Monday, May 07, 2007

Non-Mobile Manufacturers

Other than a piece that we did last month on immigration into the USA, last week’s Agurban on the non-mobility of manufacturers has generated the most comments that I’ve seen. And, every one of the comments and emails has indicated that what we found in our research at Agracel was the experience of others.

Our "Why We Love Manufacturers" Agurban looked at the 52 projects we at Agracel have done over the past 15 years in 13 states. We found that only 5 of the 52 left us, with 90% staying in their buildings and continuing to offer jobs in their original towns.

I was at a semi-annual National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) this past week, meeting with other industrial developers from around the USA. Several mentioned our Agurban and indicated that they have had the same experience that once they get a manufacturer into a building, most tend to grow in the space rather than move out.

NAIOP was intrigued by our findings and would like to study it further on a national basis. If you know of someone who has done or could do some research in this area, please let me know.

My guess is that people like Lou Dobbs aren’t going to like what we find out about in this research. It doesn’t fit with their political or journalistic agenda.

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