Syracuse named a top site for business location

Business Facilities magazine cites affordability, abundance of water.

Friday, September 26, 2008
By Rick Moriarty Staff writer

A site selection magazine has named the Syracuse metropolitan area among seven around the country worthy of a look by companies seeking a new location.

Business Facilities magazine said in its September issue that Syracuse came to its attention when it came in as the sixth most affordable place for business in a ranking developed by Regional Financial Associates, an independent provider of economic research.

After taking a closer look, the magazine said it found that the Syracuse area "has something that increasingly is a rare and valuable commodity: an abundant supply of fresh, potable water!"

Early this year, Onondaga County's economic development office launched an advertising campaign touting the Syracuse area's abundance of water. The campaign was geared toward the beverage and food-processing industries.

"At a time when the southeastern U.S. is experiencing devastating drought conditions that are affecting industry as well as individuals, Syracuse, located next to Lake Ontario, has access to eight million gallons per day of high-quality, low-priced water," the magazine said.

The magazine also noted that the area's manufacturing sector got a boost in February when Bitzer Scroll Inc., a large independent manufacturer of air conditioning and refrigeration compressors, announced it would set up a manufacturing facility in Salina and create 289 jobs. It recently opened the facility in the former General Motors Inland Fisher Guide plant, now an industrial park.

The other six metro areas listed as the magazine's "editors' location picks" are Salt Lake City; Midland, Texas; Philadelphia; Oklahoma City; Minneapolis-Saint Paul; and Wichita, Kan.

Greg Hitchin, interim director of the Onondaga County economic development office, said being included in the listing will help Syracuse grab the attention of corporate real estate executives and site selection consultants.

The magazine has a circulation of 43,000, with 51 percent going to manufacturing companies and the rest to business services and other types of companies, he said.

He said a Web site created for the county's advertising campaign received more than 700 hits. And as a result of the campaign, the county has been in contact with a food-processing firm and a company that uses a lot of water in its manufacturing process, Hitchin said.

The full article is on the magazine's Web site, www.business facilities.com. Click on the "Editors' Location Picks 2008" link.

Staff writer Rick Moriarty can be reached at 470-3148 or rmoriarty@syracuse.com.