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SITE SELECTION
The Evolution of the Megasite As the need for next-generation megasites continues to grow, economic development professionals are helping end-users reimagine the site selection and site preparedness process. By Courtney Dunbar, Site Selection Director; and Corey Kingsland, Civil Engineering Section Manager; Burns & McDonnell
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ompeting on a national and global scale for large economic development projects — and winning — is a sure sign of a community’s vitality. A community’s ability to position largescale, shovel-ready land tracts for investment consideration exponentially increases its ability to secure desired jobs and capital investment at the local level. For years, there has been a traditional understanding of megasite requirements. Originally created to meet the demands of the automotive OEM and allied industries, these sites were assumed to have consistent demands. Important factors have included fully contiguous land space; multimodal transportation, including access to rail; large-scale and redundant utility capacities; and the ability to accommodate massive square footage. In fact, so much priority was placed on factors such as rail access, minimum infrastructure capacity expectations, and contiguousness that benchmarks for the certification of sites mimicked similar factors across the U.S. for several decades. The fortunate communities with established megasites
poured a significant amount of both financial and planning resources into the sites’ preparedness and protection, carefully considering only potential users aligned with the longterm vision for the given area. Megasites have traditionally been coveted by local, state, and utility economic developers, due to the sites’ ability to attract industrial and allied end-users. The presence of employers of this magnitude often leads to subsequent investment, multiplying growth opportunities within the commercial and retail sectors at the local level. While some economic development organizations have undertaken many aspects of megasite development and management, history proves that the most successful endeavors involved positioning land tracts near first-rate multimodal transportation assets, including commercial airports. Other important features have included high-capacity utility attributes with expandability, rapid local permitting, risk-free environmental conditions, and population centers capable of supplying a robust and skilled workforce.
How Megasites Are Evolving Recently, there has been a noticeable shift in the size and phasing of these potential megasites, as well as the types of industries that call these sites home. Today’s AREA DEVELOPMENT | Q2 2022
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