Site Selection magazine’s annual Governor’s Cup ranking for 2007 places Kentucky 10th in the nation for new and expanded industry activity in 2007. The ranking is based on a state’s total number of qualified projects as tracked by Conway Data Inc.’s New Plant database.
Qualified projects include those that meet at least one of three criteria: (1) involve a capital investment of at least $1 million, (2) create 50 or more jobs or (3) add at least 20,000 square feet of new floor space. During 2007, Kentucky generated 199 projects that met the database requirements. In total, 316 location or expansion announcements were reported in Kentucky, resulting in 13,371 net new jobs created. Investment was estimated at more than $2.3 billion. Kentucky has the smallest population of any state ranked in the Top 10.
Site Selection publisher Conway Data has showcased the annual Governor’s Cup rankings since 1978, and its yearly analyses are regarded by corporate real estate analysts as “the industry scoreboard.” The magazine’s circulation base consists of 44,000 executives involved in corporate site selection decisions.
In addition to the Governor’s Cup, three Kentucky metro areas were recognized in their respective categories for the number of industry location and expansion projects. For metro areas with populations over one million, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky/Middletown, Ohio/Ky./Ind. finished second with 111 qualifying projects. Lexington-Fayette County tied for 10th place with 22 projects in the second tier of metros, communities with populations between 200,000 and one million. Bowling Green tied for sixth place with nine projects in the third tier of metros, which includes those with a population between 50,000 and 200,000.
Six smaller Kentucky communities also fared well in the magazine’s Top Micropolitan Ranking. Glasgow, Paducah, Danville, Frankfort, Madisonville and Mayfield made the 2007 Top Micropolitan list, giving Kentucky a fifth-place ranking for the most top micros.
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