2017 Top State Business Climate Rankings: Arizona #15

NEW! Business Climate Ranking Smart Money
Site Selection Magazine
A publication providing current and pertinent data to governments, investors and corporations for over 60 years.
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Site Selection’s 2017 Top State Business Climate Rankings

	State	Executive Survey Rank	Competi-tiveness Rank	2016 New Plant Rank	2016 New Plant Per Capita Rank	2017 New Plant Rank (Jan.- Aug.)	2017 New Plant Per Capita Rank (Jan.- Aug.)	Mature Firm Tax Index Rank	New Firm Tax Index Rank	Final Total Points
1	Georgia	3	3	5	9	1	2	3	6	98
2	North Carolina	6	1	4	7	2	5	7	13	94
3	Texas	1	4	1	11	6	30	12	42	93
4	Ohio	9	6	2	3	9	17	5	3	88
5	Tennessee	4	2	14	12	13	11	29	29	87
T6	Alabama	4	18	16	8	21	19	13	19	85
T6	South Carolina	2	11	18	13	14	8	32	34	85
8	Kentucky	13	9	7	2	7	3	18	7	82
9	Virginia	13	6	8	10	4	9	11	39	80
T10	Indiana	9	14	17	17	11	10	43	15	78
T10	Louisiana	17	10	11	4	7	4	10	2	78
T12	Florida	7	19	13	38	12	29	19	36	72
T12	Nevada	9	23	32	26	22	13	4	38	72
14	Michigan	17	5	10	18	15	16	25	25	70
15	Arizona	8	16	22	29	26	36	14	31	69
16	Nebraska	25	20	20	1	18	1	9	1	67
T17	Oklahoma	13	26	23	23	34	39	16	5	64
T17	Mississippi	12	21	31	25	25	18	37	21	64
T17	Wisconsin	21	22	19	19	17	12	35	4	64
20	Utah	17	24	36	33	27	26	6	10	62
21	Illinois	31	13	3	5	5	14	45	24	54
22	New Mexico	17	39	37	34	30	25	22	14	51
23	Colorado	16	28	30	31	28	37	33	47	50
24	Wyoming	21	33	42	27	45	41	1	9	48
25	Missouri	31	12	15	14	20	15	36	26	47

Source: Conway Projects Database

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What Matters Most:

Site Selector's Most Important Location Criteria

1	Workforce skills
2	Transportation infrastructure
3	Utilities (cost, reliability)
4	State and local tax scheme
5	Land/building prices and supply
6	Quality of life
7	Workforce development
8	Ease of permitting and regulatory procedures
9	Incentives
10	Higher education resources

Source: Site Selection survey of corporate real estate executives, October 2017

2017 Executive Survey Business Climate Rankings

Rank	State
1	Texas
2	South Carolina
3	Georgia
T4	Tennessee
T4	Alabama
6	North Carolina
7	Florida
8	Arizona
T9	Ohio
T9	Indiana
T9	Nevada

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Site Selection September 2017
Digital Edition
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http://siteselection.com/digitalEdition/

First let's back-track to this > Logistics & Distribution Phoenix-Area DC LEEDs the Way
Insights from REI’s supply chain VP show where goods movement is moving next.
(from Sept 2017 issue of Site Selection mag)Since January 2015, Site Selection’s proprietary Conway Projects Database has tracked two dozen major corporate investments in logistics facilities in the Greater Phoenix region. Four of the top five by capital investment — from UPS ($180 million), Luxair ($10 million), Huhtamaki ($100 million) and REI ($73 million) — have landed in Goodyear.
The UPS project, announced in June, stands out in terms of jobs (1,500). But the 400,000-sq.-ft. (37,160-sq.-m.), 100-job REI project stands out in another sense: It’s the first distribution center in the United States to earn LEED-Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and achieve Net Zero energy status. The site represents a new standard for sustainable logistics operations, and thus serves as a model attracting worldwide interest. . .
REI’s team determined by the end of 2014 that “we could achieve these objectives by placing a new distribution center somewhere along the Interstate 10 Corridor from southern California to Phoenix, Arizona.”
> The Goodyear Economic Development board assisted in identifying grant opportunities that REI was able to use during the build process.
> This site was developed as a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ). David Hansen, the commercial officer from the Maricopa County Assessor’s office, was instrumental in assisting throughout the tax policy impacts.
> The entire staff and board of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) was incredibly supportive and helped guide REI's efforts to achieve LEED Platinum.
> The Goodyear facility was developed with a budget from $72 million to $75 million to deliver total ROI in nine years, while also delivering results in key areas such as culture, brand, technology and sustainability.
> When REI entered that Goodyear area, they immediately impacted the community with higher wages, improved total benefits and over 200 new local positions.” 

Another Take-away: In a July report, CBRE analyzed the location of last-mile distribution facilities opened within just the past two years in the 15 largest US population centers finding that they are positioned, on average, between six and nine miles from the centerpoint of the largest population areas they serve.“Development of last-mile strategies still is in the early stages, so the average distances in many metros is likely to shrink a bit more in the coming years,” said CBRE Global Head of Industrial & Logistics Research David Egan. “We’re also likely to see many different types of real estate considered for last-mile centers.”

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Ranking Methodology

 

Fifty percent of the overall Business Climate Ranking is based on a survey of corporate site selectors who are asked to rank the states based on their recent experience of locating facilities in them. The other 50 percent is based on an index of seven criteria: performance in Site Selection’s annual Prosperity Cup ranking (formerly the Competitiveness Award); total Conway Projects Database-compliant facility locations and expansion projects in 2016; total projects in 2016 per capita; total 2017 projects year to date; total 2017 projects year to date per capita; state tax burdens on mature firms and on new firms according to this year’s Tax Foundation and KPMG Location Matters analysis.

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About Conway

Our Mission

“We are an integral part of a great system that provides a better quality of life for the people of the world. This system develops productive facilities to meet ever-growing needs for food, shelter, clothing and essential services. It provides jobs that sustain families. It pays for medical, education and government services for communities. Without this vital system there would be chaos.
Specifically, we provide an important communications link between productive companies and those seeking to attract them who represent cities, states and nations around the world. We are part of the development process. We play a role in the future. And we help bring a better quality of life to areas today.
Those who lack vision may say that we are merely helping to sell real estate or personal services. It’s only for the money, they may think. They are wrong. Without constructive economic development and the related necessary infrastructure, the world economy would collapse.
Looking at the world landscape we know that our small company is but a grain of sand. However, joining with many others we know that we are part of a wonderful vista.”

-McKinley Conway
Founder