Site selection has evolved into a sweet science

LONGMONT — Gone are the days when an executive for a growing company places a call to a local chamber of commerce and asks for a community’s demographics and real estate statistics. A global economy and the advent of the Internet have changed the way expanding business find a place to build or relocate.

And it’s changed the way people such as Don Schjeldahl, a site-selection consultant for 25 years with Cleveland-based The Austin Co., operate.

"In a town like Longmont ... they have to understand the competition is not down the road," said Don Schjeldahl with Cleveland-based The Austin Co. "It might be Shanghai, or what’s happening in St. Louis, or somewhere else."

Companies’ moves today often involve international searches, said Bob Ady, a 30-year site-selection veteran and owner of Chicago-based Ady Inter national Co.

"You might be looking at places in four different countries," he said.

Both men agree that it’s a much different world than when they first got into the business. More here.