Staubach Says There Is More to Site Selection Than Quality of Life

Still, the mantra at the site-selection committee, as it had been at two previous conferences that also were sponsored by the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., was that quality of life doesn't cut it as a marketing tool. That's because, says committee members, whether you're a small town in Southern Illinois, a big city on either coast, or a place like Denver near world-class skiing, everyone thinks they have a great quality of life.

Those on the site-selection panel with Staubach included: George K. Francis II, senior manger, Deloitte Tax LLP; Timm Myllykangas, executive vice president, principal CRESA Partners Boston; Patrick Nasi, principal, Development Dynamics, LLC; Don C. Schjeldahl, vice president and director, the Austin Co.; Ronald Jon Starner, director of publications, Conway Data Inc., publisher of Site Selection magazine; Lawyer Thomas Stringer, a senior manager of BDO Seidman, LLP; and George Tobjy, of KPMG LLP.

Staubach told GlobeSt.com that he thinks the economy could slow, but even with Hurricane Katrina and Rita, he thinks the US will avoid a recession next year. "I'm trying to understand the economy," Staubach told GlobeSt.com. "We had an economy that had been on the move. I don't know if it was benefiting from the tax cuts or what, but people seemed to be spending money and are a little worried. Hopefully, the economy is going to be able to deal with all of the issues. I've been looking at some statistics and the recession-type predictions are more for 2007 and 2008 than they are now."

He noted that even though the Staubach Co.'s main job is to represent tenants, and not as site selectors per se, his company has had some experience in that realm. "Site selection is normally a labor-type decision," he said. "Real estate plays a part in it, but only a part of it. There are a lot of reasons involved when a company decides to move," including economic development incentives, he said.

He noted that the Staubach Co. in the past helped Kinko's move from Southern California to the Dallas area and helped UPS moved to Atlanta. Indeed, he said, many Dallas political and business leaders asked him why he didn't move UPS to Dallas. He had to explain that he is helping the company evaluate the choices it is making based on its criteria, but he doesn't choose the city for them.

Staubach also says that Denver should benefit from energy companies moving and expanding here. Some energy companies that evacuated Houston, which was in the path of Hurricane Rita while he was in Denver, might even consider moving to Denver or beefing up their operations here, at least on a temporary basis, he said.