2019 Gold & Silver Shovel Awards: Recipients Garnered Large Job-Creating and Investment Projects in Diverse Industries
While e-commerce was creating thousands of jobs across the nation last year, high-profile, diverse projects in the manufacturing, information technology, financial services, energy, and other sectors were also making news.
Steve Kaelble, Staff Editor, Area Development
Q2 2019
Area 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 asked for information from all 50 states about their top-10 job-creation and investment projects initiated in 2018. 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, and the diversity of industry represented — six states achieving the highest weighted overall scores were awarded Area Development’s 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 Silver Shovels
2019 Gold Shovel Awards: The Winning States
Texas (12+ Million Population)
Georgia (8 to 12 Million Population)
Virginia (8 to 12 Million Population)
Arizona (5 to 8 Million Population)
Alabama (3 to 5 Million Population )
Mississippi (Under 3 Million Population)
2019 Silver Shovel Awards
12+ Million Population Category
Florida
Illinois
New York
8 to 12 Million Population Category
Michigan
North Carolina
5 to 8 Million Population Category
Indiana
South Carolina
Tennessee
3 to 5 Million Population Category
Kentucky
Nevada
Utah
Under 3 Million Population Category
Kansas
Nebraska
Rhode Island
Technology and retailing giant Amazon certainly was the talk of the economic development world throughout 2018. Cities
all over were holding their breath, awaiting the word regarding which of the 20 finalists would be chosen for the
company’s HQ2 project. However, the winners weren’t always who they seemed to be initially. The promised 50,000-job HQ2
project turned into a pair of 25,000-job announcements — in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Crystal City, Virginia, and
in Long Island City in Queens, New York — until local opposition helped torpedo the latter deal. (Note: Virginia did not
report the Amazon project for the 2018 Shovel awards as it was not yet under way last year.) Meanwhile, one of the other
HQ2 finalists, Nashville, has collected an incredibly valuable “consolation prize,” a 5,000-job “Operations Center of
Excellence” at the Nashville Yards. That turned out to be the biggest job total on the 2018 Shovel project list for
Tennessee.
“Nashville is a place that has great talent, great educational skill sets — huge higher education opportunities with
Vanderbilt, MTSU, Tennessee Tech and…the University of Tennessee. We think it’s a great location to grow this new Center
of Excellence,” said Holly
Sullivan, one of the leaders on Amazon’s location team.
E-Commerce Creating Jobs Across the Country
While the HQ2 saga was the big national focus, Amazon was busy making comparatively smaller investments all over the
country — but really big deals in the places where they landed. Indeed, the 2019 Shovel Awards highlight numerous
Amazon-related major projects, in addition to HQ2 and Nashville.
Among them:
A 1,500-job fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, set to open next year;
A 1,500-job facility in Tucson, Arizona, that will handle a variety of functions, from customer returns to light
assembly to 3D printing to customer pickup;
A distribution facility in the Indianapolis suburb of Greenwood, Indiana, adding 1,250 jobs to its 8,500 existing
Indiana jobs at more than half a dozen facilities;
Two new facilities in North Carolina, near the Charlotte airport and in Garner, both worth about 1,500 jobs;
A fourth distribution facility in Michigan expected to ultimately employ 2,025 in Kent County;
A new distribution center in Dallas, which is slated to employ 1,500;
And Amazon’s first Mississippi fulfillment center in Marshall County that will employ 850 people.
All in all, though Amazon left many HQ2 finalists disappointed when it announced its biggest decision, there are lots of
communities across the country cheering on the company’s 2018 development activities. And while Amazon is the clear
leader in direct online retailing, the ever-growing preference of shopping via computer and smartphone is creating
thousands of additional jobs across the country involving other companies. Birmingham-based Shipt, for example, has been
a pioneer in same-day delivery of groceries and other essentials, successful enough that Target acquired the company in
2017. Shipt is expanding its operations in Alabama and expects to hire nearly 900 more people.
The top online retailer of musical instruments and audio gear — Sweetwater Sound in Fort Wayne, Indiana — is building
two new facilities and adding a thousand jobs. Meanwhile, Wayfair has made it convenient to order furniture and home
goods online. The company promised as many as a thousand jobs in Chatham County, Georgia, with a brand-new warehouse.
And speaking of furniture, Ikea opened a high-tech Joliet distribution center in Illinois, and Overstock.com’s new
Kansas City fulfillment center will allow it to reach 99 percent of U.S. customers within two-day shipping.
Financial Services & Info Tech Job-Creators
While Amazon was clearly the biggest cumulative job creator of 2018, there were plenty of other headlines that included
noteworthy employment counts. Numerous projects were announced last year with promises of at least a thousand new jobs,
many in the financial services or IT sectors.
The state of Arizona, in particular, basked in a wealth of location announcements with job totals of a thousand or more
apiece. Financial services and IT were particularly strong winners in the Grand Canyon State. Allstate, for example,
pledged more than 2,500 jobs and a planned corporate campus in Chandler, while Voya Financial will add a thousand there.
Freedom Financial is expanding with 1,000+ jobs in Tempe, and The Money Source is growing with 500 new jobs in Phoenix.
Big Arizona news in IT also included Deloitte with 2,500 new jobs in Gilbert and Infosys with 1,000 in Phoenix.
Infosys is also adding thousands of jobs in Indiana, another big example of IT growth. The company opened a Technology
and Innovation Hub last year and broke ground on its U.S. Education Center. Salesforce, meanwhile, is adding a thousand
jobs in Chicago. And Texas landed at least three big-job-count deals in the world of IT: Okin Business Process Services’
U.S. headquarters in San Antonio, Cognizant Technology Solutions’ tech and service delivery center in Irving, and Paycom
Software’s location in Grapevine, for a combined total of nearly 3,500 jobs.
The insurance and financial services sectors were good to Indiana, with a massive Geico project in the works in
Indianapolis. More big financial services projects around the country include four-figure employment totals at
RoundPoint Mortgage and ServiceMac in South Carolina. And in the financial technology sector, BlackRock Inc. is
expanding in a big way in Atlanta, while Charlotte is welcoming a major expansion at the AvidXchange corporate
headquarters.
In the corporate sector, Inspire Brands picked the community of Sandy Springs, Georgia, for its new headquarters. It’s a
big, multi-brand player in the restaurant business, with such names as Arby’s, Sonic, and Buffalo Wild Wings, and its
project is worth some 1,100 jobs. AllianceBernstein, a global investment management firm, picked Nashville for its new
headquarters. That’s a $70 million+ investment yielding 1,050 jobs. The company plans to build a private wealth group
there, and potentially a local investment team. And Honeywell will locate a headquarters facility in Mecklenburg County,
North Carolina, a 750-job deal.
SlideshowTop 2018 Projects By State
2019 Gold & Silver Shovel Awards: Billion Dollar(s) Projects Of The Year (2018)
Project
Location
Jobs
Investment
Mazda/Toyota
Huntsville, AL
4,000
$1.6 billion
Nikola Motor Co.
Coolidge, AZ
2,062
$1 billion
Bigelow Aerospace
North Las Vegas, NV
30
$6.6 billion
FedEx
Memphis, TN
0
$1 billion
Formosa Plastics
Point Comfort, TX
340
$5 billion
Cheniere Energy
Corpus Christi, TX
430
$3 billion
Lyondell-Basell
Channelview, TX
160
$2.4 billion
Covestro
Baytown, TX
75
$1.72 billion
Micron Technology
Manassas, VA
1,100
$3 billion
Close
2019 Gold & Silver Shovel Awards: Top 2018 Projects By State
2018 Top Projects: Texas
Population: 28.70
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Amazon
Dallas
N
1,500
$90 million
Distribution
2.
Okin Business Process Services
San Antonio
N
1,400
$23 million
IT Headquarters
3.
Cognizant Technology
Irving
N
1,090
$2.7 million
Regional Tech & Service Delivery Center
4.
Paycom
Grapevine
N
1,000
N/A
IT
5.
Gartner, Inc.
Irving
E
800
$12 million
Software
6.
Formosa Plastics
Point Comfort
E
340
$5 billion
Plastics
7.
Cheniere Energy
Corpus Christi
N
430
$3 billion
Energy - LNG
8.
LyondellBasell
Channelview
E
160
$2.4 billion
Chemicals
9.
Covestro
Baytown
E
75
$1.72 billion
Chemicals
10.
Braskem
La Porte
E
50
$675 million
Polymers
2018 Top Projects: Florida
Population: 21.29 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
PGA Tour
St. Johns County
E
307
$86 million
Headquarters
2.
Webstaurant, Inc.
Hillsborough County
N
305
$1 million
IT
3.
Baker McKenzie
Hillsborough County
N
300
$3.3 million
Headquarters
4.
Nucor Corp.
Polk County
N
250
$238 million
Steel
5.
Pratt & Whitney
Palm Beach County
E
215
$100.4 million
Aircraft Parts
6.
Jinko Solar
Duval County
N
200
$50.5 million
Solar Panels
7.
Wyndham Destinations, Inc.
Orange County
E
200
$7.5 million
Headquarters
8.
Steelco Florida, Inc.
Hillsborough County
E
195
$130 million
Steel Mill
9.
McLane Company, Inc.
Marion County
N
125
$59 million
Distribution
10.
CAE USA
Hillsborough County
E
100
$48 million
Simulation/Training
2018 Top Projects: Illinois
Population: 12.80 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
World Wide Technology
Belleville
N
500
$115 million
Technology Services
2.
Ikea
Joliet
N
200
$80 million
Distribution
3.
Pinnacle Foods
St. Elmo
N
110
$54 million
Food Mfg.
4.
Salesforce
Chicago
N
1,000
$475 million
Software
5.
Illinicare Health
Carbondale
N
400
$5.7 million
Insurance
6.
S&S Activewear
Lockport
N
360
$37 million
Distribution
7.
Carl Buddig & Co.
Montgomery
N
350
$30 million
Food Mfg.
8.
Berner Food & Beverage
Cherry Valley
N
200
$25 million
Food Mfg.
9.
Bystronic
Hoffman Estates
N
140
$30 million
Machinery
10.
Neuco, Inc.
Bolingbrook
E
130
$11 million
HVAC Parts
2018 Top Projects: New York
Population: 19.54 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Applied Materials
Albany
N
300
$600 million
Semiconductors
2.
Away
New York City
E
249
$3 million
Headquarters
3.
Blink Health Group LLC
New York City
E
323
$3 million
Healthcare Technology
4.
Broadway National Group
Hauppauge
E
150
$10 million
Headquarters
5.
Green Empire Farms LLC
Oneida
N
118
$70 million
Food Mfg.
6.
NextGen Power
Syracuse
N
292
$150 million
Electronics
7.
Norsk Titanium
Plattsburgh
N
383
$50 million
Aerospace
8.
SungEel MCC
Endicott
N
86
$23.3 million
Batteries
9.
Topiderm Inc.
Amityville
E
110
$122 million
Skincare Products
10.
Regeneron*
Rensselaer
E
1,500
$837 million
Biopharmaceuticals
*Project of the Year
2018 Top Projects: Georgia
Population: 10.52 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Inspire Brands
Sandy Springs
N
1,100
$32 million
Headquarters
2.
BlackRock
Atlanta
N
1,000
$42.2 million
FinTech
3.
Wayfair, Inc.
Savannah
E
1,000
$45 million
Distribution
4.
Norfolk Southern
Atlanta
N
850
$575 million
Headquarters
5.
Fox Factory Holding Corp.
Gainesville
N
800
$50 million
Bicycle/Vehicle Parts
6.
thyssenkrupp AG
Atlanta
N
650
$200 million
Hdqtrs./Innovation Ctr.
7.
Salesforce
Atlanta
N
600
$12.3 million
CRM - Regional Hdqtrs.
8.
Hanwha Q Cells Korea
Dalton
N
500
$150 million
Solar Cells
9.
Facebook
Social Circle
N
100
$750 million
Data Center
10.
Starbucks
Atlanta
N
500
$16 million
FinTech
2018 Top Projects: Michigan
Population: 9.99 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Ford Motor Company
Wayne County
E
2,500
$738 million
Automotive/Engineering
2.
Amazon
Kent County
N
2,025
$190 million
Distribution
3.
Stryker Corporation
Kalamazoo County
E
260
$109.8 million
Medical Devices
4.
Ashley Capital
Oakland County
N
613
$85 million
Distribution
5.
Loc Performance Products, Inc.
Wayne County
E
700
$71.5 million
Defense/Military
6.
KLA Corporation
Washtenaw County
N
500
$71.1 million
Semiconductor Eqpt.
7.
United Shore Financial Services, LLC
Oakland County
E
600
$69 million
Financial Services
8.
The Kroger Co.
Macomb County
N
377
$24.9 million
Distribution
9.
Morley Companies, Inc.
Saginaw County
N
525
$5.2 million
Professional Services
10.
Nexient
Washtenaw County
E
300
$4.2 million
Information Technology
2018 Top Projects: North Carolina
Population: 10.38 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Amazon
Mecklenburg County
N
1,500
$200 million
Distribution
2.
Amazon
Wake County
N
1,500
$200 million
Distribution
3.
AvidXchange
Mecklenburg County
E
1,229
$41 million
FinTech
4.
Mountaire Farms
Chatham County
E
580
$86 million
Food Processing
5.
House of Raeford Farms
Duplin County
E
488
$75 million
Food Processing
6.
Polywood
Person County
N
384
$35.3 million
Furniture
7.
Honeywell
Mecklenburg County
N
750
$248 million
Headquarters
8.
Sonic Automotive
Gaston County
N
500
$11.2 million
Automotive
9.
National General Insurance
Forsyth County
E
626
$12.2 million
Financial Services
10.
Albaad USA
Rockingham County
E
302
$45 million
Personal Care Products
2018 Top Projects: Virginia
Population: 8.40 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Micron Technology*
Manassas
E
1,100
$3 billion
Semiconductors
2.
1901 Group
Fairfax & Montgomery Counties
E
805
$4 million
IT
3.
KPMG
Fairfax County
E
521
$31.4 million
Business Services
4.
Monogram Foods
Henry County
E
300
$30 million
Food Products
5.
Discovery, Inc.
Loudoun County
E
240
$16 million
Media Technology
6.
WillowTree, Inc.
Albemarle County
E
200
$12.3 million
Software Development
7.
Speyside Bourbon Cooperage
Smyth & Washington Counties
N
160
$35 million
Stave Mill & Cooperage
8.
TemperPack
Henrico County
N
141
$10.4 million
Thermal Insulation
9.
England Furniture
Lee County
N
79
$1.3 million
Furniture
10.
Service Center Metals
Prince George County
E
58
$45.2 million
Aluminum Extrusions
*Project of the Year
2018 Top Projects: Arizona
Population: 7.17 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Allstate
Chandler
N
2,530
$38.9 million
Banking/Finance/Insurance
2.
Deloitte Tax LLP
Gilbert
N
2,500
$37.5 million
IT
3.
The Money Source
Phoenix
N
500
$7.5 million
Banking/Finance/Insurance
4.
Nikola Motor Co.*
Coolidge
N
2,062
$1 billion
Commercial Trucks
5.
Amazon
Tucson
N
1,500
$145 million
Logistics/Distribution
6.
Freedom Financial Network
Tempe
N
1,100
$20 million
Banking/Finance/Insurance
7.
Voya Financial, Inc.
Chandler
N
1,060
$60.6 million
Banking & Finance
8.
Infosys
Phoenix
N
1,000
$18.3 million
IT
9.
Cognizant Technology Solutions
Phoenix
E
921
$4.6 million
IT
10.
Nationwide Realty Investors
Scottsdale
N
514
$139 million
Banking & Finance
*Project of the Year
2018 Top Projects: Indiana
Population: 6.69 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
GEICO
Indianapolis
E
1,474
$16.5 million
Insurance
2.
Amazon
Greenwood
N
1,250
$80 million
Distribution
3.
Sweetwater Sound, Inc.
Fort Wayne
E
1,009
$76.4 million
Warehousing
4.
Infosys Ltd.
Indianapolis
N
1,000
$224.1 million
Professional & Technical Services
5.
U.S. Steel Corp.
Gary
E
0
$750 million
Steel
6.
Lehigh Cement Co. LLC
Mitchell
E
52
$548 million
Cement
7.
United Collection. Bureau, Inc.
Jeffersonville
N
621
$2.5 million
Business Support Services
8.
Fulcrum Centerpoint, LLC
Gary
N
163
$567 million
Petrochemicals
9.
SF Motors, Inc.
Mishawaka
N
467
$159.1 million
Automotive
10.
Indiana NAP LLC
Hammond
N
45
$201 million
Data Processing/Hosting
2018 Top Projects: South Carolina
Population: 5.08 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Google
Berkeley County
E
0
$600 million
Data Center
2.
Keurig Dr. Pepper
Spartanburg County
N
500
$350 million
Packaging
3.
Roundpoint Mortgage
York County
E
1,100
$34 million
Financial Services
4.
JW Aluminum
Berkeley County
E
50
$255 million
Aluminum
5.
Becton, Dickinson and Co.
Sumter County
E
125
$150 million
Medical Equipment
6.
Zeus Industrial Products
Calhoun County
E
350
$76 million
Polymers
7.
ServiceMac, LLC
Lancaster County
N
1,000
$24 million
Financial Services
8.
W International
Berkeley County
N
600
$35.2 million
Welded Metal Products
9.
Draexlmaier Automotive of America
Spartanburg County
E
460
$42.7 million
Automotive
10.
Samsung Electronics
Greenville County
N
400
N/A
Customer Service
2018 Top Projects: Tennessee
Population: 6.85 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Amazon
Nashville
N
5,000
$230 million
Corporate Offices
2.
AllianceBernstein L.P.
Nashville
N
1,050
$71.5 million
Corporate Offices
3.
FedEx
Memphis
E
0
$1 billion
Freight/Trucking
4.
DENSO
Athens
E
320
$190 million
Motor Vehicle Parts
5.
Van Hool
Morristown
N
640
$47 million
Heavy Duty Trucks
6.
Indigo Ag, Inc.
Memphis E
700
$6.6 million
R&D
7.
Asurion, Inc.
Nashville
E
400
$288 million
Insurance & Pension Administration
8.
Oshkosh Corp.
Jefferson City
N
359
$30.6 million
Automotive
9.
Keep Truckin, Inc.
Nashville
E
386
$3.5 million
Software Publishing
10.
Ernst & Young LLP
Nashville
E
600
$22.7 million
Business Services
2018 Top Projects: Alabama
Population: 4.90 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Mazda/Toyota*
Huntsville
N
4,000
$1.6 billion
Automotive
2.
Amazon
Bessemer
N
1,500
$325 million
Distribution
3.
Mercedes-Benz U.S. Int’l.
Bibb County
N
325
$268 million
Automotive
4.
Haier U.S. Appliance Solutions, Inc.
Decatur
E
255
$115 million
Appliance Manufacturing & Distribution
5.
Airbus Mobile
Mobile
E
432
$264 million
Aerospace
6.
Facebook
Huntsville
N
100
$750 million
Data Center
7.
Shipt
Birmingham
E
881
$10 million
e-Commerce/Distribution
8.
Kimber Manufacturing Inc.
Troy
N
366
$38 million
Firearms
9.
Lockheed Martin Corp.
Troy
E
60
$130 million
Aerospace
10.
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC
Montgomery
E
75
$388 million
Automotive
*Project of the Year
2018 Top Projects: Kentucky
Population: 4.40 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Beam Distillery
Bullitt County
E
5
$585 million
Distillery
2.
Nucor Steel
Gallatin County
E
70
$650 million
Steel
3.
Maker’s Mark Distillery, Inc.
Marion County
E
24
$463.8 million
Distillery
4.
Novelis Corp.
Todd County
N
125
$304.9 million
Aluminum
5.
GE Appliance Park
Jefferson County
E
400
$200 million
Household Appliances
6.
Global Win Wickliffe, LLC
Ballard County
N
500
$150 million
Paper Packaging
7.
Century Aluminum
Hancock
E
250
$116.5 million
Aluminum
8.
Sister Schubert’s Homemade Rolls, Inc.
Hart County
E
134
$74 million
Food Processing
9.
Independent Stave Co.
Rowan County
N
220
$66.5 million
Wood Barrels
10.
Kobelco Aluminum
Warren County
E
115
$48.5 million
Aluminum
2018 Top Projects: Nevada
Population: 3.03 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Axion Corp.
Reno
N
511
$27.6 million
Engineering/Manufacturing/Distribution
2.
Sephora USA, Inc.
North Las Vegas
N
460
$36 million
Logistics
3.
MECP1 Reno 1, LLC
Reno
N
50
$106.8 million
Data Center
4.
KRS Global Biotechnology, Inc.
Henderson
N
160
$34.6 million
Pharmaceuticals
5.
AeroSpec NDT Services, Inc.
Lyon County
N
85
$124.6 million
Aerospace/Defense Services
6.
Bigelow Aerospace
North Las Vegas
E
30
$6.6 billion
Aerospace/Defense
7.
VM Innovations
Henderson
E
56
$60.8 mllion
Aviation Services
8.
Scientific Games Corp.
Las Vegas
E
300
$2 million
Business/IT
9.
Design, LLC
Henderson
N
50
$300 million
Data Center
10.
C4 Mining Co. Inc.
Clark County City
N
30
$25.4 million
Business/IT
2018 Top Projects: Utah
Population: 3.16 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Clarus Corp.
Holladay
E
147
$40 million
Headquarters
2.
GoHealth
Lindon
N
363
$900,000
Insurance
3.
Canopy Tax
Lehi
E
538
$7.5 million
IT/Technology
4.
Amer Sports
Ogden
E
155
$32 million
Headquarters
5.
HealthEquity
Salt Lake Cty.
E
500
$29.8 million
FinTech
6.
Lending Club
Salt Lake Cty.
N
860
$17.9 million
FinTech
7.
Bullfrog Spas
Herriman
E
150
$20 million
Hot Tubs
8.
Merit Medical
Salt Lake Cty.
E
1,010
$505 million
Medical Devices
9.
Sarcos Corp.
Salt Lake City
E
292
$2.4 million
Tech/Robotics
10.
Moog Inc.
Salt Lake Cty.
E
120
$2.2 million
Defense/Aerospace
2018 Top Projects: Mississippi
Population: 2.98 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Amazon
Marshall County
N
850
$45 million
Distribution
2.
SYNNEX Corp.
Desoto County
E
600
$20 million
Electrical Components
3.
Pearl River Foods
Leake County
E
450
$1 million
Poultry Processing
4.
Toyota
Lee County
E
400
$170 million
Automotive
5.
Williams-Sonoma
Lee County
E
350
$18.5 million
Furniture
6.
Raytheon
Scott County
E
45
$100 million
Radar
7.
DMC Power
Desoto County
N
125
$8 million
Connection Systems
8.
Auto Parts Manufacturing Mississippi
Lee County
E
50
$100 million
Automotive Parts
9.
Peco Foods
Clay County
E
300
$40 million
Poultry Processing
10.
Unified Brands
Warren County
E
250
$9.5 million
Food Equipment
2018 Top Projects: Kansas
Population: 2.92 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Element, LLC
Colwich
N
60
$180 million
Ethanol
2.
Viega, LLC
McPherson
E
40
$210 million
Valves/Pipe Fittings
3.
Spirit AeroSystems, Inc.
Wichita
E
1,400
N/A
Aircraft Parts
4.
Resers Fine Foods
Topeka
E
60
$74 million
Food Processing
5.
Scavuzzo’s Inc.
Kansas City
N
70
$100 million
Logistics/Distribution
6.
Palmer Manufacturing & Tank Inc.
Garden Ctiy
E
201
$16.6 million
Metal Fabrication
7.
Orizon Aerostructures, LLC
Olathe
E
400
$127.3 million
Aviation Parts
8.
GEICO
Lenexa
N
500
$9.8 million
Insurance
9.
Camso Manufacturing USA, Ltd.
Junction City
E
41
$44 million
Rubber Products
10.
Overstock.com
Kansas City
N
200
$14.2 million
Logistics/Distribution
2018 Top Projects: Nebraska
Population: 1.92 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Michael Foods
Bloomfield
E
100
$150 million
Food Processing
2.
Facebook
Papillion
E
100
$500 million
Data Center
3.
Becton Dickinson
Columbus
E
200
$125 million
Medical Devices
4.
i2c
Omaha
N
300
$30 million
Financial Services
5.
Ingredion
South Sioux City
E
40
$84.2 million
Food Processing
6.
BuilderTrend
Omaha
E
300
$8.6 million
Construction Software
7.
Rattlesnake Creek Wind Farm
Allen
N
12
$470 million
Wind Energy
8.
LDI Omaha Box Co.
Papillion
E
20
$45 million
Box Manufacturing
9.
Sholes Wind Energy Center (Nextra)
Wayne
N
10
$250 million
Wind Energy
10.
Wholestone Foods
Fremont
E
500
$180 million
Food Processing
2018 Top Projects: Rhode Island
Population: 1.06 million
Company
City
N/E
Job Creation
Investment
Industry
1.
Electric Boat Corp.*
North Kingstown
E
1,309 million
$792.1
Shipbuilding
2.
Immunex Rhode Island Corp.
Kent
E
146
$164.1 million
Pharmaceuticals
3.
Infinity Meat Solutions, LLC
North Kingstown
N
702
110.2 million
Food Packaging
4.
iXblue Defense Systems, Inc.
Lincoln
N
22
$2.9 million
Defense
5.
Rubius Therapeutics, Inc.
Smithfield
N
154
$188 million
Biopharmaceuticals
*Project of the Year
2019 Gold & Silver Shovel Awards: Billion Dollar(s) Projects Of The Year (2018)
Project
Location
Jobs
Investment
Mazda/Toyota
Huntsville, AL
4,000
$1.6 billion
Nikola Motor Co.
Coolidge, AZ
2,062
$1 billion
Bigelow Aerospace
North Las Vegas, NV
30
$6.6 billion
FedEx
Memphis, TN
0
$1 billion
Formosa Plastics
Point Comfort, TX
340
$5 billion
Cheniere Energy
Corpus Christi, TX
430
$3 billion
Lyondell-Basell
Channelview, TX
160
$2.4 billion
Covestro
Baytown, TX
75
$1.72 billion
Micron Technology
Manassas, VA
1,100
$3 billion
Dealing with Data
Though not on the same colossal scale as Amazon’s flurry of fulfillment centers, fellow market-capitalization giant
Facebook is doing its economic investment part by building more and more data centers. One is a $750 million, 100-job
facility slated for the Rocket City of Huntsville, Alabama. Another is an expansion in Papillion, Nebraska, where six
data hall buildings will total 2.6 million square feet and a hundred more people will go to work. And the social media
company appropriately chose the Georgia city of Social Circle for another 100-job, $750 million data center. It’s one of
a number of recent data center developments in and around Atlanta.
Google has lots of data center capacity, too, but is adding to it by expanding its South Carolina data center outside
Charleston. It’s a $600 million investment. The Design LLC data center to be located in Henderson, Nevada, is a
Google-subsidiary development. Other data center projects beyond Facebook and Google include one in Indiana, the Digital
Crossroads of America Data Center planned by Indiana NAP in Hammond. And Nevada is welcoming MECP1 in Reno.
Diverse Manufacturing Jobs
Needless to say, manufacturing projects have always been a feather-in-the-cap for states lucky enough to land them,
given that they tend to produce relatively stable, decent-paying jobs. The Shovel Award top project lists include a fair
number of 2018 manufacturing wins, including a number of massive projects in terms of four-figure job totals.
In Kansas, for example, Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita is planning to hire 1,400 more employees over the next few years
to support commercial and defense programs. The company already had announced a thousand new jobs the year before, but
the business keeps building, according to the announcement from the company’s president and CEO, Tom Gentile: “The aerospace market is growing as never before, and for us that means we continue to need even more highly skilled people.” The aerospace business is good for Wichita and for Kansas as a whole — another
of its headlines was a 400-job expansion at aviation parts supplier Orizon Aerostructures in Olathe.
To the west, the expansion of Merit Medical in Salt Lake County is a half-billion-dollar deal that promises 1,010 jobs
in the state of Utah. Merit makes disposable medical devices that are used in intervention, diagnostic, and therapeutic
medical procedures. Other medical-device-makers expanding include Becton Dickinson in Columbus, Nebraska, which will add
200 jobs, and Stryker in Portage, Michigan, with plans to add 260 jobs. And biopharma company Regeneron is investing
more than $800 million in Renssalear, New York, where it will employ 1,500.
Tennessee’s strong automotive sector also drove a few significant manufacturing projects last year. Belgian bus-maker
Van Hool announced a plant in Morristown, with at least 600 on the payroll to begin with and as many as twice that in
the next several years. Japanese supplier Denso, in the community of Athens, is expanding with more than 300 new jobs.
And truck-maker Oshkosh Corp. is taking over a John Deere facility in Jefferson City, with plans to add more than 300
jobs.
In North Carolina, a total of more than a thousand new jobs will result from a pair of food-processing operations:
Mountaire Farms and House of Raeford Farms, both in the business of poultry. And several food processing expansions are
also on Nebraska’s top projects list: Wholestone Foods, Michael Foods, and Ingredion are all expanding in the
state.
Kentucky manufactures many things, perhaps none more beloved than bourbon. Two distilleries made the state’s top
projects list for expansion plans. Jim Beam announced an infrastructure investment of $585 million, while Maker’s Mark
pledged to invest more than $460 million, and Independent Stave Co. is adding jobs and pumping investment into the
business of making wood barrels to age the bourbon. Virtually all of Kentucky’s big 2018 projects were in manufacturing,
and they provided a showcase of the state’s diversity. Three different companies are investing and creating new jobs in
aluminum manufacturing, and steelmaker Nucor is making a $650 million investment as well.
Mississippi also displayed its diversity in manufacturing and related sectors. Two big projects involve poultry
processing: Pearl River Foods is adding 450 workers in Carthage, and Peco Foods will hire 300 at a facility where frozen
chicken products will be handled. Two announcements were in the automotive sector, including a $170 million retooling at
the Toyota assembly plant in Jackson, where an additional 400 workers will be needed to roll more next-generation
Corollas off the line.
Big-Dollar Deals
Only a handful of 2018 projects entered 10-figure dollar territory. Not surprisingly, a lot of them involved
petrochemicals, a sector where it’s tough to do much that’s substantial for less than a billion dollars. Also not
surprisingly, the billion-dollar petrochemical activity was centered in Texas.
In the Lone Star State, Formosa Plastics pledged $5 billion on an expansion intended to broaden the company’s line of
plastic resins and get into low-density polyethylene resins. It’s a pricey project with a good-sized employee count,
adding about 340 to the payroll. Another 430 jobs are part of a $3 billion Cheniere Energy project in Corpus Christi
involving liquefied natural gas production. In Channelview, LyondellBasell broke ground on what will become the largest
propylene oxide and tertiary butyl alcohol plant ever built. It’s a $2.4 billion project, and by the time it’s done, 160
jobs will be added. Another chemical-related expansion was announced in Baytown, where German manufacturer Covestro is
pumping $1.7 billion into its operation to boost production of a key chemical found in polyurethane foam.
Automotive and semiconductor operations also often top the billion-dollar mark. That’s the case with the $1.6 billion
being spent by the Mazda/Toyota joint venture in Alabama. Mazda/Toyota’s Huntsville plant will create some 4,000 jobs
. But Alabama’s automotive news goes beyond the Mazda/Toyota joint venture. Mercedes-Benz new Bibb County
facility is part of its overall Alabama operation, and Hyundai is investing nearly $400 million in an expansion in
Montgomery.
Steve Kaelble has written for Area Development for more than 30 years. His work has also appeared in numerous other magazines, newspapers, and online publications, as well as broadcast media. He has authored several books and has worked extensively in corporate and internal communications, including creating annual reports. An Indianapolis resident, he holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Indiana University.