Ohio’s largest city has a new leader for its Development Department. Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther announced Chief Innovation Officer Michael Stevens will serve as Interim Director of the Columbus Department of Development pending the departure of current Director Steve Schoeny. Schoeny was named City Manager for the City of Upper Arlington. Michael Stevens, Chief […]
It is a well-known fact backed up by industry data that 80% of all new jobs come from existing companies. In 2017 JobsOhio, the private sector economic development organization in Ohio reported that 83% of its jobs came from companies already in the state. In economic development we spend much of our time trying to […]
Opportunity Zones jumped into the world of economic development with much fanfare last year seen as the key to addressing substantial income inequality in both urban and rural communities. There can be no doubt that many Opportunity Zone Funds have been formed but many more communities, developers and companies are still seeking investment. Hundreds if […]
Reviewing demographic and workforce data is an important economic measure for a corporate site location analysis. Regions with an increasing population base and a group of younger workers illustrate growing communities. Homeownership rates and home value illustrate stability in a community but also whether it is affordable. The percentage of citizens over 25 with a […]
Toronto, Canada is a modern mega-city on the economic rise that not only operates at the economic epicenter of Canada but as a major advanced services economic base. While trade battles tend to dominate the headlines, Canada itself remains the largest trading partner with the United States and has a major economic footprint for a […]
The State Operating Budget is Done, so What’s Left on the Ohio General Assembly’s plate? The Budget is Done, so what’s left on the General Assembly’s plate: This week brought the long-awaited conclusion to the FY 20-21 operating budget. After failing to finish the budget by the end of June and passing a 17-day interim […]
Even before New York politics interfered with the Amazon HQ2 project, it was not the typical economic development project — not even counting the 50,000 jobs associated with it — but the decision of the company to end up in two major urban markets goes against recent corporate site location trends favoring mid-sized urban markets […]
The City of Athens made a determination that it wanted to pursue multiple Downtown Redevelopment Districts (DRD) to take advantage of the wealth of historic structures that are in the City and to take advantage of the planned investments that Ohio University would be making in Athens over the next couple decades. In June 2019 […]
A common misperception is that a big bag of tax incentives is the key to communities gaining large scale corporate site location projects. Incentives matter but they are the “icing and not the cake.” Successful corporate site location projects often begin with the development of a site built through a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP). Site development projects […]
Recent attention focus’ on the challenges of Legacy City’s—communities who have not recovered from the loss of industrial jobs. While former industrial giants like Ohio continue to transform and grow, other than the Columbus and Cincinnati regions, most other regions in the state are not producing the jobs the population needs to succeed. As the […]