Editor’s Note: This post was written by Steve Kaelble for MEDC and approved by Location Development.
In site choice, time is cash, and uncertainty is expensive. As companies search nationally, Michigan stands out by helping neighborhoods get shovel-ready and offering a portfolio of websites that lets executives move fast and with confidence.
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“In today’s world, customers are moving so quick that the sites that are prepared and currently have actually due diligence finished are the ones that increase to the top of the list,” states Lindsey Cannon, handling director of Quest Site Solutions. To ensure these assessments meet the greatest nationwide requirements, Michigan got Mission to act as an independent third-party validator.
“We’ve recognized that it’s an extremely competitive landscape,” states Paul O’Connell, vice president of property development for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The MI Sites program, developed in cooperation with Mission, is a crucial answer for helping Michigan communities position their commercial websites for investment. “This is not a website certification program. This is a website preparedness program. Our goal is to land the best of the very best in terms of projects.”
MI Sites has developed structured, constant criteria for analyzing websites objectively and developing standardized paperwork. Regional communities send websites for assessment, which leads to a deep dive into their attributes, resources, and preparedness. The process causes a mock website see, O’Connell states, “with Quest leading it as if having a business in tow. They ask all the concerns that site selectors would ask when a real task comes along.”
Each site is eventually designated to one of the MI Sites program’s three tiers: bronze, silver, or gold. The tiers reflect levels of preparedness and due diligence finished, and the vetting procedure reveals chances to make each website a lot more appealing to financiers. “The goal is to prepare everybody involved in the procedure and have a large portfolio of websites with third-party vetting,” Cannon says. “We’re informing neighborhoods and making them smarter, more prepared. At the end, not just do they accomplish their designation, however they likewise are offered with a marketing deliverable going into a lot of detail on all aspects of the website.”
In today’s world, customers are moving so fast that the sites that are prepared and currently have actually due diligence completed are the ones that rise to the top of the list.
Lindsey Cannon, Managing Director of Quest Website Solutions
Michigan stands ready to help when the process exposes site improvement chances. The Strategic Website Preparedness Program (SSRP), for example, uses monetary incentives, consisting of grants and loans planned to construct Michigan’s inventory of investment-ready websites. State support can help local sites move their way up the tier system, even more their due diligence, and enhance their readiness.
“We are being proactive and aggressive in creating excellent websites in the state of Michigan,” O’Connell states, “and also putting significant dollars behind it.” In the past 3 years or so, the state has invested more than $460 million in proactive site preparedness grants.
It deserves noting that sites don’t have to get the gold to gain from MI Sites involvement. The criteria for the gold tier are quite rigid, O’Connell notes, however a bronze designation still indicates a whole lot of worth.
Take the case of Midbrook Manufacturing & Fabrication as an example. “We looked for a shovel-ready site that might get us up and running as quickly as possible,” says Jamie Willis, Midbrook’s chief operating officer. “We understood that the Jackson Innovation Park North had actually received the MI Sites bronze certification, which removed a lot of time and threat from our site search. It resulted in us remaining in our new, purpose-built facility much quicker than if we had to perform all the essential due diligence needed for ourselves on many websites.”
What benefited Midbrook was also helpful for Jackson County, according to Keith Gillenwater, president and CEO of Accelerate Jackson County, who states MI Sites was practical in developing out Jackson Innovation Park North. “The process was very thorough and eventually led us to developing among the premier company parks in Michigan.”
Ultimately, programs such as MI Sites and the SSRP are about more than simply preparing websites, says O’Connell. The initiatives are helping the state up its video game in how it assesses, prepares, and markets sites, and how it meets the requirements of website selection specialists. “It’s not just the readiness of sites however the preparedness of Team Michigan. It’s an overall preparedness program in regards to dealing with the needs of site selectors.”
To get more information about the MI Sites program or to see a portfolio of designated properties, check out michiganbusiness.org/mi-sites-program.