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.

BLS & Co. advised Colgate Palmolive on behalf of a new personal care products manufacturing plant in Greenwood, South Carolina. The initial search geography included the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States. BLS & Co.'s energy services group performed infrastructure due diligence on the preferred site, identifying several critical issues to be remedied. The incentive package was comprised of various tax credits for job creation, investment, and port usage; a closing fund grant award; sales and use tax exemptions, training assistance, and property reductions.

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. 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.

BLS & Co. serves as location and incentives advisor to Roche, Swiss multinational healthcare company, and its subsidiary Genentech, the South San Francisco-based biotechnology industry leader. Our engagements with Roche date back to 2012 with three major projects announced as of 2026:

• ‍North Carolina- During our most recent engagements supporting Genentech, BLS & Co. managed a nationwide search for a new drug product manufacturing facility. BLS managed a nationwide site evaluation and incentives strategy leading to a site in Holly Springs, North Carolina to be selected – the company’s first in the Eastern U.S. The facility will invest a total of $2 billion and create 520 jobs.‍
• Oregon - In 2018, BLS & Co. also supported Genentech’s selection of an office in the Lloyd District of Portland, Oregon, as a second location for its Access Solutions Patient Service Center, employing approximately 300 full-time specialists during the peak insurance benefit open season.‍
• New York - In 2012, Roche required assistance to fast-track a decision on the location of its new R&D center. Roche engaged BLS to manage site selection and incentives negotiations of the TCRC eventually led to the company selecting the East River Science Park on Manhattan’s east side. The new facility would invest $13M and relocate 200 positions from NJ. 

BLS was pleased to work with MycoWorks, a producer of a biomaterial made from mycelium, on the site selection for their first commercial-scale plant. The finished product is used to make consumer products such as luxury bags, luggage, shoes and other apparel from a sustainable and renewable “leather substitute” material. After a national search for suitable locations to meet operating requirements and other siting criteria, a location was selected and announced in March 2022 in Union, South Carolina. BLS also assisted MycoWorks in the negotiation of a competitive incentives package from both Union County and the South Carolina Department of Commerce.

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

• Florida - BLS & Co. served as site selection and incentives consultant for Bristol Myers Squibb’s new North American Capability Center (NACC) in Tampa, Florida. BMS’ goal for the NACC was to house key enterprise services, including technology, finance and accounting, alongside research and analytics in a cost-effective market. The NACC project required BLS & Co. to identify and evaluate cost-effective, high-quality markets with diverse pools of talent. BLS & Co. managed a team of brokers, designers and the company’s human resources, technology and functional leaders during an engagement that resulted in the successful site selection, incentive agreement, staffing and opening of the NACC, all within a nine-month window.
• ‍‍‍Massachusetts - In 2006, our firm also served as site selection and incentives consultant during a complex and highly competitive nationwide search for a new $750 million, large-scale, multi-product bulk biologics facility in Devens, Massachusetts. The Devens site, the largest capital investment in BMS history at the time, has expanded multiple times since its original announcement and now totals over $1 billion in capital investment to date.

Since 2020, BLS has advised Lilly on the site selection and incentives negotiation for 10 new U.S. manufacturing and R&D sites, resulting in more than $50 billion in announced investment, 6,500 new positions and more than $2.9 billion in state and local incentives secured.

In Europe, BLS and our European partner firm, Location Decisions, have assisted Lilly with three recent manufacturing site selection requirements, resulting in more than $7.5 billion in investment and 2,000 announced jobs.

Across our relationship with Lilly, BLS has provided a full range of strategic location advisory services, including multi-state site selection, infrastructure due diligence, labor market analysis, incentives strategy & transaction management, utility & infrastructure evaluations, risk assessments, and incentives compliance support.

US Project Highlights

• Alabama (API Manufacturing)
• Indiana (API Manufacturing, Gene Therapy Manufacturing, and R&D – x2 sites)
• Massachusetts (R&D)
• North Carolina (Injectables Manufacturing – x2 sites)
• Pennsylvania (Injectables Manufacturing)
• Texas (API Manufacturing)
• Virginia (ADC Manufacturing)
• Wisconsin (Injectables Manufacturing)

Europe Project Highlights

• Germany (Injectables Manufacturing)
• Ireland (API Manufacturing)
• The Netherlands (Oral Solid Dose 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. served as financial advisor for a groundbreaking cooperative venture between the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa and Merck to secure public financing to create over 300,000 square feet of life-sciences oriented development on a 25-acre site.

Moffitt created a wholly owned subsidiary called M2Gen to implement the project, which began with the construction of a 50,000 square foot facility that will house labs and related facilities focused on revolutionizing the way cancer is diagnosed and treated.

BLS & Co. conceptualized the incentives package for the project and managed the analysis, negotiations, structuring, approvals and documentation of the public financing. The public financing package constituted more than one-fourth the total project capitalization.

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. 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 & Co. was engaged by Kuehne + Nagel, a global transport and logistics company, to provide site selection services for a planned new operation and training facility.  After a nationwide search, Kuehne + Nagel decided to locate its first-ever Operational Care Center (OCC) and Career Development Program in downtown Detroit.  The office will employ nearly 200 people by 2021.

BLS & Co. worked with Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) on two projects: a New Jersey-based incentives advisory and a Florida-based site selection.

BLS & Co. developed and executed the incentives strategy to facilitate the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) move from Lower Manhattan to Jersey City, New Jersey. DTCC’s migration and ongoing operations in New Jersey were financed, in part, by the EDA’s Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP).  DTCC also became the first beneficiary of the Economic Redevelopment and Growth (ERG) Grant program.

In 2002, the “Fed White Paper” challenged the financial industry to make the investments required to assure continuity and liquidity in capital markets. For the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), this challenge gave rise to an intensive confidential site search that scrutinized multiple markets over six months. The search ultimately concluded in Tampa, where the collaboration of state, county and city commitments made a material difference in off-setting project costs.

The approved incentives included the Governor’s Closing Fund and new city and county programs created for this project. BLS & Co. also advised the client on integration and restructuring of its pre-existing incentives agreement in NYC into its overall redeployment and diversification of operations to Florida.

Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon had multiple near-term lease expirations across three states, requiring review of a wide range of location options to consolidate operations and reduce costs.

Other states offered significant "new job" incentives to attract BNY Mellon, but New Jersey was ill-equipped to save its existing jobs. BLS & Co. initiated a campaign to create a new "retention" incentive for New Jersey, beginning with a "white paper" on its policy merits, and organized a coalition of business and government leaders to promote the new legislation.

The new program - Business Retention & Relocation Grant (BRRAG) - provided transferable tax credits for large projects, and premium incentives for projects relocating to urban centers.  The legislature adopted BRRAG in time for BNY Mellon's location decision.