Posts by: Economic Development HQ.com

Medient Plans $90M Studio in Effingham, GA

Medient Studios, Inc. (MDNT:OTC BB) and the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) in Georgia have signed an MOU to develop what is billed to be the largest movie studio yet in America.

Medient's Manu Kumaran at Effingham IDA meeting

Medient’s Manu Kumaran at Effingham IDA meeting (photo – Effingham Chamber)

The company announced that it will invest more than $90 million to develop a 1,500-acre lot along I-16 into a campus that will include the studio and other facilities.

Apart from the movie studios, the site will include capability for video game production. It will also have restaurants, shopping, a hotel, golf course, amphitheater and botanical gardens.

With the help of all this, the company hopes to turn the site into a tourist attraction.

The IDA is helping out with $1.25 million for developing the site, and is also entering into a 20-year capital lease agreement with the company. In return, Medient has agreed to invest $90 million and create at least 1,000 new jobs over the next five years.

The movie studio alone would need 400 employees, with the video game production facility requiring another 200 employees. All told, the company expects to employ more than 1,200 employees by the time they complete the first phase of the development.

John Henry, CEO of the Effingham IDA, said that the project was potentially a game-changer for the region and its benefits will have an impact over the long term.

The plan also calls for the project to be made environment-friendly and sustainable with the deployment of hydro and solar technologies.

“We are confident that this exciting project will become a prototype of environmentally sustainable construction, management and living while also promoting a public/private partnership for the region and for the state,” said Manu Kumaran, chairman and CEO of Medient.

The IDA has been working on this project for a year, and Effingham not only won out over Atlanta and Savannah, but also out of state sites in Pennsylvania and New York that were under consideration.

Kumaran praised the Effingham IDA for getting the deal done in a “professional and efficient manner.” He also cited the pleasant weather in Effingham as one of the factors that helped them make the decision.

The Los Angeles, California-based Medient has so far produced 14 movies, and the new Georgia facility will be their first own movie studio.

Chattanooga Helps Global Green Lighting Bring Back Production from China

Global Green Lighting (GGL) announced plans to create 250 jobs for their new radio-controlled LED street lamp assembly facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Global Green Lighting

Global Green Lighting (photo – tn.gov)

GCL currently subcontracts their production to a company in China.

The company was able to set up the hi-tech plant and is now creating jobs because the City of Chattanooga took the initiative to support the company and provide the required infrastructure for testing GCL’s innovative and energy-efficient street lamps.

A couple of years ago, the city deployed a 1 gigabit per second fiber network offering high speed internet to every home and business. This fiber network in turn set the stage for GCL to offer its radio-controlled LED lights, which can reduce energy usage by 70 percent as compared to traditional street lights.

The kicker was that GCL’s radio control system further reduces maintenance costs. The LED lights send back information about malfunctions within 15 seconds, and can be monitored for energy usage. They can be controlled remotely to brighten or dim the lights as required. They reduce light pollution, and the life expectancy of each LED light is five times greater than the old lights.

The smart grid metering, reduced maintenance costs and lower energy consumption promised to provide Chattanooga with savings of around 75-80 percent of the operational costs for street lighting.

The city and GCL ran a successful public pilot test by installing 350 of the radio-controlled LED lights in a public park. Now Chattanooga has offered GCL an $18.1 million contract to replace 26,500 lights all over the city.

Once the lights have been replaced, the city will save $2.7 million per year, which means the new system will have paid for itself in seven years. Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield praised GGL as an example of how the city’s tech infrastructure is helping create jobs and fostering innovation.

To deal with Chattanooga’s order and prepare for future growth (the company has initiated discussions with 26 cities), GCL has decided to hire 40 people right away. They plan to increase the workforce to 100 by the end of the year, and hire another 50 employees for maintenance, customer service and for sales and marketing.

“We are thrilled to execute our first community-wide street lighting project in our home city of Chattanooga,” said Don Lepard, president and CEO of GCL. “Following Chattanooga’s introduction of America’s first community-wide fiber optic network, the city has continued to raise its stature as a smart grid city and haven for innovation.”

Yahoo Planning Expansion in Western NY

Sunnyvale, CA-based Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is planning an expansion of its east coast data center in the Town of Lockport, New York. The company may also be opening a new call center in the Buffalo-Niagara region.

Yahoo!

Yahoo! (photo – nysenate.gov)

The expansion will create 15 new jobs, adding to the data center’s 77 existing jobs. The call center will reportedly create 100 new jobs.

The two projects together will involve millions of dollars in investments. Yahoo executives are set to meet with the Lockport IDA on Thursday morning at a special IDA board meeting called to discuss a tax abatement proposal.

The call center location will be close to the Niagara Power Project. The incentives package Yahoo is expecting includes hydropower from the New York Power Authority (NYPA) at a low cost. Empire State Development is additionally expected to approve tax credits worth $2 million.

The Lockport data center project was announced in 2009, and unveiled in Sept 2010. At that time, Yahoo touted it as the first of its “Yahoo! Computing Coop” (YCC) data center designs which made it one of the world’s most environment-friendly and energy efficient data centers.

The narrow YCC design that allows for natural airflow combined with the cool climate at the site location in Lockport vastly reduces the amount of power required to keep the data center cool.

At that time, Yahoo was awarded $9.9 million from the U.S. Dept. of Energy as a sustainability grant provided through New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG). NYPA has so far approved 16 megawatts of low cost hydropower for the Lockport data center.

To secure the project in 2009, the Lockport IDA agreed to a 20-year PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) arrangement for property taxes, with zero payment for the first ten years. Yahoo was also approved for mortgage tax abatement and a 20-year sales tax abatement.

All put together, the company was approved for incentives valued at around $268 million in return for a $171 million two-phase investment that would create 125 high-paying jobs with average annual wages of $65,000. They have completed phase one with a $150 million investment and created 77 jobs so far.

Macerata Selects Danville, VA for Custom Wheels Manufacturing

Macerata Wheels, LLC has chosen Danville, Virginia for its custom wheels manufacturing plant and distribution center.

Danville, VA

Danville, VA (photo – discoverdanville.com)

The project will create 101 new jobs and calls for an investment of $8 million over the next three years.

Currently, custom wheel rims are made in China and shipped to the U.S. with long wait times after ordering.

Macerata Wheels, which already has a retail outlet presence in North Carolina’s research triangle, plans to manufacture custom wheel rims and other automobile accessories in the U.S. itself.

“The market for custom wheels has experienced steady growth over the last few decades, and that trend has held true even in periods of economic recession.” said Mike Farless, president of Macerata Wheels. “It is time that we made our own wheels in the United States, and not be totally dependent on imported products.”

This deal has been in the works since Sept 2012, when the Danville Office of Economic Development (DOED) got a tip from a common friend in Cary, NC that the principals of a certain company in the Raleigh-Durham area were scouting sites in South Carolina for a manufacturing plant.

DOED staff visited the company’s office in North Carolina, and Macerata principals responded by visiting Danville. They were very interested in the prospect of getting their machinists trained at Danville Community College’s Precision Machining Lab.

“Programs like this one at Danville Community College persuade companies to choose Danville,” said Jeremy Stratton, director of DOED. “They give us one more tool to successfully recruit companies and create jobs.”

The deal was ultimately secured with the help of a $600,000 grant from the Virginia Tobacco Commission. The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) is helping out by obtaining the chosen site – a former warehouse in Danville close to the college, and providing it to the company on a lease purchase agreement.

The renovations will be completed in the next couple of months, allowing the company to begin operations immediately afterwards. Macerata will begin hiring staff next month itself.

Chicago Launches Urban Farming Network

The City of Chicago, Illinois and urban farming organization Growing Power have teamed up to launch “Farmers for Chicago,” an urban farming network that aims to bring local and organic fresh produce to food deserts in the city.

Growing Power

Growing Power (photo – growingpower.org)

Under this incubator program, the City will provide city-owned lots for urban farming, and will work with non-profits to train people and set up the equipment required.

Up to five acres of city land will be allocated for the program, which will also help grow the supply chain by assisting 25 people in getting started with a retail food enterprise such as grocery chains, farmers’ markets and restaurants.

In the first three-year period, the Farmers for Chicago initiative aims to set up localized food networks in neighborhoods which currently do not get fresh produce.

Up to 20 prospective urban farmers will get the city lots, equipment and the training for growing food, packaging it and then distributing it to through the network’s aforementioned 25 retailers.

Growing Home and other non-profits have already started providing training to residents having trouble with gainful employment in chosen areas. Apart from the City of Chicago, the non-profits are getting support for this program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“I am excited that the City is partnering up with the community on such an important initiative,” said Erika Allen, executive director of Growing Power. “Our new pipeline will take Chicago’s local food sector to the next level.”

Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Growing Power opened its Chicago Projects Office in Feb 2002, and aims to bring together otherwise dispersed food related activities to an urban farm as a community development project to address food security, public health, employment, job training and other development issues.

As per their website, Growing Power has four existing urban farm sites in Chicago, including one at Grant Park and another one on Iron Street where the Farmers for Chicago trainees will be provided space and taught necessary skills to build hoop houses, develop compost, and learn business aspects such as retail sales and creating a business plan.

Growing Home’s Wood Street farm project grew 13,000 pounds of certified organic produce in 2011 which generated more than $45,000 in income. Apart from the five acres the city is bringing in, there are already another 15 acres being used or about to be used as urban farm sites.

The City has been providing $750,000 in annual support for jobs created by non-profit projects related to urban agriculture. One is a beekeeping project called Beeline Beauty Products. Another one called Neighbor Carts takes fresh produce to areas that are food deserts.

The City’s support helps train 200 residents and provide job placement for 160 trainees. Some of these are homeless or released convicts who would otherwise be hard put to integrate themselves back into society as productive citizens.

Report – Florida College System has $26.6B Economic Impact

A new report put out by the Council of Presidents of the Florida College System (FCS) says that the state’s 28 colleges have a combined economic impact of $26.6 billion on the state economy.

FCS

FCS (photo – fcscouncils.org)

The report was prepared by Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. (EMSI) for the FCS Foundation and the FCS Council of Presidents.

Highlights from the report, broken up into investment and economic growth analysis:-

1. Investment Analysis:-

For FY 2011-12, FCS received $1.2 billion in the form of state government funding.  Taxpayers get a return on investment of 9.4 percent on investments made into FCS.

The average rate of return for students is 16.8 percent, with a cost-benefit ratio of 6.0. This means they will get $6 in higher income in the future for every $1 invested into education in FCS.

A student graduating with an associate’s degree can expect to earn on average $10,600 (35 percent) more than someone with a high school diploma. As per the study, students will recover all their spending on tuition, college fees and wages they might otherwise have earned in just over nine years.

FCS is also credited with reducing $158.6 million in annual social costs for the public in areas such as crime, welfare and unemployment.

2. Economic Growth:-

The income for faculty and staff combined with FCS operations and capital spending add up to a net impact of $1.3 billion on the state economy. Spending by out of state students adds another $24.9 million.

The report pegs student productivity impact – higher incomes after they join or rejoin the workforce that can be attributed to their FCS education – at $25.2 billion. This is for FY 2011-12, based on accumulated credits for the past three decades.

All this put together means that FCS and its current and former students are responsible for a $26.6 billion slice (four percent) of Florida’s economy.

The report authors conclude that FCS is a sound investment from many different perspectives. It benefits taxpayers, enriches students’ lives and income, and is a contributing factor for the continued vitality of both state and local economies.

Read the full “Economic Contribution of the Florida College System” report from FCS – Download (pdf)

Auto Insurer GEICO to Add 1200 Jobs in Carmel, Indiana

The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) announced that it will be opening a customer service center in Carmel, Indiana and plans to add 1,200 new jobs.

IN Gov. Mike Pence at GEICO announcement

IN Gov. Mike Pence at GEICO announcement (photo -IEDC)

The announcement was made jointly by Indiana Governor Mike Pence and GEICO Chairman Tony Nicely.

The Chevy Chase, Maryland-based automotive insurer said in a statement it would be investing millions of dollars to open up a 109,000-square-foot office in the Indianapolis metro area.

The office will be used by insurance agents, along with management, training and support staff for the agents.

In order to secure this project for the state, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) has offered GEICO performance-based tax credits worth $10 million, along with another $400,000 in training grants.

The tax credits are contingent on GEICO making good on its agreement to create 1,200 new jobs by 2016. The City of Carmel is also providing support for the project.

Nicely said they chose central Indiana because “we know there is a talented and well-educated workforce in this area and we want to offer people long-term career opportunities as we continue to expand.”

Gov. Pence also emphasized this point by saying that the state’s greatest selling point was its quality workforce. He added that the state’s low tax climate, fiscal stability and business-friendly policies made “days like today happen.”

Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said he was thrilled that GEICO chose Carmel for its very first location in Indiana. “When a company with a solid reputation such as GEICO decides to invest in our city, we realize a long term gain through economic development and job growth,” added Mayor Brainard.

GEICO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. GEICO ranks third on the list of the biggest auto insurers in the U.S. with 11 million automobile insurance policies that cover 18 million vehicles.

Before this Indiana office was announced, GEICO had 12 major offices around the nation and 27,000 employees. GEICO has already started recruiting for the new positions in Indiana. Interested candidates can apply for these positions in the careers section of the company’s website.

NYCEDC Announces Take the H.E.L.M Winners

New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has announced the five winners of its “Take the H.E.L.M.” competition.

Take the H.E.L.M.

Take the H.E.L.M. (photo – takethehelmnyc.com)

H.E.L.M. stands for “Hire + Expand in Lower Manhattan.”

The competition aims to promote Lower Manhattan as an attractive location for innovative startups and relocations of existing businesses in the tech and creative sectors.

Sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Take the H.E.L.M. attracted in excess of 300 applications, out of which 19 finalists were chosen to come in person to Lower Manhattan and compete to be named as one of the top five winners.

These five winners (one each in five different categories – relocating, startups, tech, creative, and expanding) will each get $250,000 to assist in opening a new office or expanding one in Lower Manhattan.

The winners were chosen by a selection committee headed by former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt. Committee members included, among others, NYCEDC President Seth W. Pinsky and NYU Professor Richard Florida, who is also a senior editor at The Atlantic.

Listed below are the five winners:-

Relocating (new to NYC) – Grapeshot – This Cambridge, United Kingdom-based software technology company uses “probabilistic search” algorithms to make real-time categorizations that help supply contextual content and ad recommendations.

Startups – STELLAService – This startup will be moving from the Flatiron District to Lower Manhattan. STELLAService helps online shoppers make informed decisions, and helps businesses monitor and benchmark their customers’ online shopping experience.

Expanding – Booker Software – Booker, which is already located in Lower Manhattan, offers a cloud-based management platform for businesses in the service sector.

Technology – Paperless Post – Allows users of their website to create and send custom cards, invitations and stationery.

Creative – The Flatiron School – Offers a 12-week full-time course for those who want to become a web developer. They also have a job placement program, and provide scholarships for minority and female students.

Apart from Grapeshot and Booker, the other three are New York-based firms that will be relocating from other parts of the City to Lower Manhattan.

“Lower Manhattan has already been so generous to Booker, helping us grow from 50 to nearly 200 people in just a year,” said Josh McCarter, CEO of Booker. “This award and prize from Take the H.E.L.M. makes us feel even more privileged to be headquartered in such a vibrant community that helps businesses prosper, and we are paying it forward by giving away our software to Lower Manhattan spas and salons for one year as a thank you to our neighbors.”

Booker tripled its workforce to 160 in 2012, and expanded its presence to a second floor in their current location overlooking the World Trade Center. Booker plans to add another 70 employees this year.

Applications for the second round of the Take the H.E.L.M. contest will be accepted later this year. Find out more at takethehelmnyc.com.

IL, IA Competing for $1.2B Cronus Fertilizer Project

The siting process for a $1.2 billion fertilizer plant has once again zeroed in on Illinois and Iowa, engaged in high-stakes bidding over who can offer higher incentives.

Tuscola, IL

Tuscola, IL (photo – tuscola.org)

Officials for the company, identified under the code name of Project Cronus, spoke at a hearing in the Illinois legislature about the benefits of a large scale urea manufacturing plant – a $500 million investment, 150 permanent jobs, and more than 2,000 construction jobs.

The site they are looking at in Illinois is in Tuscola, near Champaign. Adam Brown, state representative for Champaign, has already introduced legislation that would provide Illinois “a level playing field” in their bid to secure Project Cronus.

H.B. 2496, an amendment to the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act, would approve the company for $12 million in property tax abatements, along with a whole list of other state tax credits and exemptions including for utilities, investments, personal property and sales tax.

Brown said the legislation was necessary because under current Illinois law, the company does not qualify for many of these incentives which require a project to create at least 500 jobs that are permanent.

Iowa officials have not said anything, but officials in Illinois pushing to secure incentives for the project claim that Iowa has already offered Cronus a $35 million incentives package. The Iowa site in contention is reportedly in Mitchell County.

If Iowa got this project, it would be their third billion dollar fertilizer plant in the last one year. The first one was the $1.4 billion Orascom plant, for which Iowa and Illinois were competing until Iowa boosted their incentives package from $25 million to $100 million and secured the project.

Egypt-based Orascom had been engaged in negotiations with Illinois officials for a site near Peoria, IL. At that time, Illinois was said to be considering approving special legislation to offer a better incentives package for Orascom, but they left it too late and the company ultimately ended up selecting a site in Lee County, IA.

The second major fertilizer project win for Iowa was the recently announced $1.7 billion expansion of the CF Industries fertilizer plant in Port Neal, IA.

Back in Illinois, the Tuscola Economic Development, Inc. (TEDI) has spent the last year working on Project Cronus, and Illinois legislators seem to be serious this time about providing economic development officials the tools they need to compete against Iowa in case the bidding heats up.

Milken Institute Global Conference 2013

The Milken Institute Global Conference is scheduled to be held April 28-May 1, 2013, in Los Angeles, California.

Milken Institute Global Conference

Milken Institute Global Conference (photo – milkeninstitute.org)

The 2013 Global Conference is the Milken Institute’s 16th annual forum, and will bring together more than 3,000 experts and leaders from diverse fields including academia and public policy, along with government officials, philanthropists and CEOs.

The program includes panels on a wide range of subjects from economic development to technology, education, energy and public policy.

The government panels include one on creating smarter cities, and another one which is a conversation with former Vice President Al Gore about the drivers of global change.

The education panels include one on the future of higher education in America, and another one about how technology can revamp the learning process.

The finance panels include one on development finance and another one that explores crowdfunding opportunities for small business and startups. The philanthropy section offers multiple panels on impact investing, and a panel on social change driven by a global community.

One of the regional panels examines the U.S. recovery and explores the possibility of an impending takeoff. Another panel will discuss California’s culture of creativity and innovation.

The list of speakers and panelists is a global Who’s Who list of people tackling the most serious problems facing the world, including Bill Gates, Tony Blair and Al Gore.

Past participants include Google’s Eric Schmidt, who said the inspirational advice and insight at the conference gave him a better appreciation about the future.

Former SEIU President Andy Stern, currently at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute as a senior fellow, says the conference is a sophisticated process for finding real-life solutions, fueled by the convening power that brings together people who know how to get the job done.

What: Milken Institute Global Conference 2013

When: April 28-May 1, 2013

Where: Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California

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