Designated Sites: The Smart Location Choice

Site selectors have a world of choices for development locations, but in today’s fast-paced environment, it makes great sense to simplify the process of getting construction and ultimately a fully functional facility completed and ready for occupancy as soon as possible. That’s where the allure of designated sites stems. This type of site is typically shovel ready and complete with certifications and necessary infrastructure to get the ball rolling quickly. Of course, there are designated sites throughout the county, but to add yet another element of simplification to the site selection process, the following descriptions of select sites will help site selectors home in on some really fantastic options.    

Baltimore City, Maryland

Located in the Mid-Atlantic region, Baltimore City offers a strategic location within an overnight drive to half of the country's population. The City is recognized for outstanding public and private educational opportunities and a highly educated and talented workforce. The City is committed to continuing to grow its top industries:  life sciences, information technology, logistics, advanced manufacturing and professional services. 

The City of Baltimore has opportunities for several new development sites catering to a range of industrial uses and offers both substantial tax incentives and convenient rail/highway/port access. 

1500 Broening Highway, located in Baltimore’s East side industrial area, is less than a mile from the Marine Terminal and has immediate rail and highway access. This 35-acre lot is shovel ready, located in a Foreign-Trade Zone and is eligible for property and job-creation tax credits. 

Also available with two private barge piers and bordering I-695 in Hawking’s Point, is a 171-acre lot on the south side of the Key Bridge. The rail-served property is for of heavy industrial use and is in the process of removing the existing structures. Tax incentives are available for this site as well.

With much closer access to downtown Baltimore City, 300 E Cromwell Street in Port Covington offers two sites that are adjacent to the waterfront and I-95. The two sites are 18 acres each and are shovel-ready projects with tax incentives and close access to Baltimore’s urban center. 

Fayette, Missouri

Positioned just a couple of miles from the campus of Central Methodist University and a half-hour drive from the University of Missouri is the Howard County Industrial Park in Fayette, Missouri. The Howard County Industrial Park is home to Missouri Pacific Lumber Company, which conducts business on a global basis from Fayette, which is near the population center of the United States.  

Access to a talented workforce in Fayette is not an issue. Companies regularly draw upon the talent produced by the eight universities and colleges and two community colleges that are within one hour’s driving time. 

Interstate Highway 70, the main east-west route through the middle of the United States, allows for quick service of customers anywhere in the country. Even face-to-face meetings with clients can be accomplished with air service from Columbia Regional Airport’s multiple daily non-stop flights to Chicago and Dallas, just 45 minutes away. 

 With the infrastructure already in place at the Howard County Industrial Park, building the correct facility for a company’s needs is a quick process.

Having a nice site for development with all the access and utilities is not enough these days.  Growing companies need more. For the fifth year in a row, Pollina Corporate Real Estate ranked the State of Missouri as one of the top 10 pro-business states.

Greenwood, South Carolina

One of the fastest-growing trends in the site selection business is the demand for certified industrial sites. Companies looking to build new facilities want sites that are ready to go and relatively risk free. Greenwood County, in South Carolina, has certified three sites, utilizing a program established by the South Carolina Department of Commerce and McCallum Sweeney Consulting. These sites have gone through an extensive due diligence process and can provide valuable information to a prospective industry, including: a Phase I environmental assessment, a cultural resource report, cost estimates for infrastructure improvements and a geotechnical study.

Nicholson Site: Acres: 465, Closest Interstate: 33.76 miles, Rail Served: no, Closest Port: Charleston, 167 miles.

Emerald Road Tract II: Acres: 47, Closest Interstate: 27.23 miles, Rail Served: yes, Closest Port: Charleston, 167 miles.

Greenwood County is currently in the process of certifying an industrial park on the north end of the county. This park is directly located on a four-lane divided highway and provides close proximity to Interstate 85. This interstate provides a strategic connection to the Charlotte and Atlanta markets, as well as multiple international airports and the future Inland Port in Greer.

North Greenwood Industrial Park: Acres: 124, Closest Interstate: 26 miles, Rail Served: no, Closest Port: Charleston, 198 miles.

Oswego County, New York

Oswego County, New York, boasts three public industrial parks with modern industrial infrastructure and access to a skilled workforce. Over 250 available acres will suit almost any type or size of industrial development project. 

Oswego County Industrial Park in Schroeppel is Shovel Ready NY certified. The park is situated between NYS-481 and CSX heavy duty rail, with excellent accessibility to Hancock International Airport to the south. Due to its proximity to Syracuse and on-site customized workforce training center and college extension, the park has become a hot bed for R&D companies such as Otis Technology, SAM North America and High Strain Dynamics.  

Lake Ontario Industrial Park (LOIP) is located near the shores of Lake Ontario in Oswego. The park features direct connectivity by rail to the deep water Port of Oswego. LOIP has heavy industrial infrastructure and plentiful access to high-quality water. The park is home to Northland Filter International and has corporate neighbors such as Novelis, Dynegy and Entergy Nuclear. 

Oswego County Airport Industrial Park in Volney is adjacent to the Oswego County Regional Airport. The airport generates significant traffic from major regional corporations and private pilots. The park has great potential for manufacturing and logistics companies that would benefit from direct flight access and modern communication infrastructure. 

Detailed engineering and design work has been performed at each of the industrial parks to streamline the development process.

Valdosta-Lowndes County, Georgia

Take advantage of more than 485 acres of shovel ready land, 213,030 skilled workers and a community with eight industrial parks — Valdosta-Lowndes County, Georgia, has a great fit for almost any industry. Located between Atlanta and Orlando in the heart of South Georgia, Valdosta-Lowndes County is the unrivaled transportation hub of the Southeast connecting companies to virtually every major market in real-time. Each of Valdosta-Lowndes County’s top sites is certified Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) and has unique attributes, from rail served for plastics and manufacturing to parks situated near Interstate 75 and just north of Interstate 10 for distribution and service industries.

Value-added agriculture and food processing leaders like Archers Daniel Midland Company (ADM), South Georgia Pecan, Sunset Farms and CJB Industries are located in Lowndes County. South Georgia Pecan is the second-largest pecan-shelling company in the U.S., shelling at least 160,000 pounds of pecans a day to supply food manufactures such as Nestle, Russell Stover and retail warehouses with almonds, cashews, pistachios and walnuts.

A strong workforce pipeline fuels companies located in Valdosta-Lowndes County with two public school systems, a four-year university and a technical college. In addition to its schools and colleges, Valdosta is also a Georgia Work Ready certified community – a workforce development initiative that assesses real-world skills of Valdosta’s workers, provides job training and helps companies reliably match the right people with the right jobs.

Wynne/Cross County, Arkansas

Firms seeking to build shareholder value are focused on the important process of finding competitive advantages in the locations they choose. So why would a community build a $15 million industrial technology park in Eastern Arkansas?

• 40+ years of local manufacturing history without stoppage.

• Ready to work technical education through Adtech’s statewide post-secondary tech training, including full articulation with two local school systems built around career math and science academy, which is ranked in the top 10 percent in Arkansas.

• Logistics: All within 50 minutes via I-40/I-55 a firm can be connected to two river ports, the largest cargo airport in North America served by FEDEX/UPS and two Class 1 railroads that share the operations of the largest intermodal facility in the region (UP/BNSF), all close to the statistical center of the U.S. population.

The Wynne/Cross County (AR) Tech Park has over 500+ acres of rail and non-rail served sites from five acres to 500 at all sites. This is complete with ESFR water pressures allowing a business to build the logistic component of its manufacturing operation to 40’ clear heights, meeting all FM insurance standards. The Park has dual loop feed providing full power redundancy in a state with one of the lowest costs per KW of power in the region. There is over 1.3 million gallons of excess wastewater capacity. Natural gas and fiber service are available throughout the park. Finally, there is full air quality attainment.