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.
BLS & Co. represented Diageo during their new headquarters location decision-making process. Their 270,000 square foot building in Norwalk, CT represented the very first project approved under the State's new Urban Reinvestment Act program and resulted in a reward of transferable tax credits, as well as sales tax exemptions and property tax abatements.
BLS & Co. advised New York Life on the relocation of approximately 1,000 employees from the company’s Manhattan headquarters location to a new facility in Westchester, New York.
BLS & Co. was successful in securing an economic development incentive package that included a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes), sales tax exemptions on construction materials and FF&E purchases, a state capital grant and a discount of the utility bills.
A confidential BLS life sciences client was searching for a new manufacturing site to access 100% renewable electricity and generate 10% of its electric requirement with onsite solar. The site was also required to enable procuring renewable electric commodities from a third-party supplier or the electric utility supplying the chosen site, depending on the market structure at the site. If directly accessing renewable energy was not an option, it planned to purchase “new RECs” until it could procure the supply from the utility or third-party supplier. The project began as a national (U.S.) search and carries hundreds of jobs and an investment in the hundreds of millions, demonstrating the importance of large-scale projects on renewable energy.
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. 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:
BLS & Co. developed and executed an incentives strategy to induce the company to consolidate Royal Bank of Scotland's North American corporate bank, based in NYC, and its RBS/Greenwich Capital headquarters in a new office and trading floor in Stamford, CT. The package consists of transferable corporate income tax credits and other incentives in connection with the proposed retention and creation of approximately 1,800 jobs. The scale of this package required legislative hearings and consent.
BLS & Co. was engaged to advise Burlington Coat Factory (BCF) as part of a competitive location decision-making process for the location of the company’s headquarters. BCF considered locations within New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
BLS & Co. secured an incentive package from the State of New Jersey consisting of Grow NJ tax credits and an exemption from sales tax on construction materials and equipment purchases.
BLS & Co. worked with the Philadelphia Inquirer to secure an incentives package for the retention of its headquarters in Center City.
BLS & Co. was successful in restructuring the RCAP incentives program as well as securing low interest rate financing through Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation.
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. 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.
Since our first project with Eli Lilly and Company (“Lilly”) in 2008, BLS & Co. has served as strategic advisor on multiple site selection and incentives advisory projects throughout the company’s real estate portfolio, involving over $8 billion in planned investment and 3,000 in announced new positions.
Project Highlights
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.
Our advisory services in Kentucky resulted in...
Our advisory services in Illinois resulted in...
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. advised Gartner on a headquarters location and incentives strategy, enabling the renewal of its lease in Stamford, Connecticut. Our firm secured incentives, utilizing the Urban and Industrial Site Reinvestment Tax Credit, DECD direct assistance, sales tax exemption and property tax abatement.
BLS & Co. also conducted a comprehensive evaluation of location options in multiple markets, including Columbus, GA and Jackson, MS, to accommodate Gartner’s growing space requirements for their operations in Ft. Myers, FL. Gartner ultimately decided to lease a newly constructed 120,000 sf facility adjacent to its existing building in Florida.
Our advisory services in Stamford resulted in...
Our evaluation in Florida resulted in...
BLS & Co. and its energy services affiliate Sugarloaf Associates conducted a thorough review of Florida Power & Light’s 35-county territory to pre-qualify sites for data centers and mission-critical facilities.
Initially, four diverse sites were selected. The sites offer a unique combination of factors desired by today’s mission critical and data center operations, including highly reliable and redundant power and fiber infrastructures, competitive cost structures, and locations insulated from manmade and natural risks.