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How Economic Developers Evaluate Project Impacts - Site Selection Magazine - March 2001Page 1 of 6 <br /> Selection <br /> From Site Selection magazine, March 2001 <br /> MANAGEMENT STRATEGY <br /> HEconomic Developers <br /> Evalowuate Project Impacts <br /> t; by DR. THOMAS A. MUSIL <br /> A real estate professor's research reveals the other side of the <br /> -7444.tirriL;, coin -- how economic developers view new projects coming to <br /> , .w <their communities. <br /> nderstanding how cities view and evaluate projects is critical to <br /> developing more cooperative and insightful relationships between <br /> ar ,r� at�� t��ra � P $ P g p <br /> ' '' "" ""' �'"" your company and the communities in which you do-- and would <br /> ,� ' � �: i, a, � �c;:r p Y <br /> like to do--business. This article presents an overview of how <br /> public officials view and evaluate the community impacts associated with <br /> economic development projects. Data presented in this article is based on a <br /> national survey of municipal economic development officials working in <br /> • <br /> Ir,. U.S. cities with populations between 10,000 and 300,000. Research involved <br /> investigating the structure, subsidy determination, involvement of public and <br /> elected officials,the decision-making processes and the analytical methods <br /> used by the public sector to evaluate municipal-level development projects. <br /> Corporate site selection is a complex art and science. The skills <br /> required of corporate real estate executives and site selection specialists rival <br /> ! the skill level of almost any professional in the business world. The ability to <br /> weight correctly the complex interrelationships of location trade-offs, <br /> development incentives,community advantages,market limitations and <br /> .> municipal politics is no simple task. The site selection decision-making <br /> , T process is further complicated by the demanding requirements imposed by <br /> corporate management's goals and company strategic planning objectives. <br /> Perhaps the most challenging part of corporate real estate is negotiating <br /> with potential communities.Each location has a different array of benefits, <br /> ill incentives and amenities to offer the corporate citizen. Skills in limiting municipal exactions in project <br /> development or maintaining damage control in communities where your firm closes a plant or operation <br /> must be in place.As corporate real estate practitioners,we use a variety of impact-analysis tools to prove to <br /> http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2001/mar/p146/ 4/5/01 <br />