A U.S. Plant Isn’t a Tariff Hedge
Building in the U.S. doesn’t end tariff exposure if the inputs still cross a border. René Buck of BCI Global shows what to test before committing capital: input duties, origin rules, staffing, and tipping points.
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Site Selection
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Government Policy / Business Climate
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In a Fragmented U.S. Landscape, ‘Social Issues’ Still Shape Where Companies Locate
Companies have gone quiet in public. The risks beneath the debate, from talent access and reproductive-health policy to climate and water exposure and community acceptance, still sit on the scorecard executives use to choose a location.
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There Is a New Sheriff in Town: Why Community Approval Now Rules Major Project Development
Community Benefits Agreements are moving local commitments beyond informal promises. When paired with early outreach and confidentiality protections, they can create greater accountability and certainty.
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Rethinking Environmental Review
Why Streamlined Environmental Review Is Now a Strategic Imperative.
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Logistics / Infrastructure
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Logistics, Labor, Land — In That Order
Typically, three factors determine whether a site survives first-pass evaluation in a serious location search. Incentives rarely substitute for deficits in any of them. Understanding the framework — and the sequencing — changes how companies should evaluate their own location options.
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2026 Outlook: Five Logistics Trends Shaping 2027 Site Decisions
As supply chains evolve beyond pure efficiency, companies are rethinking where they build, store, and move products. The result is a new generation of logistics decisions centered on resilience, flexibility, and long-term performance.
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Optimizing Your Rail-Served Transportation Network: Strategy Before Steel
Infrastructure can power your supply chain—but only when planned with foresight.
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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.
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Site Selection Factors / Strategy
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The Fourth Room: Capital Is the Missing Piece of America’s Industrial Comeback
Every dollar a manufacturer ties up in land and a building shell is money not spent on equipment or engineers. Ken Biberaj of Savills makes the case for investors who will own the plant so the company can run it.
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The First Big Decision in Cannabis Facility Design
Why site selection is the first phase of design — and one of the operator’s best opportunities to control risk.
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Site Readiness Is Not a Finish Line
A certification may open the door, but accurate diligence, verified capacity and disciplined capital planning determine whether a property can support a project.
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The Decision Was Already Made
By the time a site selector contacts a community or issues an RFP, the most consequential choices in a location process have already been made. Understanding what happened upstream — and when — changes how corporate real estate teams should structure their own decision-making.
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Taxes / Incentives
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Unwrapping the Gift Clause
Economic development incentives can create opportunity, but they aren’t no-strings-attached. Companies considering incentive packages should understand how public purpose, government controls and precise agreements can shape project viability.
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New Markets Tax Credits Are Now a Permanent Part of the Deal Stack
Permanent authorization has removed a major source of uncertainty from the federal financing program.
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Last Word: When Incentives Lead, Projects Follow—Often in the Wrong Direction
Why chasing the biggest package can derail site selection decisions before they begin.
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Capitalizing on the OBBBA Before the 2026 Cliff
Discover how the OBBBA creates a short-lived opportunity for modular developers to accelerate deductions, leverage restored bonus depreciation, and meet tight 2026 energy-incentive deadlines.
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Facility Planning
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Asset / Facility Management
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Why Your Next Facility Should Be Looking for an Energy Park, Not an Industrial Park
Energy-intensive operations need more than a parcel with available power. The emerging energy park model puts generation, storage, grid access and room for expansion at the center of industrial site selection and long-term growth.
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The Crucial Role of Hazardous Material Awareness in Manufacturing Facility Design
How to plan manufacturing facilities with safety in mind.
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Why Smaller May Be Better for Some Businesses
Although records have been set for massive industrial spaces, the market has been shifting to smaller buildings.
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First Person: Putting a Cyber Defense Plan in Place
To find out more about the current cyber threats companies are facing and their responses to such threats, Area Development’s staff writer, Lisa Bastian, interviewed Michael Morris, a managing director in Deloitte’s Cyber Detect & Respond practice.
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Construction / Project Planning
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The Real AI Advantage in Construction Is the Data Behind It
The same AI tools are increasingly available to every general contractor. What separates them is the depth of the construction data behind those tools and the experience required to put it to work.
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In Focus: The Cost Stack Is Inverted
Transportation represents 45 to 75 percent of operational expense for most industrial and distribution operations. Real estate by comparison, is only between 5 – 15%, a rounding error for some organizations. The implications for how location decisions should be structured — and where cost optimization effort should be focused — are significant and widely ignored.
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Where Construction Investment Goes, Economic Growth Follows
Understanding the construction industry’s multiplier effect — and the workforce infrastructure behind it — can sharpen site selection and economic development decisions.
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Phillip Morris International Starting Building Before Plans
How a factory went from an idea to operational in about two years.
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Sustainable Development
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Data Center Boom Reshapes Approach to Environmental Risk
The search for power-ready sites is pushing data center developers toward former factories, power plants and other legacy industrial properties, bringing environmental liabilities into the project equation.
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Amazon’s First Mass Timber Delivery Station Tests the Future of Low-Carbon Logistics
In Elkhart, Indiana, a 171,000-square-foot “wood warehouse” built by Graycor may point the way toward a more sustainable model for industrial construction.
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Laying the Future’s Foundation in Rowen
Georgia’s newest innovation district bets big on climate-ready infrastructure and long-term planning.
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How Greeley, Colorado Is Using Aquifers to Future-Proof Its Economy
Faced with the prospect of building a massive $700 million surface reservoir, Greeley instead pursued something few communities have dared to try.
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Workforce Development
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Labor Costs / Organized Labor
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Where Workforce Capacity Is Being Built — and Where It’s Being Deployed
Introducing the Area Development State Talent Pipeline Ranking.
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What to Make of the Rising Trend of Salary Transparency in Job Descriptions
Salary transparency in job listings offers new insights into wages.
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What If the Longshoremen's Strike Had Persisted? Examining the Potential Economic Fallout
Could a prolonged strike have disrupted U.S. supply chains further?
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Impact of the Latest Minimum Wage Increases
The new year brings some significant changes that will impact employers who have entry-level workers, with 22 states raising their minimum wages effective January 1st.
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Skilled Labor / STEM
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The Bottlenecks Behind the Defense Buildup
Aerospace and defense manufacturers are racing to expand production, but power availability, aging infrastructure, workforce shortages and fragile supply chains increasingly determine how quickly new capacity can come online.
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In Focus: The Cleared Personnel Challenge
In defense-related site selection, access to workers who already hold security clearances can narrow the location search before incentives or real estate enter the discussion.
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Why America's Largest Companies Are Investing in Skilled Trades
The biggest workforce challenge facing AI, advanced manufacturing and infrastructure projects isn't operating new facilities—it's finding enough skilled workers to build them.
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The Workforce Bottleneck in America’s Manufacturing Revival
As investment surges, a thinning workforce forces companies to rethink where—and how—they build in America.
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Workplace Trends
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Workforce Still Matters—But It's No Longer the First Filter
Why labor hasn't disappeared from site selection—but is now competing with power, land, and execution risk.
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AI Isn’t Killing Jobs—It’s Reshaping Hiring
AI isn’t eliminating jobs—at least not yet. But it is quietly reshaping how companies hire, and where those jobs show up.
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The Office Is Back but Is the Portfolio Strategy Aligned?
Reestablishing the value of the office has driven trends in workplace investment and location strategy
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Navigating Generational Differences in Location and Workplace Strategy
Workforce demographics are reshaping how and where companies design and locate their offices.
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Business+Place
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Annual Econdev Awards
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21st Annual Shovel Awards: The American Industrial Economy Remade in Real Time
The competition for transformative projects is intensifying. From $10 billion data centers to next-generation manufacturing, this year’s Shovel Awards show which states are winning—and how they’re building durable industrial ecosystems.
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First Person: Tate Reeves, Governor of Mississippi
An examination of how Mississippi is structuring large industrial projects: maintaining excess power capacity, pre serving sites with utilities in place, and coordinating workforce development through a single entity to reduce timing gaps across infrastructure, permitting, and hiring.
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Editor's Note: A Higher Bar for Winning Projects
Projects are still advancing—but fewer are clearing internal hurdles. As assumptions around cost, timing, and delivery get tested, only the deals that stand up to full internal scrutiny are moving forward.
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21st Annual Shovel Awards: The Projects of the Year
The investments that stood apart for their scale, strategic significance, and economic impact — from advanced manufacturing and life sciences to headquarters expansions and AI-powered data centers.
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Frontline
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Brownsville Opens an Office for the Space Economy
As the commercial space sector matures, economic development organizations are adapting to opportunities that extend beyond business recruitment.
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New Tech Havens Bloom as Digitization Transforms U.S. Economy
The fluidity of digital innovation - and its lack of dependence on a traditional industrial infrastructure - means that tech havens are blooming in newer magnets where tech-savvy workers are prevalent, ranging from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Richmond, Virginia.
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Building an Airport Network Before the Aircraft Arrive
Monterey Bay’s coordinated airport strategy could offer a blueprint for the next generation of aviation infrastructure.
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Alabama Thinks the Next Competitive Advantage Is Government Itself
Alabama has reorganized workforce development around a simple goal: make government easier for employers to navigate.
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Leading Metro Locations
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Leading Metro Locations 2025: Smaller Markets, Stronger Momentum
Smaller and mid-sized U.S. metros are outpacing big cities, leveraging workforce agility, affordability, and livability to redefine competitiveness and attract investment in 2025.
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2024's Leading Metro Locations Commentary: Kathy Mussio
Simply put, companies want to locate and expand in places where people want to move to and live.
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2024's Leading Metro Locations Methodology
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2024's Leading Metro Locations: U.S. Cities on the Rise Amid an Economic Reshuffling
Area Development’s 2024 Leading Metro Locations report reveals shifting dynamics in America’s cities.
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Top States for Business
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Top States for Doing Business in 2026: Where Competitive Advantage Becomes Project Certainty
The strongest states are doing more than assembling attractive business fundamentals. They are connecting talent, executable sites, utility capacity, government responsiveness and operating economics into a credible path from site search to operation.
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Editor’s Note: Thriving at the Intersection of Change
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2025’s Top States for Business: How the Winners Are Outpacing the Rest
Speed, workforce alignment, and energy infrastructure now define the best states for doing business — not just incentives or tax breaks. Our exclusive rankings break down how the top performers are staying ahead in a tightening market.
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Top States for Doing Business in 2024: A Continued Legacy of Excellence
Certain states just have the right ingredients for attracting and nurturing business growth. The 2024 Top States for Doing Business rankings are in, and guess what? The Southern states are shining bright once again.
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Property Markets
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Corporate HQ / Office
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Why Traditional Migration Data Is Misleading Corporate Real Estate Leaders
Headline migration statistics obscure the movements that matter most. Looking at specialized talent flows reveals a different picture of New York's competitive position—and offers a better framework for location strategy.
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2026 Outlook: The Corporate HQ Is Getting Smaller — and a Lot More Demanding
With hybrid work now a constant, corporate real estate leaders are shifting from “wait-and-see” to execution. The result: less space, higher cost per square foot, and a growing premium on offices that deliver measurable value in collaboration, culture and talent outcomes.
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Less Is More for Energy Industry Offices
Oil and gas industry consolidation will likely lead to increased demands for higher-quality offices in top locations.
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Beyond Square Footage: Mission-Driven Differentiation Helps Buildings Stand Out in Battle for HQs
Companies prioritize values and mission when choosing modern headquarters locations.
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Data Centers
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Energy Certainty Is the New Competitive Advantage
Georgia’s integrated utility model is designed to give companies greater confidence that power will be available when projects are ready to come online.
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Last Word: Data Centers and the Infrastructure of the Intelligence Revolution
Meta’s Louisiana project illustrates both the legitimate concerns surrounding large-scale data centers and the potentially transformative rewards for communities prepared to accommodate them.
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In Focus: Rethinking Water in Data Center Site Selection
Why the real constraint isn’t always supply—and why the risk is still real.
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Google’s 100-Year Bet
What Alphabet’s century bond signals about the future of data center site selection.
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DCs / Warehousing
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Industrial Location Decisions Follow the Freight
Transportation costs, shifting trade routes and supply chain risk are changing how companies evaluate industrial locations.
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2026 Outlook: The Warehouse Market Isn’t Growing — It’s Sorting Itself
With demand stabilizing, industrial occupiers are shifting from rapid expansion to disciplined execution. The result is fewer speculative projects, more build-to-suit activity, and a growing premium on facilities that deliver efficiency, automation capacity, and reliable access to labor and customers.
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Rewriting the Rules of Warehouse ROI
Embedding automation into leases may offer companies a smarter way to balance risk, cost and productivity.
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Gaining Community Approval for Your Next Big-Box Project
Partnerships with local economic developers and other community stakeholders are key to a company getting approval to site a big-box distribution center.
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Manufacturing / Industrial
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Rare Earths Move Downstream
As critical minerals move downstream, processing and refining projects could become anchors for clusters of magnet makers, component suppliers and advanced manufacturers, reshaping where the next generation of industrial investment takes place.
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The Defense Manufacturing Advantage Hiding in Plain Site
As defense manufacturers race to add capacity, the bigger constraint may be infrastructure, not capital. Existing and former military installations bring together many of the power, transportation, security and workforce assets that are increasingly difficult to assemble elsewhere.
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Connecticut’s submarine boom tests its workforce pipeline
Eastern Connecticut has built an unusually coordinated system for moving people into manufacturing careers. Now the scale of submarine production is testing whether the region’s suppliers, schools and infrastructure can keep pace.
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Steel Is Back—and Infrastructure Is Deciding Where New Mills Locate
A new generation of domestic steel investment is reshaping the industrial map. The projects are larger, the infrastructure requirements are more demanding, and the communities that can compete are fewer than most economic developers realize.
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Departments
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Contributed Content
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Building a World-Class Defense Workforce in Virginia
From accelerated manufacturing training in Danville to a massive maritime talent network in Hampton Roads, Virginia is building workforce pipelines designed to meet the defense industry’s growing demand for skilled labor.
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Montgomery County, Maryland: The Heart of “Satellite Valley”
With deep roots in satellite communications, proximity to federal agencies and laboratories, and a highly educated workforce, Montgomery County is positioning itself as a hub for space and defense growth.
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Ohio’s 15-Year Bet on Speed and Infrastructure
With surging demand, business-friendly legislation and billions in investment, Ohio is building the energy infrastructure that factories, data centers and advanced manufacturers need to grow.
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Wisconsin is a Rising Force in Biohealth and Biopharma Manufacturing
With research strength, manufacturing depth, and a statewide workforce strategy, Wisconsin is positioning itself as a destination for biohealth and biopharma growth.
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First Person
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First Person: UCB's $2 Billion Bet on Gwinnett County
For Philippe Mantelet, a $2 billion biologics facility represents more than a capital investment. In this interview, he outlines how UCB approaches site selection — balancing speed, infrastructure, talent, and long-term certainty — to make decisions that hold up well beyond the initial buildout.
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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.
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First Person: Astrobotic CEO on Building the Lunar Economy
Astrobotic CEO John Thornton says the race to establish sites on the Moon is already underway—and location matters as much as it does on Earth.
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First Person: Karis Cold’s Ken Verne on Urban Demand, Automation, and the Infrastructure Gap
Karis Cold’s Ken Verne joins Area Development to talk about urban infill opportunities, automation readiness, ESG strategy, and why facilities need to be designed for 2030—not just today’s needs.
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In Focus
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In Focus: Ohio Builds for Aerospace Scale
A concentration of federal assets, manufacturing capacity and workforce investment is changing the calculus for aerospace site selection.
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In Focus: Korea’s Blueprint for Sustainable U.S. Expansion
Why advanced manufacturers are treating site selection as a long-term business strategy, not a transaction.
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In Focus: AI Is Changing Incentives Math
Headcount-focused incentives punish evolving companies, payroll helps reward a different kind of growth.
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In Focus: Will Serve Letters and Right-of-Way Acquisitions in Site Selection
Exploring the nuances of utility commitments and legal access.
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Last Word
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Last Word: Don’t Lose by Winning
As site scarcity shifts corporate decisions from parcels to people, execution—not assets—is becoming the real differentiator.
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Last Word: Smart Executives Are Paying Attention to Rural Opportunity Zones
The permanent extension of Opportunity Zones under the 2025 OBBBA creates a rare opening for business leaders to shape where federal investment flows — and rural America may hold the strongest opportunities for long-term strategic growth.
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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.
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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
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Exclusive Research
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Top States for Business
Top States for Doing Business in 2026: Where Competitive Advantage Becomes Project Certainty
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Annual Econdev Awards
21st Annual Shovel Awards: The American Industrial Economy Remade in Real Time
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Corporate Exec Survey Results
40th Annual Corporate and 22nd Annual Consultant Site Selection Survey Results
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Leading Metro Locations
Leading Metro Locations 2025: Smaller Markets, Stronger Momentum