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.

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.

Eby-Brown engaged BLS & Co. to provide incentives advisory services for a new distribution center/warehouse facility to service customers in the Midwest and Mid-South regions of the United States.

The company short-listed locations in Kentucky and Indiana, and BLS & Co. secured competitive incentive offers for locations in both states. The company selected a location in Shepherdsville, KY to construct a 300,000 SF build-to-suit lease-back facility. 

BLS & Co. secured an incentives package for Eby-Brown, a wholesale distributor for the convenience store industry. The company engaged BLS & Co. to provide incentives advisory services for a potential relocation to Indiana or Tennessee from its awkward, outdated layout in Naperville, IL. The company ultimately elected to remain in the Chicago area, securing a new, state-of-the-art space in Naperville.

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.

When Roche required assistance to fast-track a decision on the location of its new Translational Clinical Research Center (TCRC), the company engaged BLS & Co. to secure incentives in support of this elite research early development organization. After a thorough site selection process, the company chose the build-to-suit Alexandria Center on Manhattan’s east side for its new facility.

BLS & Co. serves as location and incentives advisor to biotechnology industry leader Genentech, the South San Francisco-based member of the Roche Group.  Genentech develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines to treat patients worldwide with serious medical conditions.  During our most recent engagement for Genentech, BLS & Co. managed a nationwide search for a second location for their Access Solutions Patient Service Center.  Access Solutions employees help patients understand their insurance benefits; find ways to help those who cannot afford their Genentech medicines; and work with doctors and pharmacists to deliver medicines to patients.  With the advice and guidance of the firm, Genentech selected Portland, OR for this mission critical operation, which opened for business in May 2019. The new Portland Patient Access Center employs approximately 175 full-time specialists and an almost equal number of contingent employees during the peak insurance benefit open season. The firm also advised Genentech on an Oregon Business Retention Program (BEP) grant and various market-entry strategies.

BLS & Co. and its energy services affiliate, Sugarloaf Associates, identified nine "Data Center Qualified Sites" for American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the nation's largest utilities.  After a comprehensive review of locations across AEP's 11-state territory, BLS & Co. qualified sites with reliable and redundant power supply, strong fiber networks, low disaster risks and a business-friendly climate. 

The team designed a three-phase evaluation process that analyzed the electric supply and capacity, access to long and short-haul fiber providers, water availability, electric costs, tax exemptions and incentives, demographics, vendor/supplier networks and the ability to complete construction within 18 months.  

As an extra step, a third-party engineering company modeled each site's ability to accommodate a 100,000-square-foot raised-floor data center designed to current industry standards.

BLS/Sugarloaf also completed an analysis of sites in 2 states for AEP data center / operations facility.  The team review the infrastructure, both manmade and natural disaster risks and the proximity of service providers to support a data center.

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.

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.

BLS has represented Citigroup on projects throughout North America for over 20 years. Starting with Citi’s initial presence in Tampa, BLS developed and implemented incentives strategies in support of diverse projects, ranging from data centers to enterprise services facilities, across a broad footprint, including Florida, Texas, Ohio, New York and New Jersey.

Most recently, BLS has supported Citi on a multi-phased portfolio optimization process in the NY Metro area, including multiple incentives transactions, ongoing monitoring of legislation and regulations, and intervention in policy making.  BLS also represented Citi in securing incentives in support of its recent decision to expand in the Tampa market.

BLS & Co. advised Gartner on a headquarters location and incentives strategy, enabling the renewal of its lease in Stamford, Connecticut. Our firm secured incentives, utilizing the Urban and Industrial Site Reinvestment Tax Credit, DECD direct assistance, sales tax exemption and property tax abatement.

BLS & Co. also conducted a comprehensive evaluation of location options in multiple markets, including Columbus, GA and Jackson, MS, to accommodate Gartner’s growing space requirements for their operations in Ft. Myers, FL. Gartner ultimately decided to lease a newly constructed 120,000 sf facility adjacent to its existing building in Florida.

BLS & Co. advised New York Life on the relocation of approximately 1,000 employees from the company’s Manhattan headquarters location to a new facility in Westchester, New York.

BLS & Co. was successful in securing an economic development incentive package that included a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes), sales tax exemptions on construction materials and FF&E purchases, a state capital grant and a discount of the utility bills.

Panasonic's North American headquarters in Secaucus, NJ no longer met the company's objectives for talent, energy efficiency and branding.

BLS & Co. was engaged to evaluate multiple destinations for the headquarters, both in the NY / NJ metro area as well as locations in CA, IL and GA where the company has surplus real estate capacity.

BLS & Co. was successful in securing a package of state and local incentives in connection with Panasonic’s decision to anchor a new Class A office tower in downtown Newark, including an Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit award and local grants through the Redevelopment Area Bond program.

Panasonic now occupies 10 floors of the 12-story building at Two Riverfront Plaza, Newark’s first new office building in more than 20 years. Designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification for new construction and LEED platinum certification for interiors, the project is bringing 1,000 new employees into Newark’s downtown, and provides the catalyst for development of new retail, hospitality and other amenities in the city’s central business district.

CoreNet Global recognized the Panasonic project team with a 2013 Economic Development Leadership Award for spurring economic development, investment and employment in the Brick City.

BLS & Co. represented Diageo during their new headquarters location decision-making process. Their 270,000 square foot building in Norwalk, CT represented the very first project approved under the State's new Urban Reinvestment Act program and resulted in a reward of transferable tax credits, as well as sales tax exemptions and property tax abatements.

BLS & Co. represented Fanatics, the leading sports merchandise licensing and ecommerce company, in siting its second fulfillment and light manufacturing center in Frazeysburg, Ohio. The company was experiencing rapid growth, but had continued to process all of its orders from a single fulfillment center located in Florida. In order to maximize efficiency and lower costs while maintaining Fanatic's commitment to fast and reliable delivery, the Company sought to expand its fulfilment network.

During an approximately 6-month engagement, BLS & Co. conducted a comprehensive, multi-state site selection effort focusing on such factors as available real estate, ability to attract and retain labor, comprehensive cost modeling, and incentives. BLS & Co. then helped the company secure an Ohio Jobs Creation Tax Credit and a forgivable equipment lease financing.