Source: The Oregon Prosperity Project
Another Piece of Our Economic Puzzle
Severe Lack of Available Land Will Restrict Oregon Job Creation
“Our dwindling inventory of available industrial lands is making it difficult to respond to companies interested in expanding their operations into Oregon. We need to find strategies to make potential sites shovel ready so we can compete, not just for recruitment, but for expansion and retention of the great companies we already have.”
– Tim McCabe, Director, Business Oregon (Oregon’s Economic Development Department)
If we want to grow Oregon jobs, we’re going to need the land to do it.
A consistent inventory of sites is a key requirement for meeting market demand, either by expanding local employers or attracting new employers to our state.
The experience of state and regional economic development experts indicates that accomplishing our industrial retention, expansion and recruitment strategy depends on the immediate availability of an adequate supply of well-located, market-priced and readily developable large-lot industrial lands.
Business Oregon has extensive experience recruiting national and international traded-sector companies into the state and the Portland-metro region. Their experience is that the majority of employers considering whether to locate in Oregon require sites where they can break ground within 180 days of site selection.
It is also important for the host region to offer a number of potential sites for employers to choose from in order to receive serious consideration by site selectors. The fewer the number of sites available for immediate development, the lower the odds are that the region will be able to meet the new employer’s requirements.
This is a challenge Oregon will want to address soon.
