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moving forward with optimism
The Right Stuff Why site selectors and economic development experts are bullish on the Columbus Region. By Laura Newpoff The Columbus Region is poised to emerge from the recession in a position of strength. Available land, low cost of living, a deep talent pool and a central location are all boxes site selectors check when they help companies make location decisions— and Ohio’s capital city has them all. Columbus CEO magazine recently talked with some of the country’s most prominent site selectors and economic development strategists to gauge their feelings about the region’s future. They’re unanimous the Columbus Region will be able to aggressively compete for expansion and relocation projects as the country works to recover
from the economic turmoil related to Covid-19.
Robert Hess vice chairman of Newmark’s Global Corporate Services practice in Chicago Hess is a longtime site selector, having conducted more than 275 assignments on a global basis. While Columbus is considered a “tier three” metropolitan area, its prospects for the future are promising, he says. He cited the Site Selectors Guild, which this fall ranked Columbus No. 1 in a tie with Phoenix as the “biggest winners as candidates for new or expansion projects in the next year,” he says. In addition to the talent pipeline
coming out of the region’s colleges and universities, the area is wellpositioned to lure future projects because of the sites it has available, whether at the New Albany International Business Park, near Rickenbacker International Airport or in the northwest corridor that leads to the Honda manufacturing base in Marysville and the Transportation Research Center, a one-of-a-kind facility where the smart mobility technology of the future is being built. That the region demonstrates the confidence to continue developing new sites in the urban core, like the Scioto Peninsula project in the heart of Downtown Columbus that will add 2 million square feet of office space to the market over the next decade, will be attractive to site selectors.
Scioto Peninsula looking east
“Columbus has all the elements to attract bigger projects. The next step is to get bold and loud.” Robert Hess, vice chairman of Newmark’s Global Corporate Services practice in Chicago
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