Vista Site Selection co-sponsored the 10th annual Vorys Economic Development Incentives Conference in Columbus, Ohio on February 21. Vista team members participated in several panels and presentations that discussed trends in site selection, including artificial intelligence, data analytics and manufacturing trends to more than 400 attendees.
AI, Economic Development and Site Selection
The morning began early for Evan Stair, partner and managing director at Vista, who participated in the day’s opening panel, titled “How to Use AI for Economic Development and Site Selection.” Other participants included Chris Chung, the chief executive officer of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina and Nate Jedinak, director of software, data and innovation at Vorys.
Evan came ready to demonstrate exactly how Vista begins an AI discussion. Those who follow Vista’s YouTube channel are familiar with Evan working to find the ideal location for restaurant chains based on gathered data. He showed the audience how he would help P. Terry’s, an Austin-based burger chain. Evan walked the audience through how his site selection models analyzed data and determined trends correlated to successful P. Terry’s locations.
The kicker, Evan warned the crowd, was that the model was technically “machine learning” and not AI. AI faces significant challenges in site selection, he explained, because current large-language models have performed poorly at the spatial reasoning required for such tasks.
So…is there room for AI in Vista’s work? Absolutely.
Evan noted that he finds ChatGPT particularly valuable in gathering the essential data for feeding Vista’s machine learning models. He leans on ChatGPT to create code that helps him scrape this data. He warned other data analysts in the crowd to keep proprietary data on proprietary models…there’s no better way to help your competition than by dumping data you worked to find onto the open web.
All panelists hinted that regardless of whether site selection companies use it, AI will still make a major impact on business. Data center projects required to fuel the AI revolution are one of the most in-demand projects right now. Vista developed its Data Center Site Selection Tool to keep clients ahead of that curve.
AI’s role in site selection will continue to evolve. Vista has been there since the beginning and we’ll be sure to share updates at future conferences.
Modern Manufacturing and Site Selection
Vista managing directors Chris Magill, Jeff Troan and Julie Miller participated in a breakout session titled “Site Selection Case Study — Manufacturing Facility.” They were joined by Jim Kemp, the president of Annum, LLC and a retired director of operations (space flight) for Lockheed Martin as well as Janie Hanna, economic development manager at Vorys.
The session served to inform the audience on advancements in manufacturing and the sector’s changing needs, how changes in both the labor market and the national business climate are impacting the site selection process and, finally, what manufacturers should expect when procuring development incentives.
Jeff set a high bar for his fellow presenters, opening the presentation with a number of videos from the post-World War II boom; one showcasing a glossy, audience-facing version of American manufacturing and another presenting a more honest, dirty-hands rendition. His actual presentation ultimately focused on modern, additive manufacturing (think 3D printers) versus older subtractive methods (think classical sculpture).
The way industries manufacture hasn’t been the only thing that’s changed; plant construction the workforce is also very different in 2025.
The team shared a typical matrix that we use when comparing site opportunities for a manufacturing project. Combine all the factors tied to labor — availability, cost, workforce development and others — and more than 55% of a project’s “analog factors” revolve around the people needed to work the plant. The modern business climate — understanding climate issues, right-to-work laws and industry-specific demands — must also weigh on decisionmakers.
Finally, Chris and Julie took the baton when discussing the procurement of incentives. They broke incentives into four primary categories and outlined Vista’s seven-step procurement process.
They placed particular emphasis on steps five (“develop project team” and “site selection recommendation to upper management”) and seven (“incentives compliance”). As Julie noted, an estimated 50% of all awarded incentives go unrealized due to compliance issues. It’s a fact that she, Vista’s head of incentives compliance, takes seriously and helped design our Navigator Incentive Compliance Tool to fix.
The day wasn’t quite over for Vista; Senior Managing Director Matt Samler controlled the microphone during the day’s final panel, “Site Selection, Data Analytics and Commercial Real Estate Trends for 2025.” His panel — which included development executives Jim Clark and Mike Copella as well as real estate attorney Ted Smith — addressed topics and fielded questions regarding commercial development and the relatively stormy waters of office space.
The entire Vista team enjoyed our time at the annual Vorys Economic Development Incentives Conference and we plan on returning next year, both to learn and educate on site selection trends.
If you would like to learn more about any of the topics described above, please reach out!
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