Midwest Now More Competitive on Incentives

From left: Kate Crowley, principal, Baker Tilly; Thomas M. Boyle, principal, Transwestern; Tony Q. Smith, executive vice president of SB Friedman; and moderator David Wilson, 2018 CCIM Institute president and executive vice president, Lockard Development, Inc. at last week’s RealShare Industrial conference.

CHICAGO—The recent announcement by online giant Amazon that it was seeking to establish a second 50,000-person headquarters somewhere in North America has focused the minds of many on whether government incentives can help land such a big fish. At last week’s RealShare Industrial conference in Chicago, participants in an afternoon panel tackled the latest developments in public-private partnerships, and it was felt that the Midwest in general has adjusted its attitude toward the use of incentives.

“Midwest states are now competitive,” said Kate Crowley, principal, Baker Tilly. She leads the firm’s negotiated incentives practice, and recently was helping a manufacturing client expand its operations. Crowley could not provide details, but this particular competition came down to one southwestern state and one in the Midwest, and the latter was able to at least match the other in incentives, something that probably would not have happened several years ago.