Building a City in New Mexico

On a flat stretch land in Albuquerque, NM, economic developers plan to create 60,000 jobs, 38,000 homes, and a town center--within 30 years.

The 25-square-mile Mesa del Sol, as it has been named by developers Forest City Enterprises and the development partnership, Forest City Covington New Mexico, will be a high-tech economic development center. Already, an 87,000-square-foot building was completed for Advent Solar, a manufacturer of solar cells, which is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs. Albuquerque Studios, one of the largest media production companies in the U.S., has invested $74 million in building six sound stages. Sony Pictures Imageworks is planning a 100,000-square-foot center for the near future.

Planners are calling the mixed-use development generational--an ever-growing new city within a city within New Mexico.

Sources: The New York Times, Mesa del Sol

Where there is sea, there are pirates, Part 5

These pirates were not after the money, they were after the fish. Eight Guineans have been arrested by Sierra Leone for an act of piracy against Chinese fisherman. The fisherman, who were locally licensed to be in Sierra Leonean waters, were held up by two speedboats carrying men armed with AK-47 automatic rifles.

Sierra Leone has a 400km coast of exclusive territorial waters, where mainly Asian vessels have permits for commercial fishing.

Sources: BBC, Independent (South Africa)
Also See: Where there is sea, there are pirates, parts 1, 2, 3, and 4

Michigan is Hiring

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation approved state-funded incentives of over $53 million to help seven companies expand or build new projects. Together, the projects are expected to create 3,512 jobs

The projects include a $10 million engineering center in Pittsfield Township, MI,, for which Grupo Aernnova, a Spanish aerospace company, will receive $18.5 million over fifteen years through tax credits. The move could bring 600 new jobs to Washtenaw County. Aernnova considered 15 states before choosing MichiganÑa key factor being the availability of engineers in the Ann Arbor region.

Credit Acceptance Corporation will add a $3.8 million expansion to its headquarters in Southfield, creating 506 jobs. Also in Southfield, MARS Advertising Prize Logic LLC will spend $1.7 million for a headquarters and create 150 jobs. Sysco Food Services will add a 90,000-square-foot, $18 million expansion in Canton, MI, hiring 130 workers. Azure Dynamics Corp. will relocate its Canadian headquarters to Oak Park, MI, spending $2.5 million and creating 125 jobs. Grandvic Investment, a plastics company, will create a $2.7 million expansion in Standish, MI, adding 75 jobs. The Thunder Bay Development LLC will purchase a $15 million manufacturing plant and create 150 new jobs in Alpena, MI.

Sources: Globe St., The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press

Looming Pink Slips

@ A "shift in product demand and consolidation of facilities" has led to the closing of a Fruit of the Loom plant--and a loss of 800 jobs. The company announced today that the Jerzees de Choloma plant in Choloma, Honduras will close within the next few months. Fruit of the Loom also announced that it would help employees find other jobs.

@ The H&H Tube and Manufacturing Plant in Cheboygan, MI, will be closed within nine months, company officials announced today, laying off 50 workers. The company was bought by Sunspring North America in June, and will consolidate H&H manufacturing operations at the other plant in Vanderbilt, MI.

@ On Monday, Sanmina-SCI, a global contract manufacturer in various fields, announced plans to close its Fountain, CO, manufacturing plant, eliminating 319 jobs. The company's Rapid City plant remains open, although earlier this month around 100 workers were reportedly laid off. The Associated Press reported:

ItÕs not unusual for Sanmina-SCI to cut back its Rapid City work force to match the ebb and flow of contracts for electronics work. Over the years, the company has regularly laid off workers and called them back.

Sources: Reuters, The Cheboygan News, The Rapid City Journal via AP,

From Russia, With Steel

Why is the governor of Ohio and a Russian billionaire taking a walk on 600 acres near the Ohio River today?

Well, of course it has to do with economic development, in the form of a mega-project.

Victor Rashnikov, the owner of Russia-based Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is considering investing $1 billion into a steel mill near Portsmouth, OH. The move would create 1,000 jobs, and MMK would become the largest private employer in Scioto County. The steel mill would provide cold-rolled steel for the auto industry.

According to the Associate Press, Ohio is likely to put together a major incentive package similar to Alabama's ThyssenKrupp package. MMK is expected to make a decision within a year.

Source: International Herald Tribune via AP

China's Product, Georgia's Pride

With China's economy on the upswing, Georgia economic developers have been courting investment from the foreign power. Yesterday, the third Chinese company in 15 months has announced that it will be moving to the state. (Remember when it was American companies scrambling for Chinese manufacturing?)

Sany Heavy Industry Company, a China-based maker of construction equipment, will construct a $30 million plant on a 241-acre site in Peachtree City, Georgia. The plant, expected to be in operation by 2009, will create 200 jobs initially, and potentially up to 600 jobs in 10 years.

Sany will be receiving declining property abatements which will save the company around $2.2 million; Peachtree City and Fayette County split $200,000 donation to buy the $6.5 million site.

Says Governor Sonny Perdue:

It hasn't happened by accident. We've been in Asia and China looking for relationships and partnerships.

And so it is.

Sources: Atlanta Journal Constitution, MSN Money, Sany

If you build it, will they come?

The massive increase of oil revenues in most of the United Arab Emirates countries have not only allowed for investment in Asia and the U.S., but also an economic development boom at home, with the aim of attracting foreign investment to the region.

Perhaps to ensure that the memory of his dynasty lives forever, the king of Saudi Arabia has lent his name to the largest private sector investment in Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah Economic City (that is the full name), which began construction in 2005, will cost $26.6 billion and promises to create from 500,000 to 1 million jobs. The Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority plans to build other smaller cities throughout the kingdom.

This week, the city's main developer, Emaar, has signed a series of contracts for energy services: Siemens (based in Germany) will set up a power generation grid and the Arabian BEMCO Contracting Company (based in Jeddah) will install an open-cycle gas turbine power plant. On Saturday, Emaar unveiled its first residential community, Bay La Sun Village, which will be completed by 2008.

The city, when completed, will be located on 55 million square meters of land with 21 miles of shoreline north of the city of Jeddah on the Red Sea. Aside from the industrial district, the futuristic city will have a seaport, "financial island," "education zone," resorts, and a residential area.

In the tradition of building a world-class city from no city at all (see previous BF entry on the new Dubai), there is a lot of hype and marketing surrounding the development. So far, however, there is only expressed interest from local and international investors.

Sources: Korea Times, King Abdullah Economic City, Arabian Business, Khaleej Times

Powerful Ohio Win(d)s

Grants totaling $5 million were awarded for the development of utility-scale wind energy projects. The grants are the result of the first round of the Ohio Wind Production and Manufacturing Incentive Program administered by the Ohio Department of Development and the Ohio Energy Office. The Buckeye Wind Project (in Champaign and Logan counties) and the JW Great Lake's Wood County Wind Farm are expected to be operational by June 30, 2009.

The projects will receive incentive payment of $0.01 cent per kilowatt-hour for electricity generated, and an additional $0.02 cents per kilowatt-hour for projects that utilize Ohio-manufactured turbines.

Sources: Renewable Energy Access, The Ohio Wind Working Group