Economic Development
- Overview
- Experience
- People
- Insights
Overview
When economic development projects go smoothly, public-private partnerships use synchronized teamwork to ensure an outcome that fuels commerce, creates jobs, grows the tax base, brings communities together and improves livability. Our team knows how to make this collaboration work. Clients tell us they value our extensive experience advising each side of the public-private equation, giving us keen insight into both business and government perspectives.
Clients reap the benefits of our ability to work seamlessly across states and localities, and they appreciate our deep knowledge of various industries; we know what it takes to get projects from ideas on paper to action on the ground. Consider these examples:
- For the transformative $150 million Federal City redevelopment project in the historic Algiers district of New Orleans, we conducted all the negotiations, crafted and nailed down the project agreements and handled the financing and government relations work. Our team’s efforts helped convert a former Navy installation into a mixed-use community with housing, retail, dining and entertainment, where now some 2,500 people live and work.
- We helped a multi-national health technology firm establish a second U.S. corporate headquarters in Nashville, creating nearly 1,000 new jobs. In this complex, high-end development project, we represented the company in all aspects of the negotiations and spearheaded the site-selection process.
- We have successfully negotiated billions of dollars’ worth of aerospace and aviation projects in the southeast over the last three years. This enormous amount of capital has resulted in thousands of high-paying jobs and an ever-growing tax base in the communities in which these companies now call home.
- We have counseled numerous clients on the launch of both domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI) manufacturing projects involving billions of dollars in multiple business sectors across our footprint. From developing industries such as renewable energy production, to the bedrock industry of shipbuilding, we have handled a multiple and varied client mix. We have the experience that matters.
Summary
While we advise many regional and national clients and public entities, we also serve large global companies that operate or want to operate in the Southeast. We represent public-private partnerships for airports, infrastructure and public transit projects, commercial developments, health care, oil and gas, energy, higher education, utilities, port facilities, entertainment and recreation, industrial, manufacturing, distribution and logistics, urban and community development projects, and transportation and tribal developments, among others.
Our team is known for conceiving and implementing creative solutions for projects in a wide range of opportunity zones, and we’re often brought in when a project stalls because people recognize our ability to get derailed projects back on track. Clients are concerned about issues, such as federal tariff and trade policies and the tightening of state and federal budgets, which can affect incentivized projects as well as the growing challenges in building a qualified workforce and potential employee pipelines. Consequently, in collaboration with our Government Relations team, we closely monitor the issues and lobby lawmakers for more favorable tax environments and vehicles for business development. Clients commend us on those efforts as well as our on-time product delivery and responsive communication.
Defining Strengths
Our team applies our skills to offer clients a range of services, including:
- Community Development/Revitalization: We represent business owners and not-for-profit entities in partnership with site-selection firms, local economic development professionals and government agencies. We negotiate benefits and incentives for competitive local business climates, healthy tax bases and high-quality infrastructure.
- Public Finance: We investigate tax or revenue-secured municipal bonds as well as corporate securities for private and not-for-profit development, cash flow and restructuring of existing debt.
- Negotiation, Litigation and ADR: We provide counsel for stalled projects, conflict resolution arising from questions of legality in public/private partnerships and development proposals and litigation for breach of contract or other underperformance claims.
Experience
- Assisting a fleet operations and distribution consultant with a five-phase development project that commenced in 2009. The project included port industrial development over 72 acres of the Port of New Orleans and City of New Orleans. Our team assisted with negotiations with the Port of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana, New Orleans Public Belt, the City of New Orleans and other zoning related agencies (state and federal). The project included federal new market tax credits, Louisiana Economic Development Grants Program funds, Louisiana Quality Jobs, GO Zone Bonds, and a PILOT.
- Represented a major steel manufacturer with site selection, incentive negotiations, and other project-specific services related to the construction of a 1.1 million square feet commercial steel manufacturing center and corporate headquarters facility in Tennessee. This project involved approximately $1.1 billion in capital investment, creating over 300 jobs.
- Represented the city and county in the successful negotiation and execution of project agreements for the construction of an approximately 3 million square foot, $140 million, import distribution center for an American multinational retail corporation in Alabama. This project involved the coordinated efforts of the local governmental entities and the State, as well as the State Port Authority.
- Conducted a Phase 1 multi-state corporate site selection search to establish a new manufacturing and distribution facility for an international cycling parts supplier.
- Counselled a multi-national solar panel manufacturer on site selection, incentive negotiations, and other project-specific services related to construction of a 3GW solar cell and solar panel advanced manufacturing facility in South Carolina. The project entailed a $1 billion investment, creating over 2,000 jobs with an average salary of $63,000. Our team conducted a nationwide search for an appropriate location as well as negotiated all state and local incentives.
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