Editor's Picks
A Zebra in the Room
A surprising encounter reveals why environmental due diligence isn’t just paperwork — it’s protection.
From Silicon to Server: Mapping the Data Center Supply Chain
How suppliers and innovators have powered the explosive growth of America’s data center infrastructure.
Optimizing Your Rail-Served Transportation Network: Strategy Before Steel
Infrastructure can power your supply chain—but only when planned with foresight.
U.S. Textile Manufacturers are Building for the Future
Automation and policy incentives could reshape the future of American textile production.
Manufacturing’s New Risk Game for Site Selection
Companies face growing challenges as tariffs, political shifts, and trade policies disrupt location strategies.
Site Selection
Facility Planning
Workforce Development
Business+Place
Industry Sectors
Services
Recent Features
Food Processing
How Consumer Trends Are Reshaping Food Facilities
Consumers want cleaner labels, smaller portions, and local stories—and food brands are racing to keep up. Site consultant Scott Kuppermann explains how these evolving demands are changing everything.
ContinueData Centers
Around the Horn: Data Center Supply Chains — What's Next?
Area Development magazine caught up with its Q2 guest editors, Ford Graham and Steven Pearce from McGuireWoods consulting, to talk about their reporting on data center supply chains. We also invited Ermengarde Jabir Director of Economic Research at Moody’s to join the discussion.
ContinueSite Selection Factors / Strategy
Lead with Facts, Land the Deal
Site selection starts with infrastructure, not charm — here’s how EDOs can prepare.
ContinueEnergy / Clean Tech
Powering the Next Generation of Projects
Small modular reactors could help meet surging demand for energy in manufacturing and data centers.
ContinueConstruction / Project Planning
How to Manage the Surge in Building Costs
Construction firms are navigating supply shocks, labor shortages and policy pressures with smarter, early-stage coordination.
ContinueDCs / Warehousing
Rewriting the Rules of Warehouse ROI
Embedding automation into leases may offer companies a smarter way to balance risk, cost and productivity.
ContinueData Centers
Data Center Demand Stabilizes Amid Changing Market Forces
Pre-leasing slows, location criteria evolve, and real estate tax structures face pressure from leaner buildouts.
ContinueBiotech / Life Sciences
How Innovation and Investment Are Reshaping Life Sciences in 2025
Talent shortages, financing volatility, and supply chain shifts define the life sciences outlook.
ContinueEnergy / Clean Tech
Energy Costs and Constraints Are Reshaping Site Selection in 2025
Surging energy demands, grid instability, and ESG pressures are changing how companies choose new facility locations.
ContinueManufacturing / Industrial
Rebuilding the Industrial Base Requires a Commitment to Ecosystem Formation
A return to American manufacturing demands more than factories — it requires coordinated, community-wide ecosystem development
ContinueData Centers
First Person: David Robey, Co-CEO of QTS Data Centers
With QTS rapidly scaling to meet hyperscaler and enterprise demand across North America and Europe, Co-CEO David Robey shares his perspective on site selection, utilities, incentives, and what’s next for the industry. Robey, who previously served as COO, brings a tactical mindset to an evolving set of location priorities.
ContinueLogistics / Infrastructure
The Quest for Logistics Supremacy
With supply chain pressures mounting, America’s logistics network is being rebuilt from the ground up and states are competing for the infrastructure edge by investing in ports, air cargo, and cold storage.
ContinueTaxes / Incentives
The Legal Limits of DEI in Incentives Agreements, Hiring, and Contracting
States and cities have tied incentives to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals — such as subcontracting targets or workforce composition — but a new executive order from the Trump administration and related lawsuits are raising the legal stakes. That raises new questions about what’s lawful and what’s not when it comes to DEI, affirmative action, and the use of contracting targets — and how that may impact your next location decision.
ContinueSite Selection Factors / Strategy
First Person: Filter King’s Expansion Playbook
CEO Rick Hoskins explains how the fast-growing air filter company selects its sites, scales its labor-heavy operation, and maintains speed-to-customer across multiple U.S. regions.
ContinueAdvanced Manufacturing
Summits of Significance: Why Pittsburgh’s AI and Energy Event Could Set a National Precedent
AI. Energy. $90 billion. Pittsburgh’s high-profile summit wasn’t just a photo op—it was a coordinated move to signal site readiness and sector leadership. Here’s why states are turning summits into strategy.
ContinueBusiness Globalization
How Canada Stays Competitive
As trade tensions mount, Canada’s supply chain reboot aims to retain foreign investment and reduce risk exposure.
ContinueManufacturing / Industrial
A New Course for U.S. Shipbuilding
Maritime Prosperity Zones could reshape shipbuilding and repair across the U.S. — if defined and used wisely.
ContinueEnergy / Clean Tech
How Energy Storage Solves Grid Challenges
Rapid deployment of battery storage solutions solves reliability issues and even provides new revenue streams for industrial operations.
ContinueAnnual Econdev Awards
20th Annual Area Development Gold and Silver Shovel Awards
Two decades of dealmaking, diversification, and economic momentum — this year’s Shovel Awards celebrate the states digging deepest to build the future.
ContinueBusiness Globalization
Reshoring Reality Check from Construction
How tariffs and economic incentives are influencing FDI and location decisions.
ContinueGovernment Policy / Business Climate
Last Word: Time for States to Shine
With federal action slowing and market forces accelerating, private firms are finding that the most effective policy responses—on issues like energy, housing, and workforce—are coming from state and local governments with the agility to act.
ContinueBusiness Globalization
The New Math Behind Mexico and U.S. Manufacturing Decisions
Rising wages, grid strain, and policy shifts are changing the calculus for manufacturers in North America.
ContinueManufacturing / Industrial
How to Choose the Right Site for Your Factory in 2025’s Volatile Landscape
Why manufacturers should treat site selection as a form of risk management — not just opportunity hunting.
ContinueAdvanced Manufacturing
In Focus: AI Is Changing Incentives Math
Headcount-focused incentives punish evolving companies, payroll helps reward a different kind of growth.
ContinueContributed Content
Assessing Risk Assessment
Companies are looking beyond cost and factoring in culture, politics, and community fit for resilience.
ContinueBiotech / Life Sciences
Rethinking Life Sciences Site Selection in a Resilient and Dynamic Market
Planning new facilities now requires deeper segmentation, faster timelines, and more nuanced incentive approaches.
ContinueProject Announcements
Apozeal Pharmaceuticals Expands Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Drug Manufacturing Operations
09/14/2025
Georgia-Pacific Expands Monroe County, Alabama, Cellulose Mill Operations
09/14/2025
Noble Plastics Expands St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, Production Operations
09/14/2025
Systems Planning & Analysis Expands Alexandria-Fairfax County, Virginia, Operations
09/13/2025
OgMentum ARK Plans Bowling Green, Kentucky, Headquarters-R&D Operations
09/13/2025
Damotech Expand Moberly, Missouri, Operations
09/11/2025
Canada-Based Endurance Technologies Plans Las Cruces, New Mexico, Manufacturing Operations
09/11/2025
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Powering the Next Generation of Projects
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A New Course for U.S. Shipbuilding
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