Tuesday T2 Workshop:
Site Selection Processes for Excellence
Terri Beattie, president, Lockheed Martin Corporation Properties.

     Industrial site selection is a science unto itself, with larger investments, larger footprints and more to lose if the wrong location gets selected. The T2 workshop on Tuesday morning in Charleston, moderated by Site Selection Editor Mark Arend, examined ways to manage the location, community and incentives aspects of siting an industrial facility. Terri Beattie, president of Lockheed Martin Corporation Properties, delivered a corporate perspective, and consultant Michael Hickey, president of Hickey & Associates, discussed the importance of using a model to keep the train on track.

     Beattie made the case that the right site is about finding the right balance of

Mark Arend editor,
Site Selection
location, community and incentives, which is far more difficult to do than it might seem. Communities can be fickle — before and after they are chosen for new plant sites; Beattie recalled some situations where townships had turned the tables on LMC after it had announced expansion plans. New rounds of negotiations were necessary to salvage the deals, which reinforced the importance of analyzing early on the attitudes of state and local governments with respect to expanding industry.

     Hickey walked attendees through his model for finding the right location in the industrial context. Any model a site seeker uses for this task should be both disciplined to keep the task from getting out of control and flexible enough to be applicable in unique situations, he stressed. All the location analysis in the world won’t make the latter part of the process any easier, which is working with a prospective community to make the end result a win-win for all parties involved. Going the extra mile with economic impact studies and other resources always makes a difference, in Hickey’s experience. Making the community comfortable with — even enthusiastic about — the prospective investment will alter the tone of incentives negotiations for the better and will result in a more positive experience for all involved. -Mark Arend

 
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