Businesses locating in Philadelphia

[phillyaggie]

That's an interesting article and research done by Pew. Not sure whether I buy it totally, though.

I think the headline point is that the best income increase was 20%, and the worst was "only" 14%, and the national average is 17%. That's not much to crow about, is it?!

[Scoats]

I spoke a person from PIDC the other day. He said that New Belgium was really close to relocating here, but the North Carolina water was much more similar to the Fort Collins water so, unlike here, the water there wouldn't have to be treated, or treated as much.

That might sound silly, but beer is 90some percent water. The locality of water has a huge impact on the beer and historically was why some areas were known for certain types of beer. Now you can treat the water before brewing to affect the mineral content but that is another step and another expense.

[phillyaggie]

I spoke a person from PIDC the other day. He said that New Belgium was really close to relocating here, but the North Carolina water was much more similar to the Fort Collins water so, unlike here, the water there wouldn't have to be treated, or treated as much.

That might sound silly, but beer is 90some percent water. The locality of water has a huge impact on the beer and historically was why some areas were known for certain types of beer. Now you can treat the water before brewing to affect the mineral content but that is another step and another expense.

thanks, Scoats, for that info. That sucks but at least it is a reason I can accept. I was really pumped for at least New Belgium to land here. Guess we'll just have to produce our own big brand name microbrewer from here and not expect an outsider to expand here.

In fact, I heard Flying Fish was expanding capacity by moving into a new location near Voorhees (believe they're still keeping their Cherry Hill location).

[Scoats]

Guess we'll just have to produce our own big brand name microbrewer from here and not expect an outsider to expand here.

Though none of our locals are the size of Sierra or New Belgium (yet), Victory is getting pretty huge and building a 2nd brewery around here. All of the other established local breweries have been constantly growing and expanding too.

In fact, I heard Flying Fish was expanding capacity by moving into a new location near Voorhees (believe they're still keeping their Cherry Hill location).

Cherry Hill will be closing. Fish's new brewery is in an old Motown record factory. It's a really big property. It's not far from what the Echelon Mall.

[randomuser]

obviously not enough. I'm not sure there is even a concerted effort or an office dedicated to do this sort of thing. a company has to bang its head at the doors of the city and demand to be heard, and insist on getting some tax breaks, before our elected leadership thinks up some sops. NC and Asheville likely marketed their sites well and probably had some tax incentives rolled up, although I doubt it...

NC has been winning quite a few relocations from PA recently, so it likely has to do with overall better business environment (reduced red tape, clear cut tax policy).


Horsehead (biggest zinc refiner in America) is making a new and expanded refinery in NC and moving its operations there, shutting down its longtime ops and HQ near Pittsburgh.

GSK already moved their North America HQ to NC.

And I seem to recall reading a few other, smaller companies too moving out of PA and to NC.

those high taxes (and then tax credits, that you have to figure out how to apply, or ask for special treatments) and so much political greasing that companies must do here... that's the main problem.

Except there has been one since 2006, something you would know if you grew up in this area. I've posted it multiple times already but here it is again: Locate Your Business to Greater Philadelphia with assistance from Select Greater Philadelphia

Not really. They recruit businesses constantly.

You know what happens when you assume. NC got Snyder's because Lance's HQ is there. Sure, PA's tax rate probably didn't help but they didn't choose that state at random. GSK moved there.. over a decade ago... because the company that the formerly HQed in Philly and then in London company merged with was headquarter in NC. Also, I'm not sure exactly what you're surprised about with the Pittsburgh situation. Most industrial jobs moved down South a LONG time ago.

The last part of your post is where you and I agree.

I spoke a person from PIDC the other day. He said that New Belgium was really close to relocating here, but the North Carolina water was much more similar to the Fort Collins water so, unlike here, the water there wouldn't have to be treated, or treated as much.

That might sound silly, but beer is 90some percent water. The locality of water has a huge impact on the beer and historically was why some areas were known for certain types of beer. Now you can treat the water before brewing to affect the mineral content but that is another step and another expense.

Honestly, who gives a crap? There's a reason places like the "Research Triangle" bend over backwards for business.

Because they are a joke and they need to. Some brewery didn't relocate here. Oh, boo hoo. We don't need them. We used to have an entire section of the city filled with breweries.

We need more important relocations. I don't give a crap about a brewery but I do give a crap about financial, legal, technological, entertainment, and corporations of other major fields relocating here. That's what we need. We need a relocation of thousands of jobs at a time with the promise for more. We need a big fish.. no we need multiple ones actually. That's what we should be focusing on.

[thesomersteam]

This is a great thread. It is great when businesses open in Philly or relocate to Philly and create jobs. Or expand. Very positive. Is also sad to see others relocate out of Philly due to the harsh tax environment. Hopefully the folks at City Council and the Mayor can create strong incentives for businneses to comes to Philly. And for the BPTand NPT to be reformed (as was promised in 2008) to help the self-employed businesses in the future.

[thoth]

Quiet expansion into Center City without govt money, again seemingly to please younger tech workers. Hopefully the trend continues.

"Fiberlink, a 300-worker, cloud-based, mobile-device-management firm in Blue Bell, is adding a 30,000-square-foot office at Three Parkway, the former Reliance Insurance building, and plans to add up to 140 engineers, salespeople, researchers, and technicians there, the mayor told me.

Looking for space for new hires and current Philadelphia employees tired of reverse-commuting to the suburbs, Fiberlink called the city Commerce Department on May 14, the day Paoli-based Bentley Systems announced a Philadelphia office at the same tower. The company, like Bentley, hasn't asked for financial incentives, Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger added."

Read more: Philly Deals: Fiberlink adding Center City office

[thesomersteam]

Quiet expansion into Center City without govt money, again seemingly to please younger tech workers. Hopefully the trend continues.

"Fiberlink, a 300-worker, cloud-based, mobile-device-management firm in Blue Bell, is adding a 30,000-square-foot office at Three Parkway, the former Reliance Insurance building, and plans to add up to 140 engineers, salespeople, researchers, and technicians there, the mayor told me.

Looking for space for new hires and current Philadelphia employees tired of reverse-commuting to the suburbs, Fiberlink called the city Commerce Department on May 14, the day Paoli-based Bentley Systems announced a Philadelphia office at the same tower. The company, like Bentley, hasn't asked for financial incentives, Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger added."

Read more: Philly Deals: Fiberlink adding Center City office

I read the article about FiberLink which was great but in one of the articles there was Mayor Nutter seemingly taking credit for it. Not sure why politicians have to take credit for the innovation and energy of the private sector. Philly has a lot of work to do in regards to retention and attracting businesses to come to the City - as well as the state of PA. This is great news. For now, it is all about JOBS JOBS JOBS !

[thoth]

Probably because they worked with the commerce department to find a location. Gotta get your shots in.

I read the article about FiberLink which was great but in one of the articles there was Mayor Nutter seemingly taking credit for it. Not sure why politicians have to take credit for the innovation and energy of the private sector. Philly has a lot of work to do in regards to retention and attracting businesses to come to the City - as well as the state of PA. This is great news. For now, it is all about JOBS JOBS JOBS !

[Naveen]

Though none of our locals are the size of Sierra or New Belgium (yet), Victory is getting pretty huge and building a 2nd brewery around here. All of the other established local breweries have been constantly growing and expanding too.

Victory's 2nd brewery is even farther from the city than the current one. BREAKING: Victory Brewing To Open Second Location : Brewbound.com

But at least they have a presence in the city now, if not an actual brewery.

[Naveen]

First Round is based in West Conshohocken. Now they're moving to University City.

First Round: #3 US venture capitalist moves HQ to Philly

A lot of interesting things in here even though it's just a blog post.

First, it shows (as we've all discussed before) how our metro is strong, it's the city that's relatively weak. A major venture capital firm, investing in technology, with offices in Silicon Valley, NYC...and W. Conshy? Now, they're where they "should be".

Second, Kopelman is putting the office in University City, not Center City. Why?

Kopelman wants Philly's university/tech community to be as tight as the Stanford/Silicon Valley marriage or the MIT/Harvard/Boston-area combination.

One thing I'd add here: Bloomberg is setting NYC up to be a major tech center, with the collaboration between the city, Cornell University, and the NYC financial community. It's nice to see others (if not our elected officials), seeing the same potential here.

Third, UC continues to grow as a place for business, not just education....while CC grows more residential. Interesting.

Let's hope more financial companies based in the 'burbs take a cue from Kopelman.

[eldondre]

But first, the city had to scrap its unwelcoming investment partnerships tax...
But now central Philadelphia is a growing residential and retail center -- a pleasant, convenient place to work and even live -- and Kopelman says the time is ripe to move downtown.

isn't that the targeted tax break the nutter administration put into effect recently?
so, lower taxes, more attractive place to be...

[phillyaggie]

AFAIK, "Select Greater Philadelphia" is a shop out of the local chamber of commerce, a decidedly private concern and not run by the city. My point above was, what is the city's elected leadership doing to proactively woo businesses from outside the region to set up shop here? We have deputy mayors with titles that would include that as part of their job description and yet I don't ever hear much about what they have done to bring a business to the city. For example, Karen Randall is the Director of something called the mayor's Office of Business Attraction and Retention. At the GRID magazine's last event last month, she was the invited guest and was asked what we should do to enhance business here...her answer was to buy local. Really? That's all you got?! Nothing to say about how she has been cutting red tape, etc? Then it occurred to me that such things are likely not even on the agenda of the elected leaders of this city...


Anyway, indeed, it's great to see the private leadership of the metro finally seeing the light and setting up shop in the city and attracting others to do the same. Brandywine has been selling the city to businesses up and down the east coast, especially now that it owns several buildings in the CBD and wants to build Cira South soon too.

Having First Round in the city is great. Other private equity and mezzanine financing firms are already here or expanding here....guys like Franklin Square Capital.

The important take-away from that blog post:

But first, the city had to scrap its unwelcoming investment partnerships tax...

[phillyaggie]

isn't that the targeted tax break the nutter administration put into effect recently?
so, lower taxes, more attractive place to be...

yep. that small change has brought a lot of buzz to the city already.

it would be sweeter still when guys like First Round can do a majority of their funding to local start-ups. But small steps... it's great to have the funders locally...the entrepreneurs will come soon enough, especially since we have the education infrastructure in place.

[BarryG]

More info: First Round Capital to relocate HQ to University City from Conshohocken in September — Technically Philly

[Naveen]

Good info there.

One thing I hadn't realized was that Bill Green was behind the elimination of the partnership tax. That's a major +1 for him in my book.

[eldondre]

yep. that small change has brought a lot of buzz to the city already.

it would be sweeter still when guys like First Round can do a majority of their funding to local start-ups. But small steps... it's great to have the funders locally...the entrepreneurs will come soon enough, especially since we have the education infrastructure in place.

historically the problem has been the opposite, particularly in health sciences, more people and ideas than capital. people have put a lot of work in to grow the capital access in the region. there's always been a problem of people migrating to ny with ideas for better acccess to capital.

[phillyaggie]

historically the problem has been the opposite, particularly in health sciences, more people and ideas than capital. people have put a lot of work in to grow the capital access in the region. there's always been a problem of people migrating to ny with ideas for better acccess to capital.

yes, I've read that too. but in that large bio science category where we were rated #2 or #3 metro, the report (I forget who did that report) stated that compared to Boston and SF, we were lagging not just in terms of the finance ecosystem but also in biotech... we're very strong in pharma and research, but not so much when it comes to newer iterations in the larger game such as biomedical, bioengineering, etc. We don't have a Genentech, etc. We have old style pharma, which unfortunately has been retrenching due to the patent cliff.

[eldondre]

yes, I've read that too. but in that large bio science category where we were rated #2 or #3 metro, the report (I forget who did that report) stated that compared to Boston and SF, we were lagging not just in terms of the finance ecosystem but also in biotech... we're very strong in pharma and research, but not so much when it comes to newer iterations in the larger game such as biomedical, bioengineering, etc. We don't have a Genentech, etc. We have old style pharma, which unfortunately has been retrenching due to the patent cliff.

from my years working in that area, the two were not perceived to be unrelated. for the past ten to 15 years large pharma have been encouraring researchers to go out on their own. there was a lot of work to improve the finance area because they'd often leave the area for better access to capital. reports on results are different from those of causes. It may also be that the financing has been thoroughly disconnected from the incubators (in UC) by taxation leaving the region less than the sum of its parts. also of interest

Kopelman wants Philly's university/tech community to be as tight as the Stanford/Silicon Valley marriage or the MIT/Harvard/Boston-area combination. It might have been -- if Penn hadn't chased the developers of the ENIAC computer off campus and out of town after World War II by demanding control. (Stanford is supposed to have been much more welcoming to Fairchild, Intel, etc.)

Read more: First Round: #3 US venture capitalist moves HQ to W. Philly
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[phillyaggie]

either way, it's great to see a trickle of companies moving into the city-- we can only wish for more and bigger!