Texas Tops Ohio in Site Selection's Rankings
ATLANTA -- Texas has won the 2012 Site Selection "Governor's Cup," awarded annually since 1978 to the state with the most new and expanded corporate facilities as tracked by Conway Data Inc.'s New Plant Database.
Conway Data publishes Site Selection, which is distributed to 45,000 subscribers, most of whom are involved in corporate site selection decisions, says the magazine’s editor, Mark Arend.
The Lone Star State's 761-project finish for 2012 is up substantially from its 464-project, second-place finish in 2011, when it was runner-up to Ohio’s 498 projects (CLICK to read story). The Buckeye State placed second this year, with 491 projects, followed by Pennsylvania (430), Michigan (337) and Illinois (322). .
The magazine's New Plant Database focuses on new corporate facility projects with significant impact, Arend says. 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: involve a capital investment of at least $1 million; create at least 50 new jobs or add at least 20,000 square-feet of new floor area.
The top metro areas for new and expanded corporate facilities for 2012 were led by Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land, Texas, among metro areas with populations over 1 million; Dayton, Ohio, among areas with populations between 200,000 and 1 million; and Sioux City, Iowa-Neb.-S.D., among areas with populations between 50,000 and 200,000. Full lists of the Top 10 Metros in each population category appear below.
In the magazine's ranking of top “micropolitans,” cities of 10,000 to 50,000 people which cover at least one county, Ohio fared very well. Findlay ranked second, Wooster fourth and Ashtabula seventh. New Castle, Pa., ranked ninth.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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