From Oct. 26–28, Clearly Ahead Development’s Rob Swales, chief executive officer, and Paul McCloskey, vice president of energy and business development, attended the Site Selectors Guild hosted in Philadelphia.
This year’s fall forum agenda was filled with opportunities to meet with some of the world’s top site selection consultants, corporate real estate leaders and other economic development professionals.
The Site Selectors Guild is the highest association for world site selectors. Members of the guild are proven site selection leaders and are nominated by their peers. The fall forum opened with a discussion on locational needs and the life sciences industry.
Following lunch guild members broke into five industry sessions covering: Advanced manufacturing/Automotive, Energy, Food & Beverage, Distribution/Logistics and HQ/Shared Services/Financial Services/R&D.
These breakout sessions were held twice on day one and once on day two, so that attendees could attend sessions of interest. On day two after the breakout session, the guild hosted a panel discussion on location selection from the corporate team perspective with representatives from Penske, USG Corp., Kellogg Company, Linde North America Inc. and the Industrial Asset Management Council as the moderator.
Board of Directors Chairman David Schultz noted, “Economic development is not an overnight or short-term process. Through fostering relationships with leading companies in the use and certification of food service in the Commerce Park, we hope to see progress soon on further development of that location here in Clearfield.
“This continues Clearly Ahead Development’s year-long commitment to bring additional employers, beyond those of the Oil and Gas Sector, to this region thus increasing employment opportunities for all of Clearfield County.”
This year’s fall forum included 22 site selectors around the world, including Jay Garner of Garner Economics LLC. Working with Clearly Ahead Development, Garner Economics partnered with Primus Builders to assemble a comprehensive strategy to promote the Commerce Park, located in Clearfield, for the Food Site Certification.
Garner was instrumental in obtaining the certification of the Clearfield Commerce Park earlier this year. The Commerce Park was awarded the Food Site Certification in August of this year and is currently being promoted to food-grade manufacturing prospects looking to grow operations along the Atlantic Coast.
The Commerce Park is the only Food Site certified industrial park in Pennsylvania, according to Swales.
Swales stated, “We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to showcase the vast resources we have immediately available to an exclusive group of site selection consultants that truly represent clients searching for their next area to meet their growth model. The site selectors were extremely impressed with our area’s regional assets that are immediately developable for food processing and energy-intense industries.”
Clearly Ahead Development discussed with the site selection consultants the assets, which set Clearfield County apart from other areas in Pennsylvania – specifically, the 162-acre certified food site, located immediately off Interstate 80, Exit 120 and the 1,800-acre River Hill Power Site located in Karthaus.
Clearly Ahead Development is a private, non-profit, membership organization serving the community to create growth and opportunity in Clearfield County.