Industry Expertise
Economic Development

In today’s dynamic economy, community leaders are constantly challenged to identify opportunities to build strong communities, attract employers, and maintain high levels of service despite limited resources.

Our team provides community leaders and economic developers with a thorough understanding of their regional economy and the direction it is headed. Our services help guide decision-making, provide strategies to catalyze growth, and reveal economic and fiscal trends that will shape the community of tomorrow.

Economic Development Services

Economic and Fiscal Impact Studies

Our economic impact studies quantify the employment and earnings impact of projects, developments, policies, and events. We carefully identify net new impacts so stakeholders understand the true effects on the local economy, including the amount of economic activity that may be substituted or displaced. Our fiscal impact studies forecast impacts on tax and fee revenues and the cost of public services including utilities, roads, parking, police, and emergency services. Again, we carefully consider costs, substitution, and displacement to provide a net fiscal impact that illustrates the “bottom line” for a jurisdiction.

Real Estate Feasibility Studies

We work with economic developers to provide strategies for creating vibrant commercial corridors and improving vacant or underutilized parcels. Our feasibility studies address retail, commercial, hotel, residential, and mixed-use projects and determine their market and financial viability.

Industry Studies and Benchmarking

These assessments allow communities and economic developers to better understand an industry’s size, strengths, trends, and overall role in the regional economy. We can determine industry employment, average wages, growth and contraction trends, strengths and weaknesses, economic and fiscal impacts, and measure the industry’s potential for growth, both with and without incentives.

Highest and Best Use Studies

We help communities make important decisions on vacant or underutilized parcels or redevelopment areas by determining their highest and best use. We focus on site and locational attributes, market supply and demand, and the range of desired uses. We also use a number of analytic approaches, including site selection, location analysis, pro formas, and supply and demand studies.

Economic Development Strategies

We work with communities to provide strategies for attracting and retaining businesses and residents to build a strong community or downtown core. These strategies can focus on improving shopping districts, economic revitalization, residential mix, business recruitment and retention, economic diversification, or creating regional attractions.

Demographic and Economic Assessments

These assessments provide a close look at the current and projected demographic and socio-economic characteristics of any community, school district, county, or other defined geographic area. The focus of our analysis can be tailored to fit specific needs, such as estimating population levels, demand for schools, or a tax base. These analyses allow local, regional, and state agencies to undertake targeted economic development strategies, make more informed planning decisions, and proactively address challenges.

In all of these service levels, we are able to collaborate with professional planning firms to help guide master plans, future land use plans, corridor studies, and related projects. Please see “featured work” below for specific examples of our work in this field.