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2017 Gold & Silver Shovel Awards: Colorado, Indiana and Tennessee Awarded Silver Shovels - States with 5 to 8 Million Population

Q2 2017

Colorado Colorado is steadily growing the kinds of industries that every state envies — high-paying, forward-thinking, and attractive to highly educated young people. It’s the top state in the concentration of aerospace employment, third in the concentration of high-tech workers, and sixth in the concentration of workers in creative-class occupations, according to the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade. The economy is on the move in biosciences, advanced manufacturing, electronics, defense, energy, and of course, tourism across the Rocky Mountains.

2016 Top Projects: Colorado

Population: 5.46 Million


Company City N/E Job Creation Investment Industry
1. Agilent TechnologiesFredrick N 170 $135 million Pharmaceuticals
2. Amazon Aurora N250 $27 million Fulfillment Center
3. AstraZenecaBoulder/Longmont N 400 $71.9 million Pharmaceuticals
4. BP Lower 48 Denver N 200 N/A* Headquarters
5. Charter Communications Greenwood Village E 800 $100 million R&D
6. CoorsTek Golden N 46 $120 million Ceramic Components
7. Google, Inc. Boulder E 1,000 $150 million Information Technology
8. Leprino Foods Greeley E 150 $190 million Food Processing
9. Partners Group Broomfield N 150 $14.6 million Headquarters
10. Viega Broomfield N 190 $34 million Headquarters
*Confidential

Announced expansion last year was led by Google’s ongoing development of its campus in Boulder. The company bought more land and made room for more employees in 2016, and continues to line up space this year. More technology growth is in Greenwood Village, where Charter Communications announced its plans to fill up a 12-story office tower under construction. And the Coors family continued to brew its path beyond the beer business by expanding its CoorsTek engineered ceramics operation with a $120 million R&D and manufacturing facility in Golden.

The state’s attractiveness as a business destination helped it grow its headquarters operations last year, too — three such expansions are on the list of Colorado’s biggest 2016 projects. The pharmaceuticals sector is on the rise in Colorado, as well. So is the somewhat lower-tech but always in-demand business of cheese — Leprino Foods’ growth in Greeley continues. It’s putting the topping on a tasty economic picture in Colorado.

IndianaIndiana jobs were in the national headlines in 2016 in a bit of a mixed way, when the planned contraction of Carrier Corp. and other United Technologies operations in the state became an issue on the presidential campaign trail. The job losses were part of candidate Trump’s speeches, and then returned to the headlines when Trump and the vice-president-elect, outgoing Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, hatched an incentive package that persuaded the manufacturer to hold onto some (but not all) of the Indiana jobs.

2016 Top Projects: Indiana

Population: 6.63 Million


Company City N/E Job Creation Investment Industry
1. Ryobi Die Casting (USA) Shelbyville E 150 $97.5 million Automotive Parts
1. Blue Kingfisher, LLC Fort Wayne N 277 $181.2 million Food Processing
1. Kohl’s Department Stores, Inc. Plainfield N 300 $176.5 million Distribution
1. Heartland Pet Food Manufacturing Richmond N 165 $147.1 million Pet Food Processing
1. General Motors Bedford E 148 $145 million Automotive
1. Salesforce.com, Inc. IndianapolisE 800 $43.8 million Professional & Technical Services
1. Mobi Wireless Management, LLC Zionsville E 521 $11.2 million Professional & Technical Services
1. Forest River Manufacturing, LLC LaGrange E 425 $6.7 million Recreational Vehicles
1. GuideSoft, Inc. Indianapolis E 400 $2.2 million Professional & Technical Services
1. Celadon Trucking Services, Inc. Indianapolis E 375 $28 million Transport Freight/Trucking

With that, Indiana’s ongoing growth engine was obscured by controversial headlines, not the first time in recent years that has happened. While the nation was focused on Carrier, the state was adding many hundreds of jobs across the manufacturing sector, from pet food in Richmond to RVs in LaGrange to milk in Fort Wayne to auto parts in Shelbyville.

That’s just part of the Indiana growth picture, though. It has long been a center of transportation and logistics activity, and that growth continued in 2016. And the state continues to make its mark in technology, with a constant stream of announcements. Most visible is Salesforce, which made plans for another 800 new jobs in Indianapolis and took on a big chunk of space in the state’s tallest building — enough space, in fact, that the building itself now goes by the Salesforce name, with the company’s logo recently replacing the Chase logo atop the tower.

TennesseeThe automotive industry has been good to Tennessee for many years, and 2016 continued the success story for the state’s top manufacturing sector. Promising a roughly 10-figure investment and more than 1,400 jobs, General Motors in Spring Hill is putting in a new high-efficiency engine program and other modernizations. And manufacturing jobs are promised in other areas, too, including chemicals, fibers and filaments, and flour milling.

2016 Top Projects: Tennessee

Population: 6.60 Million


Company City N/E Job Creation Investment Industry
1. General Motors Spring Hill E 1,431 $1 billion Automotive
2. Cargill, Inc. Memphis N 163 $661 million Flour Milling
3. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. Coopertown N 600 $100 million Distribution
4. DHL Memphis N 655 $81.8 million Distribution
5. Agero* Bristol N 585 $3.5 million Travel Services
6. JTEKT Automotive Tennessee-Vonore, LLC Monroe County E 50 $218.5 million Automotive Parts
7. Fedex Murfreesboro E 41 $189.5 million Distribution Services
8. Wacker Chemical Bradley County E 50 $150 million Chemicals
9. LeMond Composites, LLC Oak Ridge E 242 $125 million Fibers & Filaments
10. ALSAC St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital Memphis E 1,800 $1 billion R&D
*Represents a state/local sponsor

Distribution is also a longtime job creator in the state that’s the headquarters of one of the biggest names in delivery, FedEx. The fact that FedEx is delivering more jobs is not an unusual occurrence in Tennessee. But there are hundreds more distribution job opportunities on the way from rival DHL, and more from Lowe’s, among others.

But Tennessee’s Silver Shovel award this year is really an honor for diverse job growth, as gains in manufacturing and distribution were supplemented by significant projects in services and healthcare research. In fact, the biggest prize on the list from a job-creation perspective is the expansion project planned by ALSAC St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. As many as 1,800 new jobs are in the pipeline in the project that’s expected to double the institution’s economic impact on the area.

And hundreds more will be working for Agero Inc., which runs calls centers that provide vehicle and driver safety, security, and information services.

2017 Gold Shovel Awards: The Winning States

  • Illinois
  • Georgia
  • Arizona
  • Kentucky
  • Mississippi
Read More

2017 Gold & Silver Shovel Awards: Billion Dollar(s) Projects Of The Year (2016)

Project Location Jobs Investment
Shandong Sun Paper Arkadelphia, AR 250 $1B
Tellurian Investments Calcasieu Parish, LA 551 $11.8Bb
Venture Global LNG Plaquemines Parish 250 $8.5B
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles LLC Sterling Heights, MI 700 $1.5B
Ford Motor Co. Expansion Livonia, MI 500 $1.4B
Continental Tire Hinds County, MS 2,500 $1.5B
Royal Dutch Shell Potter, PA 600 $6B
General Motors Spring Hill, TN 1,431 $1B
ALSAC
St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital
Memphis, TN 1,800 $1B
Lockheed Martin Fort Worth, TX 1,000 $1.2B
ExxonMobil Beaumont, TX 40 $1.2B
Samsung Austin, TX 250 $1B
       
Read More

2017 Gold & Silver Shovel Awards: Large Job-Creating Projects Of The Year (2016)*

Project Location Jobs Investment
Cognizant Technology Solutions Des Moines, IA 1,014 $9M
Under Armour Sparrows, MD 1,000 $174M
Continental Tire Hinds County, MS 2,500 $1.5M
Topship LLC Gulfport, MS 1,000 $68M
JPMorgan Chase Jersey City, NJ 2,150 $68.3M
ALSAC
St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital
Memphis, TN 1,800 $1B
General Motors Spring Hill, TN 1,431 $1B
GM Financial Arlington, TX 1,300 $35M
Lockheed Martin Fort Worth, TX 1,000 $1.2B
McKesson Corp. Irving, TX 1,000 $157M
ADP Norfolk, VA 1,800 $32.3M
CIOX Health Phoenix, AZ 2,820 $15M
Lucid Motors Casa Grande, AZ 2,213 $735M
Raytheon Missile Systems Tucson, AZ 1,975 $352.3M
ADP Tempe, AZ 1,500 $33.8M
Oscar Tempe, AZ 1,250 $5M
Wells Fargo Chandler, AZ 1,200 $25M
Farmers Insurance Phoenix, AZ 1,188 $41.3M
Snapchat Venice Beach, CA 1,194 $32M
Google, Inc. Boulder, CO 1,000 $150M
ADP, LLC Maitland, FL 1,600 $28.4M
NCR Atlanta, GA 1,800 $145M
Anthem Atlanta, GA 1,800 $20M
UPS Atlanta, GA 1,250 $400M
Home Chef Dekalb, GA 1,200 $3.4M
Sentury Tire Troup, GA 1,000 $150M
Rivian Automotive Normal, IL 1,000 $175M
* See e-Commerce Projects of the Year chart for other
large job-creating projects.
Read More

2017 Gold & Silver Shovel Awards: E-Commerce* Projects Of The Year (2016)

Project Location Jobs Investment
Amazon Aurora, CO 250 $27M
Amazon Jacksonville, FL 1,500 $198M
Amazon Jackson County, GA 500 N/A**
Amazon Edwardsville,
Romeoville,
Monee,
Joliet, IL
4,500 $355M
Amazon Edgerton & Kansas City 2,000 $292.6M
Amazon Livonia, MI 1,000 $90M
Amazon Shakopee, MN 1,000 $250M
Amazon North Las Vegas, NV 1,000 $18M
Amazon Carteret & Florence, NJ 2,000 N/A**
Amazon Charlotte, NC 1,500 $50M
Amazon Palmer & Pittston, PA 850 N/A**
Amazon Houston, TX 1,000 $136M
* Projects represent Amazon fulfillment centers
**Investment confidential
Read More

MethodologyArea Development’s annual Gold and Silver Shovel Awards recognize states for their achievements in attracting high-value investment projects that will create a significant number of new jobs in their communities. We collected information from all 50 states about their top-10 job-creation and investment projects initiated in 2016 (only those projects that actually had monies invested, “broke ground,” began an expansion, started new hiring, etc. were considered). Based on a combination of weighted factors — including the number of new jobs to be created in relation to the state’s population, the combined dollar amount of the investments, the number of new facilities, the diversity of industry represented — five states achieving the highest weighted overall scores were awarded Area Development’s 2017 Gold Shovels in five population categories: 12+ million, 8+ to 12 million, 5+ to 8 million, 3+ to 5 million, and fewer than 3 million. Runners-up in each of these population categories were awarded 2017 Silver Shovels.

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