Savannah/Bryan County, Ga. 

The loss of the Volvo deal in 2014 hurt. That project went to the larger market that is Charleston-North Charleston. But landing Hyundai’s massive multi-billion-dollar EV and battery production in the Savannah region, including Bryan and Chatham County, Ga., will create so many more jobs than Volvo. 

 

Lake Charles, La. 

Quietly, yet, in dominating fashion, Southwest Louisiana has earned “Small Market of the Year” 12 times in the last 15 years. That is based on a points system we have used for more than 30 years giving five or 10 points to deals of $30 million or more and/or 200 jobs or more. What George Swift and his team have done is truly remarkable as George hangs up his hat this year. Southwest Louisiana has not been the same since George began. Lots of prosperity created there. 

 

Williamson County, Texas 

There is an industrial surge happening right now north of Austin in
Williamson County, Texas. There, in the city of Taylor, Samsung is investing $17 billion. The plant will produce advanced logic chips for mobile, 5G, high-performance computing (HPC), and artificial intelligence (AI). The plant is part of Samsung’s increased investment in Central Texas, which is expected to total $40 billion.

 

Mississippi County, Ark. 

This county in the Eastern Arkansas Delta is where more steel is made than any county in America. Going from “Cotton-to-Steel” has not been easy for this area of the Mississippi Delta. But like any automotive cluster formed since Toyota picked Kentucky in the 1980s, followed by BMW and Mercedes-Benz in South Carolina and Alabama respectively in the early 1990s, the steel cluster created in Mississippi County, Ark., is unsurpassed by any in the country. And they have a great team there: CEO Clif Chitwood and Mallory Darby are similar to the team George Swift has built in Southwest Louisiana. Both are rural areas for the most part, where literally tens of billions have been invested in the last 20 years. 

 

Haywood-Tipton-Lauderdale Counties, Tenn. 

Talk about economically transformed overnight, this area of the West Tennessee Mississippi River Delta and the TVA megasite (that was available for 20 years) have been filled by a massive player. Who took that site before all of the services to the site were in place? It was one of Ford’s most important investments in the history of the company — to build EV components and electric pickups. The plant has been delayed, but is essentially complete. 

 

Chatham County, N.C.

Chatham’s Wolfspeed semiconductor deal, its Research Triangle location, the possibility of a new EV assembly plant by Vietnamese startup VinFast, along with some really big real estate developments, have all transformed this county almost overnight. However, Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast recently announced it is halting the production of its Chatham County facility until 2028. 

 

 

Dalton-Whitfield County, Ga. 

This area of Northwest Georgia is known as the “Flooring Capital of the World.” During the Great Recession of 2007-2009, this community was in trouble as the housing crisis shut down many in the flooring cluster, but has now greatly recovered. 

 

 

 

Randolph County, N.C.

The $14 billion Toyota EV battery project is something Randolph County has never come close to landing. Then again, that is not entirely true. Toyota’s Dennis Cuneo and the late North Carolina Commerce Secretary Jim Fain III walked that Liberty, N.C., site over 20 years ago when Toyota wanted it the first time. How interesting is it that Toyota came back to the site with one of its largest single investment deals 20 years later? 

 

 

Hardin County, Ky. 

Similar to the West Tennessee megasite where Ford has invested billions, the Glendale, Ky., megasite was empty for 20 years or more. Ford took that site, too, and has built a monster complex to build electric batteries. Former Kentucky Cabinet of Economic Development Secretary Larry Hayes once called when SB&D omitted the site from a Ten Top 10s ranking around 2011. He said the Glendale site was the best megasite in the entire country. So, we visited the site with Rick Games of the The Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation (EHCIF), about 10 years ago (see adjoining photo). With Ford, that site is now packed with new square footage when it was just a field 10 years ago when the photo that was taken. 

 

Limestone County, Ala. 

First the outflow from the growth of Huntsville spread west to Madison County. Now, Huntsville’s growth has spread to Limestone County in a big way with Mazda Toyota. We have not met the leader of economic development in Limestone County yet. Bethany T. Shockney has been with LCEDA since March 2019, bringing 32 years of experience in various roles in workforce and economic development in both Alabama and Tennessee. She is probably one of the busiest practitioners in the South.