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We're on a mission to help companies of all sizes identify the best locations, secure incentives, obtain development approvals and optimize energy strategies through Location Economics®.
BLS & Co. managed a nationwide search that led HelloFresh, an international meal kit company, to relocate some operations to, and expand others in Newark, NJ.
HelloFresh, an international meal kit company with offices in New York City and Germany, chose to relocate and expand its operations to Newark, NJ. After a nationwide search, the firm decided to lease a 217,000 square foot distribution space and an additional 20,000 square feet of office space in downtown Newark. The NJ Economic Development Authority estimates the project will yield a net benefit to the state of $4.1 million over 20 years.
BLS & Co. utilizes an assortment of services – a process we call Location Economics® – to advise clients on location decisions. Discover our variety of offerings to help you navigate the complex decision making processes that occur when searching for a new location for your organization.
BLS & Co. specializes in a variety of industries and our dedicated team is compromised of experts in nearly all major categories.
At BLS & Co., we have executed wide variety of projects for our clients, which includes facilities such as headquarters, warehouses, and data centers.
Stay up to date with BLS & Co. by exploring our latest news and musings on the world of site selection and more.
We're proud to provide a few key resources to help get you started on your site selection journey.
Search our North American database for your ideal location for your company's HQ, R&D Facilities, and more.
If your organization is confronting complex and sensitive location decisions, please reach out to schedule a confidential conversation.
Interested in a career opportunity with BLS & Co.? Click below to learn more about our growing team and view all current openings.
Incentives are an essential instrument of economic development. They represent investments made by state and local governments to influence corporate location decisions and grow a region's economy. Incentives work by reducing costs and operational risks confronting companies that are relocating or expanding. They can take the form of cash grants, tax credits and abatements, buildings and land offered gratis or at below-market cost, infrastructure grants or improvements, recruiting and training assistance, and expedited development approvals.
However, securing incentives is often a complex and rigorous process, with many legal, financial and political nuances that can vary based on the type and scale of a project and the jurisdictions involved. That’s where we come in.
By working with BLS & Co., we make securing the right and most effective incentives as easy as possible. Identifying all of the incentives that might be available to a project can require considerable effort, particularly in the United States, where incentives are offered at the state and local levels and where such programs reflect a high degree of diversity, eligibility criteria, funding sources and other key features. Evaluating if a company will be able to efficiently use the benefits is often another major challenge. For example, if a client has low or no corporate tax liability in a particular state, will the tax credits be refundable or assignable? BLS & Co. helps create incentive strategies and solutions that create value for our clients and lasting benefits for their communities.
Learn how we approach our incentive advisory services from our Executive Managing Director, Jay Biggins
At BLS & Co., we identify and focus on incentives with the greatest potential value while advising our clients on important tactical decisions concerning the level of capital investment and employment that may be proposed, and the various representations and certifications that must be made to qualify for these benefits. BLS & Co.'s work with public entities focuses on achieving the optimal balance between value and business flexibility for each relevant program. We do so while closely coordinating with our clients’ real estate acquisition and disposition process, and by crafting a communications strategy and protocols to protect project confidentiality and ensure a company’s public relations standing.
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. 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.
Our New Jersey incentives advisory project resulted in:
Our Florida site selection project resulted in:
The incentives awarded to a company can involve substantial procedural requirements, necessitating the establishment of monitoring, reporting and compliance systems. Failure to fulfill the terms of these agreements (which constitute a legally-binding contract) can result in political and financial liability.
BLS & Co. works with our clients to provide a post-closing “roadmap” of all reporting and claiming requirements and can manage these compliance activities on an annual cycle over the life of the particular grant or tax credit.
An increasing number of states are designing tax credit incentives to be transferable, allowing companies to sell credits in excess of their own liability, making such incentives more effective and deficient for all parties. This is especially important for high-growth and technology-oriented companies. BLS & Co. arranges and structures the sale of such unused tax credits to high-quality credit purchasers, securing optimal value from incentives packages for our clients.
We provide advice and support in market conditions, pricing and the regulatory environment, and help manage the terms, documentation, tax credit certificates and the public approval process. In cases involving development projects, BLS & Co. also supports clients that are completing financing collateralized by the pre-sale of tax credits, including assisting with lender negotiations, loan structuring and documentation. In the past five years alone BLS & Co. has managed the sale of more than $1.4 million in state tax credits.
Our active and productive relationships with major corporate tax payers, state economic development and taxation authorities ensure that our clients’ interests are well-served with the most current insights on the market and regulatory environment for transferable state tax credits.
For a broad summary of the structure of the CHIPS Act, please reference BLS & Co.'s earlier piece which summarizes the various funding “buckets” under the Act. This article focuses on the funding opportunities presented by the largest of those buckets, the ~$50B in funding allocated to the CHIPS for America Fund, to be administered by the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) by way of several funding opportunities.
