AI IN SITE SELECTION

Want to find a 10% labor advantage in forklift drivers or the best location for a potential aerospace operation to enhance business development? AI can find them for you, writes Geoffrey Troan, the aerospace industry veteran who today serves as managing director of Vista Site Selection, in this compelling case study.

INVESTMENT PROFILE: HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT

Downtown Hartford is evolving from a nine-to-five business location to an urban neighborhood vibe attracting both companies and their employees from other parts of the country.

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Photo of glass dome at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport by aimintang: Getty Images

Site Selection’s first-ever Investment Profile, published in September 1961, was (surprise) about our hometown of Atlanta. It sang the praises of new buildings such as the newly constructed Merchandise Mart; the presence of 354 of the Fortune 500 in the region; the city’s nine consulates (now around 75); 13 rail lines; forthcoming plans for a rapid transit system and even city leaders’ demeanor during the just-completed integration of Atlanta’s public schools: “The calm atmosphere of law and order brought congratulations from President Kennedy and very probably set a pattern which other southern cities will henceforth follow,” wrote Site Selection Founder Mac Conway.

The piece also lauded the newly expanded Atlanta Airport Terminal that featured non-stop service to “18 large cities.” This week, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport announced a new partnership with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), introducing daily nonstop flights between Atlanta and Copenhagen, Denmark. The new service expands the airport’s international destinations to 77 cities in 45 countries, in addition to 150 domestic destinations.

Edmon Low Library and the Henry Bellmon Research Center on the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma

Photo courtesy of OSU College of Arts and Sciences

In conducting research on the latest changes in status among the nation’s officially designated metropolitan and micropolitan areas, we ran across this illuminating set of maps and insights posted last summer by Oklahoma State University Professor Andrew J. Van Leuven filed under the understated title “Recent Changes to U.S. Metropolitan and Micropolitan Areas.” Look into his links to further research for a plethora of other resources relevant to area economic development, including a 2022 piece entitled “What side of town? How proximity to critical survival factors affects rural business longevity” co-authored with University of Missouri Professor Sarah A. Low and longtime friend of Site Selection Professor Edward “Ned” Hill of The Ohio State University, published in the Wiley professional journal Growth and Change.

We check in with experts like these in Site Selection’s annual Top Metros and Top Micros coverage coming soon to the March 2024 issue of Site Selection.

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Photo courtesy of Blue Origin

Blue Origin in December successfully completed its 24th New Shepard flight and 13th payload mission from its Launch Site One in West Texas. “The flight carried 33 payloads from NASA, academia, research institutions and commercial companies, bringing the number of payloads flown on New Shepard to more than 150,” said the company. Blue Origin’s facilities also include this orbital launch vehicle factory in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where this photograph was made in June 2023 as the first and second stages of the New Glenn were being manufactured. The company calls this heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle “the workhorse for a new era.”