Greensboro, N.C. 

Three huge deals — Boom, Toyota and now, JetZero and its 15,000 (just from JetZero) employees — have found their way to the Greensboro region in a relatively short period of time. Talk about on a roll! There might not be a commercial airport in the South, other than the Perot family’s Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, that has had more success luring industry the last two decades. Remember, HondaJet makes its small private jet at the Piedmont Triad International Airport. No question to us that the Greensboro market is the hottest market of any size in the U.S. right now. 

 

Savannah, Ga. 

After the gut-wrenching loss of Volvo at the megasite just west of Savannah in Bryan County, Ga., this port city landed the “Big Kahuna” in the Hyundai Metaplant, where vehicles and batteries are just now in production. Until Hyundai came to Savannah, we had never seen or heard of a “supplier” to an OEM making a $4 billion to $5 billion-plus investment.

 

Lake Charles, La. 

In terms of per capita, the Lake Charles region, including Calcasieu Parish where Houston-based Cheniere put in what essentially was the first mass LNG producer plant in the U.S., there is just no contest. Most years, Southwest Louisiana beats three quarters of Southern states in total annual investments. These LNG plants are huge, and cost today about $18 billion to build. Now Lake Charles has captured another LNG plant from Woodside Energy. 

George Swift retired from the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance earlier this year. The new Southern “Yankee Factory Hound” in Southwest Louisiana is Scott Walker. Scott was extremely capable in his time in Michigan and Indiana. But, taking over for a legend like George won’t be easy. Yet, looking at Scott’s background, he may be nominated in one of the next three volumes of the “Hall of Fame.” He joins Liz DeVille at the Alliance. 

 

Chester County, S.C.

Here is another South Carolina county, located south of Charlotte, on a roll. During the height of the reshoring era, Chester County ranked as the fastest growing in manufacturing employment (70 percent) in the Charlotte region from 2010 to 2020. In fact, Chester has become a go-to place in the South for new plants and reshored manufacturing facilities and the categories are numerous, from metals, chemicals and advanced materials to the food and beverage industry, like E.&J. Gallo’s $423 million investment in Chester County. That winery is the first East Coast facility it now operates. And Robert Long, the economic developer there, is making things happen and fast. 

Florence, S.C. 

For decades, or since Honda announced the location of its ATV manufacturing plant in Timmonsville-Florence County, S.C., in 1998, there were not that many projects landing in Florence. The Honda plant opened in July of that year. Not much came out of Florence after that until now, with its relatively new leader Gregg Robinson, who came over from a successful stint in Orangeburg, S.C. This guy, like Robert Long and Chester County, are racking up deals. No question they are headed to the Hall of Fame. 

 

York County, S.C. 

The consistent deal run York County and Rock Hill are on is more than three decades old now. Located just south of Charlotte, York County’s location is a no-brainer. 

 

Berkeley County, S.C. 

This South Carolina county is in the Charleston MSA. Landing Volvo in the fall of 2015 put Berkeley County on the map. Since then, it’s been one of the most active in the South. 

 

Taylor, Texas

Samsung invested approximately $17 billion to build a new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Taylor, Texas, spurred on by the CHIPS and Science Act from the previous administration. The new fabrication plant will produce advanced logic chips for mobile, 5G, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence purposes. In addition to capturing the latest semiconductor facility announced in the South, the suppliers to the plant have been humming with announcements. Being located just inside the dynamic market (Austin) will keep this place going for years to come. 

 

Hutto, Texas

Ditto for Hutto, which is located between Taylor and Round Rock, Texas. The spillover of projects to Hutto from Austin, where Elon Musk is relocating almost all of his companies and their headquarters like Tesla and Space X to Austin from California, is quite impressive for such a new community.  

 

Georgetown, Texas

Another Austin MSA market, Georgetown is one of the fastest growing cities in America and has been named to many “Best Cities” lists. It also ranks as one of the safest cities in the United States. 

 

San Marcos-Hays County, Texas

Hays County is not a reach here. The area is the fastest growing county in Texas and the fastest growing county in the country among counties with over 100,000 residents. The region has been called “The Next Great Metropolis” by Forbes.

 

Chatham County, N.C.

Wolfspeed is finishing up its huge chip plant in Chatham County. Years ago SB&D staff and Dianne Reed, the economic developer at the time in Chatham County, walked the Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Site prior to anyone building on it. 

Then came two big deals — the Vinfast EV plant (building has not started) and Wolfspeed, and they still have over 1,000 acres of the site to develop. Along came current Chatham County Economic Development Corporation leader Michael Smith, and this massive manufacturing resurgence in the South found Chatham County, which is essentially in the Research Triangle region. It should be noted that Chatham County is adjacent and within just a few miles of the Toyota battery plant being constructed in Randolph County.

 

Bowling Green, Ky. 

Like York County, S.C., Bowling Green performs well seemingly every year. Its central location between the birth of the automotive industry, or the Midwest, to the new EV region king, the American South, directly on Interstate 65, the spine of the Southern Auto Corridor, is unsurpassed. 

 

Clarksville, Tenn.-Hopkinsville, Ky. 

Surprised to learn that this two-state MSA has a population that is nearing 400,000. Clarksville (shown here) benefits from also being in the Joint Metro Region of Nashville-Clarksville. That MSA comprises one of the most dynamic and growing areas in a multi-state area. 

The Nashville MSA and the Clarksville MSA together operate in some ways that mirror other dual metro areas in the nation, and in some ways perform quite differently. Clarksville has seen its share of failed recruiting ventures, with Microvast announcing but not building a new EV battery plant there. 

But with so many projects announced every year for 25 years, there is going to be a dog deal among them. James Chavez, Mike Evans and Vonda Gates, all seasoned economic development professionals, ran economic development in Clarksville. 

Today it is David “Buck” Dellinger running the show. There are plenty of great jobs in Clarksville-Montgomery County, with top manufacturers and employers like LG, Bridgestone, Florim USA, Hankook/AtlasBX, and Google all well-established and continually expanding their workforce. 

Other winning markets include: Loudoun County, Va.; Corpus Christi, Texas; Mobile-Baldwin County, Ala.; and Williamson County, Texas.