Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce officials asked a vital question on Wednesday, Aug. 7: What will it take to attract more businesses to the region? The answers are: a great workforce; available land that is ready for new businesses; available housing, and plenty of child care options for potential employees. Those were some of the […]
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Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce officials asked a vital question on Wednesday, Aug. 7: What will it take to attract more businesses to the region?
The answers are: a great workforce; available land that is ready for new businesses; available housing, and plenty of child care options for potential employees.
Those were some of the answers provided by two experts representing companies that specialize in finding places around the world for major companies to expand and set up shop.
David Hickey, managing director of Hickey & Associates, and Bob Westover, senior vice president of Colliers International, gave their views on trends and factors in the business site selection process during the chamber’s annual meeting on Wednesday. That meeting, held at the Rhythm City Casino Resort in Davenport, drew a crowd of more than 650 business and community leaders.
During their "fire-side chat" presentation, the two men fielded a few questions and talked about what factors can give one community an advantage over another when it comes to being selected as the home for a new business.
Mr. Westover said that while the number of available “workers will always be important,” the decision often comes down to the “quality of place” of a community. That “quality” appears to be the physical characteristics of a community, the entertainment features available, and the many other factors that affect the quality of life for people living, working and visiting a community.
“You can’t undervalue the sense of place about a community,” said Mr. Westover.
But while a city’s “quality of place” may be a bit tough to define, other factors that make a community a good home for future business growth are easier to see. One of those factors is the availability of child care options to a company’s future workforce.
Several area groups have been focused on improving childcare options and affordability in the region. In one of those recent meetings, Angie Rae Duncan, a senior business development specialist with the First Children’s Finance (FCF) group, based in Minneapolis, said this about the issue: “Child care is economic development. It’s just as important as infrastructure, housing and schools.”
“Daycare is incredibly important to the community image,” Mr. Hickey added during Wednesday’s meeting.
He said that community image is hurt if employers look at a community and find there are few child care options or it will cost a future employee $20,000 a year to get good child care. Mr. Hickey called for a public-private partnership to help increase child care options.
“We do put those things back into the spreadsheet (when looking at communities),” he added.
In addition to child care, available housing is also a vital issue. Mr. Westover said that during a recent visit to Columbus, Ohio, officials from a company looking to build in that community asked what turned out to be a tough question: ‘Where are (our employees) going to live?’ “They found that it’s going to be a challenge,” he added.
Oher big factors for attracting businesses center on a community’s growth and available workers. Mr. Hickey said the Quad Cities might get some “red flags” from employers who see little population growth in the region. (During the annual meeting, the chamber’s President and CEO Peter Tokar III pointed out that the Quad Cities’ population has grown by less than 1% in the past 10 years.)
But the QC also offers a lot of good news for potential future employers. “You are far ahead of others” in your regional approach, said Mr. Hickey.
The pair of consultants also offered this advice to help the QC attract businesses in the future: keep developing and training a workforce; work to keep young people in the community; make sure potential business sites are ready and have utilities available; and work to market the Quad Cities.
“The Quad Cities has a positive message and story behind it,” said Mr. Hickey.
Mr. Westover added that the community should directly approach “guys like us” – that is, people in the site selection business – in marketing the community. “I’m a firm believer of getting boots on the ground,” he said.
In addition to looking to the future, the annual celebration also focused on some of the chamber’s major accomplishments of the past year. Among them were:
- Achieved five major economic development wins, representing a total economic impact of $122.7 million with 120 new jobs and 92 retained jobs in the Quad Cities..
- Celebrated $42.4 million invested in eight projects including: Bowstring Lofts, Federal Pointe Apartments, The Garrison, Great River Brewery, The Last Picture House and MLK Park.
- Recognized 26 new or expanded businesses with $160,000 awarded in commercial infrastructure grants, leveraging $1.5 million of additional private investment.
- Celebrated the groundbreaking of the City of Rock Island’s $8.7 million downtown public infrastructure project.
- Launched the downtown Ambassador program and partnered with the Rock Island Police Department to help keep downtown clean, safe and welcoming.
- Welcomed 132 new chamber members bringing the total number of members to 1,148.
- Hosted 48 events with 3,532 attendees.
- Celebrated new businesses including: The Beauty Vault, Evolution Martial Arts, Organic Ends and Siam Thai Café.
- Marked the full launch of the Amazon Robotics Fulfillment Center in north Davenport.
- Contracted with Hickey Global, an international site selection firm, to conduct a Regional Site Readiness Study. The study is addressing the need for development ready sites in the Quad Cities six-county region. This study looks at the current inventory of sites in the region as well as outlines an action plan to move the needle forward.
- Participated in 235 out-of-market outreach connections for business attraction and 519 business resource assists.
- Celebrated 74 business ribbon cuttings.
