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Posted Mar 30, 2008, 2:28 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2006
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Upwardly Mobile
I thougt you guys may enjoy this article from today's Birmingham News:
Quote:
Upwardly Mobile
Sunday, March 30, 2008
DAWN KENT
News staff writer
MOBILE - Alabama's port city, known for its laid-back coastal culture, fresh seafood platters and storied Mardi Gras parade, is quickly gaining a reputation as a hub for international commerce.
Mobile has racked up a stunning string of economic development coups in recent years, and in the process, it has become a magnet for foreign investment.
A fast-growing port, abundant access to interstate and rail corridors and a cooperative effort among local leaders are drawing money and jobs from companies in Germany, France, Australia, Singapore and elsewhere.
"We look at the world as our market," said Mayor Sam Jones. "Mobile is really what we consider to be a global city. A lot of our recruitment efforts are international."
The city's success has some wondering whether it could someday eclipse Birmingham as Alabama's economic engine. While such a scenario would take years to happen, if ever, Mobile has positioned itself as a rising star on the international business scene.
Today, 30 major foreign companies employ more than 6,000 workers, according to the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Among them are Australian ship builder Austal USA, Singapore's ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering and Airbus of France.
The numbers don't include recent wins, such as German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp's $3.7 billion plant, now under construction north of the city, that will employ 2,700.
Also on the horizon is a $600 million, 1,500-job aircraft assembly project for Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. The Air Force recently selected the team to build its next-generation aerial refueling tankers in Mobile, but Boeing is challenging the contract.
Despite the protest, Mobile is on a roll, and the celebration is evident.
Billboards plastered along interstates hail the tanker project, which will make Mobile just the third place in the world where big jets are built. Meanwhile, local TV stations air frequent commercials recounting the economic wins.And across the city, from the stately Government Street lined with centuries-old oaks and columned mansions to the flip-flop-wearing crowd at restaurants along the Mobile Bay Causeway, there's a buzz about coming growth.
Back to roots:
Some say the success is simply a return to Mobile's roots. The area was settled by France and Spain, and that influence remains in downtown landmarks such as Bienville Square and Spanish Plaza.
Home to people representing 90 nationalities, the city also hosts an annual international festival that draws big crowds.
ThyssenKrupp executive and recent Mobile transplant Thomas Woelker said he and his family have been warmly welcomed to the city, where he's noticed a growing global community.
"It might be a little small right now, but it's coming up," he said, adding that he's befriended Ethiopians, French and fellow Germans since his arrival last year. "When I talk with people, they say, `Oh, my grandpa was a German, or my grandpa was a British guy.' You find many, many international roots here."
Solid partnership:
While Mobile leaders likely aren't immune to political spats, they have found a way to work together when it comes to landing big projects.
Teamwork is the foundation of the community's success in economic development, the mayor and Mobile County Commission President Stephen Nodine say from their offices on the 10th floor of Mobile's Government Plaza.
There, only about 20 paces separate the city's administrative offices from those of the county, and from any given window, there's a view of an ongoing project downtown or along the bay
Since the 1980s, the city and county have forged a wide range of partnerships, including a combined jail and other programs in departments that work side by -side in Government Plaza.
The arrangement just makes sense, Jones said, since most residents pay both city and county taxes. Officials talk frequently about how they can work together to improve education and infrastructure, and that has spilled over into economic development.
"It makes for a much, much more competitive position in economic development when you can build partnerships like that," he said.
The bond also makes a company feel at home, Nodine said.
"When they see the city and county working hand-in-hand together, that makes a company feel they can entrust their investment in that community," he said.
Jones and Nodine also credit other members of their recruiting team and Mobile's physical attributes. The city and county both contract with the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce for economic development, and two of the community's crown jewels are Brookley Field and Alabama's state docks.
Port of Mobile:
The Port of Mobile, the 10th largest in the United States in total trade, is itself a daily international experience. From the East Asia to South America to Europe and beyond, ships arrive and depart, ferrying international goods and home-grown products.
Currently, the port is adding a $300 million marine container terminal, a project fused with foreign investment. The facility will be operated by arms of the world's largest shipping companies based in Denmark and France.
Across Mobile and Alabama, economic developers say it's hard to overemphasize the importance of the port, including the aggressive efforts of those who run it.
For example, when EADS was scouting sites to build the Air Force tanker, the company was concerned about the logistics of shipping large fuselage sections from Europe to the assembly site.
Using a 20-foot container and PVC pipe, Port Authority Director Jimmy Lyons and his staff created an exact size replica of those sections and, with a crane, truck and barge, demonstrated how the logistics would be handled.
Taken aback, EADS officials talked about it for months.
At Brookley, a former Air Force base turned 1,700-acre industrial complex run by the Mobile Airport Authority, the phones are ringing off the hook from suppliers and other support businesses that want to be near the tanker project, which is slated to land there.
Now, Brookley is home to about 100 companies and 4,000 workers, with 60 percent in the aviation and aerospace businesses.
Marc Pelham, director of the complex, said he once heard someone describe Mobile as a "freak of nature," thanks to its abundance of logistical assets.
"It all comes together here," he said. "I'm told by site selection companies that look at hundreds of sites that there is no place like this."
Birmingham still reigns:
Statewide, Mobile has stolen the spotlight in economic development.
The city's momentum is obvious, particularly when stacked up against Birmingham. A recent Forbes ranking listed Mobile as the fastest-growing small metro in the nation, recognized for expected economic growth through 2012, while Birmingham did not make the magazine's list of large metros.
In Birmingham, where elected leaders have long struggled to get along, business leaders have encouraged a push to build on the city's economic strengths in financial, health care and other white-collar sectors.
Sam Addy, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, said Mobile has a long way to go to capture Birmingham's title as the state's economic engine.
Metro Birmingham generates about a third of the gross state product, while metro Mobile accounts for about 8 percent. In fact, the combined output of goods and services in the metro areas of Mobile, Montgomery and Huntsville do not surpass Birmingham's.
Despite leadership issues, the area has a lot going for it. That, Addy says, "makes you marvel and wonder what Birmingham could achieve if it had the right ingredients."
E-mail: [email protected]
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I was looking back on the old thread at this post. Sorry I didnt neaux we couldn't post old news.
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