ACCE News
National Site Selection Magazine Once Again Ranks RCGA Among Top 10 Economic Development Organizations in North America, Top 4 of Major Metros
St. Louis, MO -
The St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA) has once again been named one of the “Top 10 economic development organizations in North America”, according to the just-released annual national ranking in Site Selection magazine. This is the 2nd consecutive year -- and the 3rd time since 1998 -- that the RCGA has been ranked in the Top 10. The publication’s May issue, on newsstands nationally today, recognizes the RCGA’s business retention, expansion, recruitment and job creation successes in 2007.
Site Selectionis the official publication of the Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC), the world’s leading association of corporate real estate executives. Site Selection is the leading magazine of corporate real estate, facility planning, location analysis and site selection. The circulation includes more than 44,000 manufacturing and corporate real estate directors, and decision makers from more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies.
Economic development groups were first ranked according to 4 objective categories: new jobs; new jobs per 10,000 residents; new investment amount; and new investment per 10,000 residents. They were then scrutinized for more subjective attributes - among them: innovation; leadership; and customer service.
The Top 4 Metropolitan Areas in this Top 10 national ranking are: the St. Louis RCGA; World Business Chicago; the CincinnatiUSA Partnership; and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance. St. Louis ranked ahead of the following Major Metros, which rounded out the Top 20: the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce; the Greater Houston Partnership; the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce; and the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership, each of whom received honorable mentions. Site Selection did not rank organizations named within the Top 10.
“The economic development future for the St. Louis region looks promising, even in the midst of a national economic downturn. A recent addition is the significant interest that the bi-state region has attracted from China, for St. Louis becoming a Midwestern commercial hub for the fastest-growing economy in the world," noted RCGA President and Chief Executive Officer Richard C. D. Fleming.
“In fact, overall deal flow has nearly tripled since the St. Louis, Perfectly Centered, Remarkably Connected brand was launched in first quarter 2006. We now have some 89 deals today in which St. Louis is on the "short list", and those deals collectively have a potential of generating nearly 16,000 jobs, and over $4 billion in new capital investment in the region.”
Flemingfurther noted that while the St. Louis region is home to many long-established headquarters of major international corporations --- with Brown Shoe Co. announcing a major expansion of its Fortune 500 St. Louis HQ, the region is also becoming a thriving entrepreneurial community. “We are proud to be the hometown of 21 Fortune 1000 headquarters while at the same time support a vibrant, emerging entrepreneurial sector. Our region’s combination of a skilled workforce, outstanding quality of life attributes, and competitive cost structure, makes the St. Louis region an ideal place for starting and growing a company.”
“The St. Louis, Perfectly Centered, Remarkably Connected regional branding and economic development campaign is helping to market St. Louis to businesses and investors that are growing the job base and wealth base of our community.
“Our RCGA economic development team, headed by Senior Vice President for Economic Development Steve Johnson, the members of the Greater St. Louis Economic Development Network, and the commitment by the business and civic investors in the RCGA's economic development campaign, are effectively working together to grow the region’s economy,” Fleming concluded.
The RCGA is the chamber of commerce and economic development organization for the 16-county, bi-state region. The mission of the RCGA is to unite the region’s business community, and to engage dynamic business and civic leadership to develop and sustain a world-class economy and community.
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Source: ACCE
Publication Date: May 22, 2008