Gold Shovel, Red Flags, and Korean Capital: What's Driving Site Decisions Right Now

Gold Shovel, Red Flags, and Korean Capital: What's Driving Site Decisions Right Now

Four conversations from the field, all pointing in the same direction. First, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves joins us at SelectUSA to talk about his state's second consecutive Gold Shovel in Area Development's State Shovel Awards. He makes a direct case for why Mississippi is winning capital-heavy, power-intensive projects — and what the $85 billion in announced investment since he took office actually required to make happen. Then, Josh Wright from Lightcast walks us through the Area Development Skilled Trades Pipeline Ranking, a collaboration between Area Development and Lightcast that looks beyond current employment numbers to ask which states are actually building the workforce manufacturers will need in five to ten years. The results surprised even Josh — particularly the Southeast's strength and Texas's absence from the top tier. After that, a roundup from our 2026 Charlotte workshop: we asked five site selectors and developers the same question — what's the biggest reason projects stall right now? The answers were different, but the through line was the same: speed and certainty. Companies know what they want to build. What slows them down is everything that has to be in place before the first shovel goes in. We close with Sydney Chun, who leads the Global Korea Desk at Cushman & Wakefield out of Seoul. Korean investment in U.S. manufacturing is accelerating — not trickling. Sydney explains the corporate decision-making logic behind Korean conglomerates, why the Southeast keeps winning their anchor projects, and what states need to understand to capture the next wave of supplier investment that follows. Episode Tags / Keywords site selection, Mississippi, Gold Shovel, Tate Reeves, skilled trades, workforce development, Lightcast, deal killers, Korean investment, FDI, Cushman & Wakefield, manufacturing, economic development, SelectUSA, power availability, permitting, supply chain Chapter Markers (timestamps — update after final export) [00:00] Introduction [00:01:40] Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves — Gold Shovel, Speed, and Workforce [00:09:30] Josh Wright, Lightcast — Skilled Trades Pipeline Ranking [00:17:50] Roundup: Five Consultants on Why Projects Stall [00:26:30] Sydney Chun, Cushman & Wakefield — Korean Investment in U.S. Manufacturing Note: Verify against final Descript export and update before publishing. Guest Credits Tate Reeves — Governor, State of Mississippi Josh Wright — Chief Economist, Lightcast Alicia Janesko Hutchings — Site Selection & Incentives, Cresa (Dallas) Chris Urchell — Real Estate Advisory Group, Baker Tilly Courtland Robinson — Brasfield & Gorrie (Atlanta) David MacNamara — Economic Development Attorney, Womble Bond Dickinson J.C. Renshaw — Supply Chain Consulting, Savills North America Sven Gerzer — Parker Poe Consulting (FDI/Manufacturing) Sydney Chun — Global Korea Desk, Cushman & Wakefield (Seoul) Related Links Area Development Skilled Trades Pipeline Ranking — areadevelopment.com State Shovel Awards — areadevelopment.com Annual Site Selector Survey — areadevelopment.com Mentioned in this episode: This episode is sponsored by TNECD

The Infrastructure Bet: Three Stories About Where American Industry Is Being Rebuilt

EPISODE 13: THE INFRASTRUCTURE BET America hasn't broken ground on a new primary aluminum smelter since 1980. That changes in Oklahoma. In this episode, we look at three stories about how the rules of where things get built are being rewritten right now — and what they have in common. Story 1 — The Oklahoma Aluminum Deal John Budd, CEO of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, walks us through how the state won a $4 billion commitment from Emirates Global Aluminum — a sovereign wealth-backed company out of Abu Dhabi — for the first new primary aluminum smelter in the United States in 45 years. A thousand permanent jobs. A potential anchor for aerospace, defense, and critical minerals. And a pitch that came down to power, logistics, and a smarter structure for incentive payments. Story 2 — Active Infrastructure Can you solve an infrastructure problem without building new infrastructure? A growing number of utilities, engineers, and city managers think so. We hear from: Lora Anguay, Chief Energy Resources Officer at Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), on rethinking how reserve grid capacity gets used. Micah Runner, City Manager of Rancho Cordova, on building a semiconductor corridor on existing infrastructure strength. Raja Kadiyala, Global Head of Digital Solutions at Sidara, on "active infrastructure" — and the $300 million a client saved by putting sensors on storm drains instead of building new storage. Jamie Cameron, VP of OpenBlue at Johnson Controls, on buildings that adjust their own setpoints every 15 minutes. Story 3 — Training for Jobs That Are Still Being Invented Stephen Tucker runs the Northern Workforce Training Center at Northland Campus in Buffalo, New York. This July, they open two new facilities: a clean tech lab for building maintenance technicians and clean energy workers, and a Western New York Experience Center designed to make the energy transition visible and tangible to ordinary people. Tucker's argument: the real workforce gap isn't in solar or wind — it's hiding in plain sight, in the building engineers and facilities technicians that every hospital, school, and office building needs, and can't find. Guests John Budd, CEO, Oklahoma Department of Commerce Lora Anguay, Chief Energy Resources Officer (and Chief Zero Carbon Officer), Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Micah Runner, City Manager, Rancho Cordova, CA Raja Kadiyala, Global Head of Digital Solutions, Sidara Jamie Cameron, VP of OpenBlue, Johnson Controls Stephen Tucker, Executive Director, Northern Workforce Training Center, Northland Campus, Buffalo, NY Mentioned in this episode: This episode is sponsored by TNECD

Where Will the Capital Land? Tariffs, FTZs, and the New FDI Calculus

Capital Wants Clarity: PMI’s Fast-Track Aurora Build, Shifting FDI, and FTZ Strategy in a Tariff-Heavy Era Host Andy Greiner connects three themes shaping 2026 site selection and industrial investment: speed, certainty, and readiness. The episode opens with Philip Morris International’s $600 million, 600,000+ sq. ft. Aurora, Colorado facility dedicated to ZYN nicotine pouches, built on a roughly two-year timeline from concept to production despite starting without land, completed design, or site infrastructure. PMI leaders describe overlapping design and construction, a vertically stacked production process for efficiency, operating under FDA manufacturing oversight, parallel workforce hiring and training with the Community College of Aurora, and the importance of selecting the right project team to meet an aggressive market-driven deadline as demand outgrew capacity at existing Kentucky operations. The conversation then focuses on foreign trade zones (FTZs) with Jeff Tafel of the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones, citing a benchmark survey where 49% of members reported increased FTZ activity in 2025 amid tariff uncertainty; he explains FTZ mechanics (duty deferral until goods leave the zone, tariff-free treatment for many exports), the need for project-specific economic analysis, FTZs’ role in reshoring and job retention, and ongoing policy attention including monitoring Supreme Court-related tariff outcomes and educating Congress on the FTZ program created in 1934. Finally, site selection advisor Nelson Lindsey of Parker Poe Consulting describes how tariff volatility and geopolitical uncertainty are slowing final foreign direct investment decisions—especially for small to medium-sized, often family-owned companies—citing added costs for importing machinery and a general desire for long-term policy certainty. He notes continued activity tied to the data center supply chain and ongoing Southeast U.S. attractiveness driven by automotive supply chains and long-term relationship-building, while emphasizing the competitive importance of site readiness (completed due diligence, utility capacity plans), speed-to-market, and leadership “personal touch” during site visits. The episode concludes that capital still wants to invest in the U.S., but projects land where certainty, speed, and readiness align. 00:00 Capital Wants Clarity: What This Episode Connects (PMI, FDI, FTZs) 01:34 PMI’s $600M ZYN Plant in Aurora: The Speed-to-Market Mandate 02:56 Building While Designing: Vertical Process Engineering on Raw Ground 04:30 Workforce Readiness in Parallel: Training, Hiring, and FDA-Grade Quality 05:23 The Playbook: Back-Planning From the Market Deadline + Partner Alignment 06:49 Why the U.S.-Only ZYN Facility Matters: Demand Growth and Capacity Strategy 08:46 Foreign Trade Zones 101: Why Tariffs Make FTZs a Site-Selection Variable 11:04 How FTZs Work: Duty Deferral, Cash-Flow Gains, and Export Advantages 12:01 FTZs as a Reshoring Tool + The Policy Fight to Keep the Program Visible 15:53 FDI Under Uncertainty: Tariffs, Family-Owned Investors, and Slower Decisions 19:36 Where Deals Still Happen: Southeast Momentum, Site Readiness, and Relationships 25:55 Wrap-Up: Certainty, Speed, and Readiness Decide Where Capital Lands Mentioned in this episode: This episode is sponsored by TNECD

Speedy Data Center Build Outs, Industries of the Future, and a First Person Account of a CEO Going Alone on Site Selection

AI infrastructure is forcing a new siting calculus—one defined by power, speed, and execution risk. Host Andrew Greiner speaks with Matt Landek (JLL) and Michalis Grigoratos (Infra Partners) on compressing “Time to First Token” with prefabricated delivery, then with Justin McAfee (WrightOne) on what communities must do to win and execute advanced manufacturing projects. Mark Cote closes with a scan of “industries of the future,” from SMRs and geothermal to critical minerals and defense innovation. Mentioned in this episode: This episode is sponsored by TNECD

North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley and Christopher Chung, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina

North Carolina’s Growth Playbook: Talent, Infrastructure, and Supply Chain Resilience Host Steve Kaelble interviews North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley and Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina CEO Christopher Chung about why North Carolina ranks highly for business, including No. 1 in access to qualified labor and a 2025 Platinum Shovel Award. They credit long-standing investments in higher education, community colleges, decentralized workforce programs, and strong in-migration, plus talent pipelines from universities, community colleges, and military transitions. They discuss boosting labor participation by addressing barriers such as childcare, transportation, housing, and broadband, citing state leadership roles, task forces, Charlotte’s transit funding effort, and Wilson’s subsidized rideshare. On supply chains, they emphasize ready sites, cost-competitive rural locations, and supplier matchmaking, with examples including Siemens Energy transformers and JetZero’s Greensboro aircraft project. They highlight critical infrastructure needs—roads, ports, airports, water/sewer—and anticipate continued manufacturing cluster growth and major workforce impacts from AI. 00:00 Welcome and Guests 01:01 Workforce Talent Edge 02:57 Growing Population Pipeline 06:04 Removing Participation Barriers 10:58 Supply Chain Resilience 17:37 Infrastructure That Wins 21:55 Rural Growth Strategy 23:45 Five Year Outlook and AI 28:42 Closing Thanks Mentioned in this episode: This episode is sponsored by TNECD