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Partnering
for Progress...
Greenville
Recognized Nationally for Project Development
Site
Selection Magazine Places Area Near The top for Micropolitans
March 14, 2012
DARKE
COUNTY - The Greenville Micropolitan area has been recognized again as
one of
the top areas in the country for development of business projects. Site Selection Magazine,
the premier national
economic development publication, placed Greenville 21st out of 576
Micropolitan
areas in the country for 2011. Greenville
was unranked in 2009 and was 41st in 2010. The rankings are based on
number of
company projects that met specific criteria for capital investment and
job
creation.
“The rapid
rise is a testament to how well our local companies weathered the
recession and
how well Partnering for Progress has performed assisting company’s
projects,”
commented Darke County Economic Development Director Marc Saluk. “There
is
tremendous public-private participation occurring in Darke County.”
The local
area’s success helped the entire State of Ohio win the magazine’s award
at the
state level as Ohio edged Texas to win the 2011 Governor’s cup.
“We were
the number one job creator in the Midwest in 2011 and number nine in
the United
States,” says Mark Kvamme, president of JobsOhio. “In 2010, we were
47th in job
creation in the United States. The governor built the cabinet and
development
group that was solely focused on job creation.” All five top states,
and many
others, recorded substantial increases in new plant activity for 2011,
reflecting keen
The
magazine’s project database focuses on new corporate location projects
with
significant impact. It does not track retail and government projects,
or
schools and hospitals. New facilities and expansions included in the
analyses
must meet at least one of three criteria: (a) involve a capital
investment of
at least US $1 million, (b) create at least 50 new jobs or (c) add at
least
20,000 sq. ft. (1,858 sq. m.) of new floor area.
Site
Selection Governor’s Cup, a 58-year-old Atlanta-based company, has
compiled
these rankings annually since 1978. The yearly analyses are regarded by
corporate real estate analysts as “the industry scoreboard.” The
magazine’s
circulation base consists of 44,000 executives involved in corporate
site
selection decisions, most at the CEO/President/COO level.
The Buckeye
State’s 498-project finish for 2011 is up substantially from its 376
projects
logged in 2010, which put Ohio behind Texas in the last contest. Texas
finished
second this time around with 464 projects, followed by Pennsylvania
(453),
North Carolina (310) and Virginia (273). Key to Ohio’s resurgence has
been the
implementation of a business-like approach to economic development at
the state
level, launched in February 2011 when newly elected Gov. John Kasich
created
JobsOhio, a public-private partnership that privatizes the development
function
of the Ohio Dept. of Development.
Interest on
the part of capital investors to get busy with expansion plans in
general and,
in many cases, to move operations back to the U.S.
“Ohio’s comeback is impressive, with a
better-than-30-percent increase over its performance in the last
Governor’s Cup
facilities race,” says Mark Arend, editor in chief of Site Selection.
“The
state’s new approach to working with businesses to locate and expand in
Ohio
will serve it well as more companies bring operations back to the U.S.
and to
the Midwest.”
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