for a variety of products such as truck bodies, trailers and solar panel frames, announced Wednesday it is adding 50 jobs at its plant in Pierceton by the end of 2026. #indiana

28. This next story has little to do with incentives, economic development or site selection. However, it does have an interesting spin related to workforce development. A small english town is in need of a doctor to provide services and they had tried everything with no luck. The town decided to come together and make a recruitment video. Check the video out below, with lines like "You can negotiate your terms if you can keep us free from germs," I promise you won't regret the two minutes of your time to check it out.

That's it for this edition of the Sloss Incentive Newsletter. Thanks again to those who sent me items to share, commented on past editions and otherwise have been super encouraging towards the cause. Have a good week!