BLS & Co. provided incentives advisory services for SKF USA Inc.’s new Global Technical Center – Americas (GTCA), an engineering research and development center supporting SKF’s North and South American manufacturing operations. Naperville, IL -- a suburb of Chicago – was chosen for the 130,000 square foot build-to-suit facility.

TradePoint Atlantic (TPA) – previously Sparrows Point Terminal – is a former 3,200 acre Bethlehem Steel plant site located in southeastern Baltimore County, Maryland.  TPA purchased the brownfield site in the fall of 2014 with plans to redevelop it into a major East Coast multi-modal distribution and manufacturing hub.

BLS & Co. was engaged to develop a comprehensive strategy to secure the public financing sources needed to mitigate the significant cost of repositioning a brownfields site of this scale and complexity.  Our services included:

• Benchmark analysis of the location’s incentives competitiveness versus similar competitive locations in seven other states;
• Management of a multi-firm team responsible for identifying and prioritizing available federal, state and local grant, incentives and financing programs to allow the developer to pursue environmental remediation and infrastructure improvements beyond what would otherwise be possible given market-based ROI targets;
• Development and execution of an overall strategy to design new incentives tools to improve the competitiveness of the site for potential tenants; and
• Development of a strategy for pursuit of public site development/remediation financing.

The competitive benchmarking analysis revealed an opportunity to improve the cost competitiveness of the site via the introduction of a targeted sales and use tax exemption for specified construction materials and warehousing equipment.  BLS & Co. served as “subject matter expert” to assist TPA in pursuit of the required legislation by documenting the competitive market-based rationale for the proposed exemption, providing data on similar programs in other locations, drafting proposed legislation and providing expert testimony during Senate and House hearings on the proposed legislation.  On May 19, 2016, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed the enabling legislation.

BLS & Co. was engaged by AbleTo Inc, a behavioral healthcare provider, to provide an incentives strategy for its planned new facility. The company was rapidly expanding, seeking to create new jobs in its technology and software development division with wages over $100,000 annually.

As part of the incentives package, AbleTo Inc., was approved for Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit incentive program for steadily creating new jobs in the state of New York.

BLS & Co. was engaged to devise an incentives strategy for ACE Limited (now Chubb) in support of their consolidation and relocation of back office operations from New York City to Jersey City, New Jersey.

As part of the package, ACE was approved for a New Jersey BEIP grant and an exemption from sales tax on construction materials and equipment purchases.

BLS & Co. served as site selection and incentives consultant for Bristol-Myers Squibb's new North American Capability Center (NACC) in Tampa, FL. BMS’ goal for the NACC was to house key enterprise services—technology, finance, and accounting—together with research and analytics, and to do so in a cost-effective market. The NACC project required BLS & Co. to identify and prove out low-cost, yet high-quality, markets with diverse pools of talent.

BLS & Co. managed a team of brokers, designers, and the company’s own human resource, technology, and function heads during an engagement that resulted in the successful site selection, incentive agreement, staffing, and opening of the NACC—all within a nine-month window.

Our firm also served as site selection and incentives consultant during a complex and highly competitive nationwide search for the location of a new $750 million, large-scale multi-product bulk biologics facility in Devens, MA. The facility (the largest capital investment in BMS history) supports the production of ORENCIA (R), the company's biologic therapy for rheumatoid arthritis.

BLS & Co.  served as incentives advisor during the relocation of the headquarters of CPG International from Skokie, Illinois (part of the Chicago MSA). Complicating the move was the need to move the C-Suite to the new location in advance of the rest of the headquarters staff, necessitating the potential for staged growth, potentially in multiple locations. Other locations considered included downtown Chicago and Cincinnati, OH.

BLS & Co. secured an incentives package for Nestlé Waters North America Inc, relocating its North American headquarters from Greenwich to Stamford, CT. The Stamford location meets the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design® (LEED) standards for green buildings.

To help fund the project, BLS & Co. secured an incentives package comprising of low-interest loans, state tax credits and tax exemptions.

Goya Foods is the premier provider of authentic Latino and Caribbean cuisine. BLS & Co. advised the company as it sought to address capacity constraints at its New Jersey headquarters and distribution facility.

BLS & Co. secured an award under the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit program to support the project, which will include the creation of over 100 new jobs and the retention of over 300 existing jobs.

BLS & Co served as site selection and incentives consultant for Omnicom Group Inc. in support of the company’s competitive location decision-making process for targeted functions to be relocated out of New York City.

BLS & Co. advised Omnicom on evaluation of alternative relocation strategies to maximize savings and minimize operational disruption by redeploying selected operations to be co-located with related functions in cities where the company has successful operating experience and excess real estate capacity. Ultimately, the incentives package from the State of New Jersey was sufficient to induce the company to relocate nearly 500 jobs to Jersey City.  Omnicom considered locations in Connecticut, Texas, Ohio and Costa Rica before selecting New Jersey.

BLS & Co. and its principals have provided ongoing site selection and incentives advisory services to QVC, including warehouse and call center location projects in North America and Europe. Our most recent engagement for QVC resulted in a 1 million square foot distribution center (expandable to 2 million square feet) in Florence, South Carolina.

BLS & Co. managed a multi-state, sequential site search, and secured incentives for the project, including free land, infrastructure grants, ad valorem tax abatements, job development grants, job tax credits, and sales tax exemptions.

In addition, BLS expedited permitting and as a result, the warehouse was able to open ahead of schedule.

BLS & Co. worked with the Philadelphia Inquirer to secure an incentives package for the retention of its headquarters in Center City.

BLS & Co. was successful in restructuring the RCAP incentives program as well as securing low interest rate financing through Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation.

BLS & Co. has represented Barr Pharmaceuticals in connection with multiple relocation and expansion projects in New Jersey. BLS & Co. secured incentives for the relocation and growth of its corporate operations from Pomana, New York to Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

Later, Barr relocated its Woodcliff Lake operations into a larger built-to-suit facility in Montvale, New Jersey and committed to the growth of additional jobs. BLS & Co. secured additional incentives for this project.

Prudential employs more than 4,800 people in the City of Newark where the Company occupies more than 1.8 million square feet of space. With several of its leases in the City set to expire the Company commenced a comprehensive evaluation of its Newark occupancy to identify the optimal location strategy.

BLS & Co. advised Prudential on the role of incentives in its overall location strategy, and ultimately secured approval of an Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit award in support of the construction of a proposed new facility and the creation of new high-compensation positions.  The project, which will result in a redevelopment of an entire city block, represents the single largest project in Newark in a generation.  

Since our first project with Eli Lilly and Company (“Lilly”) in 2008, BLS & Co. has served as strategic advisor on multiple site selection and incentives advisory projects throughout the company’s real estate portfolio, involving over $8 billion in planned investment and 3,000 in announced new positions.

Project Highlights

• Lebanon, Indiana (API & Gene Therapy Manufacturing)
• Research Triangle Park, North Carolina (Injectables Manufacturing)
• Concord, North Carolina (Injectables Manufacturing)
• Boston, Massachusetts (R&D)
• Limerick, Ireland (Biologics API Manufacturing)

BLS & Co. secured an incentives package for AeroFarms for its headquarters and R&D operation on a three-acre site in Newark, NJ, developed by the RBH Group.  AeroFarms is the largest indoor aeroponic farm in the world, growing up to two million pounds per year of leafy greens in a safe, sanitary and environmentally controlled facility.

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BLS & Co. was engaged by Mead Johnson Nutritionals, following its spinoff by Bristol-Myer Squibb, to advise the company on the choice of destination for its new executive offices.

BLS & Co. managed a multi-market comparative analysis in North America that ultimately resulted in the relocation of the company's leadership tier to a new Class A office space in Glenview, IL (suburban Chicago).

The firm also secured an EDGE grant from the State of Illinois to reduce the costs and help manage the risks associated with the redeployment.