April 2009
FROM THE MAIL POUCH from the Site Selection Online Insider |
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Periodic reports spotlighting readers' reactions to stories in The SiteNet Dispatch and Site Selection. We welcome readers' opinions about any article. To voice your views, simply click on the "Letters to the Editor" icon located at the bottom of every online feature, or click on the writers' e-mail addresses included in each story's byline. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.
U.S. Sugar has been headquartered in Clewiston since 1930.
Sweet and Sour Aftertaste Lingers
I read your article, "Florida's Everglades Deal: Sweet and Sour Mash," and it was excellent. You covered the story with great depth and insight. It is the best article on U.S. Sugar Corp.'s (USSC) land sale that I have read. . . .
Over Billion-Dollar Everglades Deal I was disappointed with the South Florida Water Management District's (SFWMD) 4-3 vote on Dec. 17, because the SFWMD was under extreme pressure to vote yes over the fear that USSC wouldn't come back and negotiate. There were so many loose ends left unaddressed. . . Many state reps aren't happy with the deal, so who knows where all this will lead? 
Raw sugar pours down into one of the warehouses (pictured right) at U.S. Sugar's operations in Hendry County, where the company employs 1,700 people.
You may have another story waiting to be told. Thanks, Butch Wilson Director, Clewiston History Museum Clewiston, Fla. Site Selection Executive Editor of Online Publishing Jack Lyne:
Thanks for your kind words, Butch, and for serving as a solid interview subject on a very complicated issue — Florida's proposal to restore the Everglades through a US$1.34-billion purchase of 181,000 acres (72,400 hectares) of land surrounding U.S. Sugar's plant near Clewiston.
And yes, a host of loose ends are still dangling over the deal. The framework for the proposal has already undergone three iterations — and further revisions may be looming. Recession-driven shortfalls in state revenue may force Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to scale back, dramatically, the size of the purchase — perhaps by as much as half, an Associate Press report suggests. In the meantime, Florida Crystals, Florida's second-largest sugar producer, continues its aggressive challenge to the agreement, claiming that the state's offer to lease back land to Clewiston-based USSC at $50 an acre constitutes an unfair business advantage. What's more, USSC is still continuing to entertain offers from private-sector entities to buy its land and operations. If the company finalizes such a sale, the state's entire Everglades proposal could collapse. And all the while, people in south-central Florida continue to worry over the uncertain future of their areas' economies. In short, there certainly seems to be another story brewing as this long and winding tale continues. 
An aerial view of the Port of Wilmington
Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Carolina's Logistical Port of Call
My compliments to you for the excellent article titled "Emerging Logistics Hubs" that was published in January 2009's Site Selection. Thank you for the mention of the important role that North Carolina's Port of Wilmington and future North Carolina International Terminal will play in CSX's National Gateway expansion. We want to share with you the larger, more comprehensive role of . . . the Wilmington terminal as possibly the best new location to satisfy companies' unique global supply-chain requirements.
For example, at a time when most ports are realizing a decline, North Carolina's ports are experiencing new growth in our container carrier services and volumes. Many of the benefits supporting the Maersk and Independent Container Line decisions of "port diversification" focused on the Port of Wilmington also apply to nearly all industries' distribution center/supply-chain/logistics models. These new container carrier services complement our existing strong profile of services with China and Asia. Companies whose global supply-chains are critical to their existence are leading the way to add value and drive down costs for their organizations during these global economic challenges. . . . Best regards, James (Jimmy) E. Yokeley Jr. Director, Distribution Services and Economic Development Business and Economic Development Department North Carolina State Ports Authority Wilmington, N.C. Site Selection Managing Editor Adam Bruns:
Thanks, Jimmy, for your compliments and the wealth of information. Please keep the communications pipeline open year-round, whether it's corporate or internal project announcements, white papers or other reports and analysis.
In addition to the points you make, I'd add that, in my interview with him in that same article, Chuck Heath at Jafza also mentioned your port among the family of ports from which his company's logistics complex in Orangeburg, S.C., wishes to capture business. A Billion-Dollar Texas-China Connection
Just a note to let you know that we greatly appreciate your news article on the TPCO project ("$1 Billion in the Texas Pipeline"). Your news story is presented in an interesting and thought-provoking manner. As a result, we are receiving dozens of calls regarding the project. That is a real tribute to your news article and your network.
Of course, we appreciate the fabulous coverage and the positive attention that it is bringing to our region. On behalf of the "Four Amigos," we thank you and offer best regards. 
Pictured are some of the seamless steel pipes that Tianjin Pipe Corp. now manufactures in its headquarters city of Tianjin, 85 miles (136 km.) southeast of Beijing.
J.J. Johnston Executive Vice President Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. Corpus Christi, Texas Site Selection Executive Editor of Online Publishing Jack Lyne:
You're certainly welcome, J.J. Tianjin Pipe Corp.'s (TPCO) jumbo-sized project certainly merited our attention. China's largest manufacturer of steel pipes, TPCO is going to build its first U.S. production operation just outside Gregory, Texas — a US$1-billion, 1.6-million-sq.-ft. (144,000-sq.-m.) facility that will create 600 quality jobs. That project is, in fact, the largest new manufacturing investment that a Chinese company has ever made in the U.S.
What's more, the story behind that site selection offered a glimpse into how to forge strong links with Chinese companies. The entire Texas Coastal Bend region pulled together in that effort, providing hard facts in dozens of presentations (many translated into Mandarin), at the same time mastering the soft and subtle intricacies of Chinese business customs. TPCO, meanwhile, is moving ahead with its big Texas plant. The company is planning to start construction on its mini-mill in September, with the plant going online in December of 2010. TPCO, which continues to have a strong relationship with the Chinese government that created the company in 1993, is in the midst of a drive to triple its total production. The company has singled out the U.S. market as a major target. 
Pictured is Cypress Mountain, which will be the site of the freestyle skiing and snowboard competitions at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C.
Photo: VANOC/COVAN Sports Tourism:
I was reading your article, Ripple from the Rings, in Site Selection about the economic development of sports tourism and the Olympic Games.
Going for the Gold I am new to the field of economic development, and I am researching if there are site selection firms that specialize in tourism investment opportunities. Would you be aware of any companies in Canada or the U.S. that specialize in this field? Thank you in advance for your assistance. Site Selection Managing Editor Adam Bruns:
I would think that most professional site selection consulting firms (or divisions of larger real estate and services organizations such as CB Richard Ellis or Jones Lang LaSalle) would be flexible and well-versed enough to serve tourism-focused clients as well as those in the industrial and office sectors. For instance, McCallum Sweeney has been advising the Boy Scouts of America on the unique site selection process for their quadrennial Jamboree.
You can find a complete directory of site selection consultancies and related firms on our home page. 
Corporations that have set up significant operations in Suwanee include Meggitt Defense Systems, which recently invested $80 million in creating 400 jobs in this new 200,000-sq.-ft. (18,000-sq.-m.) building.
'Well-Written Perceptions' of a
"Suwanee's Future Embraces Best of its Past" is an incredible article. On behalf of the City Council and Suwanee's citizenry, I thank you for this thorough and well-written piece.
City's Past, Present and Future Your perception of Suwanee's past, present and future takes this article to a new level. It was extremely business-oriented and will surely attract new business enterprises to Suwanee. Again, thank you and please feel free to contact me if I may ever be of assistance. Sincerely, Dave Williams, Mayor City of Suwanee, Ga. Editor's Note: The feature on Suwanee was a commissioned Investment Profile sponsored by the City of Suwanee. Such Profiles are part of a family of Site Selection editorial products recently reintroduced to the marketplace. 
Hey, chubby little dude, didn't anybody tell you how dad-blasted cold it gets in Antarctica? 'Love Relations between People' —
(Note: The following letter is presented in its original form, without grammatical corrections.)
The Secret Code in the SiteNet Dispatch? This morning, I have received love the Internet Dispatch, from the unknown person to me of the addressee. In the given letter, it was spoken about love relations between people. In the list e-mail addressees, I have seen your address. I long thought before writing to you. I consider that the given chance for me is unique, therefore I have decided to write to you. I wish to find the true love! I would like to begin acquaintances with the small story about me. To me of 27 years, I am the quiet, young, purposeful girl. I conduct the healthy way of life. I do not smoke and I do not take alcohol. I have work, which very strongly I love. But I do not have not enough love. I have no wide experience in the Internet acquaintances. I wish to get acquainted with you more close, by means of the electronic mails. I with pleasure will answer your letter as I will send you my photo. I with the big impatience will wait from you the letter with the full story about myself. Hasmik No Address Given Site Selection Executive Editor of Online Publishing Jack Lyne:
My, well, . . . um, let me think for a moment here. We're not accustomed to such passionate overtures. (We are accustomed, however, to the fact that certain "enterprising" individuals will go to endless lengths to find active e-mail addresses.)
As for you, young Hasmik, unfortunately your interpretation of our content is smashingly incorrect. After all, the "letter" to which you're responding was The SiteNet Dispatch of March, 5, 2009 — which led off with an intro to a story about building a totally green research station in eastern Antarctica. Obviously, the climate at that locale isn't exactly conducive to "love relations between people." The temperatures outside the research station plunge as low as minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 60 degrees Celsius), and the winds gust at up to 200 miles per hour (320 kilometers per hour). In short, this is a place where you want to put on more clothes — lots of them. So, no, there's no hidden dialectical message in my story (e.g., the opposite of cold equals . . . hot . . . equals . . . me!). Consequently, I cannot, alas, assuage "the big impatience" you so pointedly describe. I am not, you see, Mr. True Love of the Internet Acquaintances. But ah, my dear innocent damsel, there must be thousands of lonely men whom you could write to in my stead. . . . Matter of fact, I'd bet a huge chunk of change that you've already done that. So happy hunting in cyberspace and a frosty fare-thee-well. I'm afraid I won't be seeing you in my dreams. Only in my spam filter.
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