Catching up to the medical mart race
Posted on November 17, 2009 at 10:55 amMedCity News pulls together the various threads shaping the efforts in Nashville, Cleveland and the Big Apple to open massive medical convention spaces. The synopsis: New York has the tenants, Cleveland thought it had the land and Nashville thinks it’s going to get state incentives.
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A very important question
Posted on at 10:21 amFareed Zakaria asks if America has lost its power to innovate.
Like a star that still looks bright in the farthest reaches of the universe but has burned out at the core, America’s reputation is stronger than the hard data warrant. For example, the World Economic Forum surveys say America is the globe’s top recipient of venture capital and third-biggest spender on corporate research, but the actual data put it fifth in both categories. Most striking, the ITIF rankings show that, in recent years, the United States has made the least progress of the 39 countries analyzed in improving its innovation capacity and internal competitiveness. The measures are standard, ranging from government research spending, where the United States does well, to the corporate tax rate, where it does extremely poorly.
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‘Boro developer planning Chattanooga apartments
Posted on November 16, 2009 at 11:19 am
The arrival of Volkswagen and Wacker Chemie in the Chattanooga area has Tim Keach optimistic about the city’s growth path. His TDK Construction will build a 199-unit luxury apartment complex there worth about $16 million.
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Medical trade center site ‘kind of finalized’
Posted on at 7:51 am
David Osborn, who’s helping Crow Holdings and Market Center Management Co. develop their plans for a Nashville medical trade center, tells Milt Capps the location and basic design of the massive facility is a month away.
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The future is here – well, in Clarksville anyway
Posted on November 13, 2009 at 8:04 amHemlock Semiconductor has officially started construction of a $1.2 billion solar panel manufacturing plant in Montgomery County. We couldn’t find any renderings, but here are some dandy stats to mix into your weekend conversations.
Total construction time for the entire project is estimated to be nearly three years. The site will contain over 150,000 cubic yards of concrete, 20,000 tons of structural steel, and more than one million feet of piping, which equates to 1.3 miles of piping installed per week.
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Fiberweb invests in R&D
Posted on at 7:42 am
Those dapperly dressed men with shovels are John Schaffer of Constellation Energy Projects & Services Group, Mayor Karl Dean and John Juric, president of Fiberweb Americas. They broke ceremonial ground yesterday on Fiberweb’s new central utility plant and new research and development center in Old Hickory. The $34 million project will create about 30 jobs on top of the 600 Fiberweb already accounts for locally.
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MTSU economist: Nissan electric job projections optimistic
Posted on November 12, 2009 at 1:32 pmDavid Penn at MTSU’s Business & Economic Research Center says the study prepared to help Rutherford County officials justify $62 million in tax breaks for Nissan was a tad too upbeat.
“The analysis done on the multiplier assumes that other jobs that Nissan has stays the same,” said Penn, who is also an economics associate professor for MTSU. “These models they use assume that all sources are fully employed to begin with, but we clearly know that’s not the case right now. So that brings down the multiplier a lot.”
For its part, the accused at Younger Associates say they’ve got the government backing them up.
“The analysis is based on the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis multipliers. They are specific to Rutherford County and they are specific to the automotive industry. They are reflective of the past performance of automotive operations in Rutherford County.”
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Auto supplier scouting state
Posted on at 7:40 amAn Ontario maker of headrests and other auto parts is looking at expanding in Tennessee as well as in Mexico and near Evansville, Ind. Windsor Machine Group’s project would eventually bring with it about 130 jobs.
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No hogs for Murfreesboro
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 7:54 am
Harley-Davidson officials have eliminated Murfreesboro and Shelbyville, Ind., from the short list of cities where it might move its 2,300-employee York, Pa., operations.
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TNInvestco finalists to be announced
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 1:56 pmFrom the State of Tennessee:
Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber and Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr have scheduled Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. Central time to announce the six venture capital fund finalists and two alternates for the TNInvestco program. The TNInvestco program was created by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2009 and the commissioners of ECD and Revenue were charged with allocating $120 million dollars in gross premiums tax credits to the successful applicants in order to leverage private investment in early stage and mid stage capital investment programs. The aim of the program is to attract capital to Tennessee companies and create jobs in the process.
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State slips in ECD ranking
Posted on November 3, 2009 at 7:56 amFifth out of 50 ain’t bad, but I guess we’ve been spoiled of late…
Tennessee’s business climate has slipped three spots on the latest list published by Site Selection. Compared to 2008’s survey, the state scored significantly lower on recruiting new plants. But look how far we’ve come.
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For the people, with the people
Posted on at 7:27 am
Spring Hill Mayor Michael Dinwiddie has begun working the line at GM’s Spring Hill plant, where the last Chevy Traverse will roll off the line in three weeks.
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China Dispatch: Honing my negotiating skills and some closing thoughts
Posted on October 30, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Our final city visit on this trip was to Hong Kong, which is beautifully situated on the coast and is very modern. The 10-year-old state-of-the-art airport sits on a man-made island about 30 minutes from downtown. Given its history of being longtime British colony, it is the most westernized Chinese city that we visited.
We arrived in the early evening — with enough time to get fitted for a suit that cost a quarter of the U.S. price — then headed over to Hong Kong Island to do some last-minute shopping in the street market. What a sight to see: thousands of people walking shoulder to shoulder down shop-lined streets buying everything from knock-off Rolexes to rubber chickens, all trying to negotiate the best deal they could. After being taken a few times, I became the hardest negotiator in the street — at least in my own mind.
I had to depart early the next day while the group had a last day of meetings. I feel very privileged to have been invited to travel to China with a first-class Tennessee delegation. I enjoyed getting to know the governor, the commissioners, their hard-working staff and, most of all, the Tennessee business leaders who all share a common interest in growing ties with China. I met many people, both American and Chinese, with whom I plan to explore opportunities.
China was different than I had anticipated. I had envisioned more of a third-world infrastructure that only had an upper and lower class, all ruled by the fist of Communism. Instead, I found a very robust ‘capitalist-like’ society backed by a government in pursuit of world power.
The country’s leaders have the strong taste for wealth and are making monumental strides in buying up the world’s natural resources and learning (some would call it stealing) everything they can to improve their citizens’ lives. Although, like us right now, I’m not sure they’ve figured out how to pay for it.
The Chinese have a rich history dating back thousands of years, during which they have seen just about everything. While they do have a judicial system, they seem to still turn a blind eye to human rights, the protection of intellectual property and true freedom of speech. I was warned to watch what I blogged, as they do monitor ‘reporter-like’ information. (For more on that, check out hotel Internet use disclaimer.) I didn’t want Bill Clinton to have to come fetch me.
The few businesspeople I spoke with who are doing business in China said that, while their costs are still very low, they are still only comfortable with transaction-based investments, i.e. outsourcing portions of their production to Chinese companies instead of fully investing in facilities there. Their fear is that their product patents will be stolen and their real estate taken.
It’s still a bit of the Wild West there. But then again, on the clock of Chinese’s long history, so was the U.S. only a few minutes ago.
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China Dispatch: Quick-thinking monks and private equity with its eye on the States
Posted on at 12:47 pm
Our third stop was Hangzhou, located about two hours west of Shanghai. Many people from Shanghai have second homes in Hangzhou, which is surrounded by mountains, has a large river running through it and a large, calm lake sitting in the middle of the city.
In the morning before meetings, Butch Eley, Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, Tom Cigarran, a few others and I took a bus to see Buddhist temple nestled in the hills just outside of town. The beautifully restored structure was one of the only temples not destroyed when Mao took power. We were told that, after being given a heads up that the Communists were on their way, the 1,000 monks who lived there hung large photographs of Mao on the walls of the temple. It convinced the revolutionary leader not to destroy it and the site is still home to several buildings containing Buddhist statues more than 30 feet tall.
From there, we drove to a tea plantation built into the hills of a steep canyon. It resembled a small Napa Valley winery. We stopped for a tasting and learned that many world leaders — including the No. 1 tea lover, Queen Elizabeth — had tasted tea there. We got a full education on growing tea plants, the drying process and then drinking it.
Unfortunately, it didn’t have any alcohol. But like wine, they have several different price levels, which we tried — and of course had to buy. The Chinese are great salespeople. We all just had to buy the tea which all of the dignitaries drank, known as the “Emperor’s Tea.” While it was good and cost the group over $2,000, I don’t think any of us plan to trade in our Starbucks coffee anytime soon. We were all glad that we took the trip. It was good to see the countryside and something other than skyscrapers piercing through smog.
Our day ended with several hours of meetings with the local city and provincial government, where Governor Bredesen signed another memorandum of understanding to work together on business opportunities. We heard from the CEO of the 700-bed hospital in which HCA’s Tommy Frist has invested more than $120 million.
We then had a reception with local business people where we talked about opportunities to do business in China and the U.S. Most were health care and energy companies, but I did speak with a young a woman, educated in the U.S., who was now with a private-equity firm looking to invest in the States. This was refreshing to hear, as most companies were still looking for Chinese investment.
Later that evening, a few of us went to a karaoke establishment. That’s the only way to describe it. It was in an office building, had marble-lined floors and walls with about 20 private, well-appointed rooms for groups to privately belt out their best “Rocky Mountain High.” While walking back to our hotel, I noticed a drunken squabble between a man and a very pregnant woman. I immediately ran over and pulled the two apart and they said a few things that I couldn’t understand. Some things are best left unsaid or uninterpreted.
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Gun maker takes aim at TDOT
Posted on at 10:39 am
Ronnie Barrett says state officials told him they were on board with his plans to expand and add 300 jobs just off I-24 in Rutherford County — until they weren’t and left him with a building he can’t get to.
“TDOT was very in favor of it. They said, ‘Yes, we like it. It’s an old farm fence out there. I think it’s going to be easy just to move the fence,’” said Barrett. “Now we have the inability to be able to win certain government contracts because our building’s not big enough.”
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