39
BOYD NATIONAL MEDIA INTERVIEWS MERCEDES-BENZ HEADQUARTERS RELOCATION FROM MONTVALE, NJ, TO ATLANTA, GA December 2014/January 2015 The Boyd Company, Inc. Location Consultants Princeton, NJ

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BOYD NATIONAL MEDIA INTERVIEWS MERCEDES-BENZ HEADQUARTERS RELOCATION FROM MONTVALE, NJ, TO ATLANTA, GA

December 2014/January 2015

The Boyd Company, Inc. Location Consultants

Princeton, NJ

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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visithttp://www.djreprints.com.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/mercedes-benz-usa-to-move-headquarters-to-atlanta-1420558581

Mercedes-Benz USA to Move Headquarters to Atlanta - WSJ http://www.wsj.com/articles/mercedes-benz-usa-to-move-headquarters-to...

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The Mercedes-Benz logo is seen on a parking lot in Sterling, Va. Mercedes-Benz USA is moving its headquarters

to the Atlanta area beginning in July. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

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By Rodney Harris

By Rebekka Schramm

ATLANTA (CBS46) -

Report: Mercedes-Benz looks to relocate to AtlantaPosted: Jan 05, 2015 6:00 PM ESTUpdated: Jan 06, 2015 5:26 AM EST

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Mercedes-Benz is looking to relocate its North American headquarters from New Jerseyto Atlanta, according to a report from the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

The exact location of where the new headquarters would be in Atlanta is unknown.

According to the Chronicle, the move could bring 1,000 jobs to the area.

John Boyd of The Boyd Company, a New Jersey-based corporate site selection firm, told CBS46 News thatNew Jersey's high income tax rate and high property taxes spurred the move to Georgia, which offeredMercedes-Benz a number of incentives.

Plus, Boyd said, Mercedes is trying to attract younger buyers.

"The image of Atlanta being a younger, hipper city is consistent with Atlanta rebranding itself," said Boyd. "Iliken it to Cadillac this year announcing plans to relocate its headquarters from Detroit to Soho in New YorkCity for kind of a younger, fresher image."

The relocation of the Mercedes headquarters could bring billions of dollars in new commerce to the Atlantaregion.

"The center of gravity for the North American auto industry is now the Southeast," he said. "You haveVolkswagen, you have Nissan, you have Toyota. You have Porsche now with operations in the Southeast. ThisMercedes headquarters relocation to Atlanta will really punctuate the Southeast as being the center of gravityfor the auto industry."

Mercedes-Benz USA is currently located in New Jersey, where it has 141,000 square feet of office space on 37acres, according to the article from the Chronicle.

Copyright 2015 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.

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1/6/2015 Mercedes to Move U.S. Headquarters From New Jersey to Georgia ­ NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/nyregion/mercedes­benz­usa­to­move­headquarters­from­new­jersey­to­georgia.html?_r=0 1/3

http://nyti.ms/1KjVsvB

N.Y. / REGION

Mercedes to Move U.S. Headquarters From NewJersey to GeorgiaBy PATRICK McGEEHAN JAN. 6, 2015

In the latest blow to New Jersey, which is still staggering from the recession,Mercedes­Benz USA said on Tuesday that it would move its headquarters toGeorgia from Montvale, N.J.

Mercedes, the German automaker, is the second­largest corporateemployer in Montvale and one of the largest in Bergen County. The companysaid that the move, scheduled to begin in July, would affect about 1,000 jobs.

State officials attempted to dissuade executives of the automaker byoffering “sizable” financial incentives to keep its headquarters in the state, saidAssemblywoman Holly Schepisi, a Republican whose district includesMontvale. After turning down that undisclosed offer, Mercedes will join otherlarge companies closing operations in New Jersey and moving jobs to otherstates, usually in pursuit of lower costs.

“Mercedes USA made one thing very clear about its decision to leave —the cost of doing business and the tax environment is just too high here to becompetitive with a state like Georgia,” said Michael Drewniak, a spokesmanfor Gov. Chris Christie.

To retain and attract jobs, the Christie administration has made generoususe of tax breaks and other incentives, promising companies a total of nearly$1 billion a year, according to legislative staff in Trenton. But Mercedes, whichreceived an incentive package from Georgia that corporate­relocation expertsestimated was worth as much as $50 million, decided to follow the trend of carcompanies moving to the Southeast.

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1/6/2015 Mercedes to Move U.S. Headquarters From New Jersey to Georgia ­ NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/nyregion/mercedes­benz­usa­to­move­headquarters­from­new­jersey­to­georgia.html?_r=0 2/3

“New Jersey has been a wonderful home to our U.S. operations for ourfirst 50 years, and still is today,” said Stephen Cannon, president and chiefexecutive of Mercedes­Benz USA. “The state has worked tirelessly with us aswe evaluated our options. Ultimately, though, it became apparent that toachieve the sustained, profitable growth and efficiencies we require for thedecades ahead, our headquarters would have to be located elsewhere. Thatbrought us to Atlanta.”

Press reports in Atlanta said that the company was considering a site inSandy Springs, a city north of Atlanta that has been the American base ofoperations for another German automaker, Porsche. Several foreign carcompanies, including Mercedes, have built factories in the Southeast in thepast decade or so. Mercedes has a plant in Alabama that produces half of thevehicles the company sells in the United States.

Bergen County has long served as a base for North American operations ofEuropean carmakers; BMW and Volvo also have headquarters there. JohnBoyd Jr., who runs a consulting business in Princeton that advises companieson site selection, said New Jersey officials should be contacting BMWexecutives before it is too late.

But Mr. Boyd, a principal at The Boyd Company, added that “this doesn’tnecessarily mean that BMW is going to pack up and leave next year.” Mr. Boydsaid that New Jersey’s high taxes, particularly its tax on personal income, werea factor often cited by corporate executives in deciding whether to move orstay in the state. He said that he was “not as dire on New Jersey as many otherexperts are” and he praised the state’s incentives for economic development.

Still, the loss of the Mercedes jobs will only add to the difficulty NewJersey has had in recovering from the financial crisis that engulfed the countrysix years ago. New Jersey’s unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent inNovember, still higher than the national rate of 5.8 percent.

The Montvale area continues to cope with the loss of the headquarters ofHertz, which announced in 2013 that it would relocate most of its 550 jobs tosouthwest Florida. Ms. Schepisi sounded downcast after hearing the newsfrom Mercedes.

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1/6/2015 Mercedes to Move U.S. Headquarters From New Jersey to Georgia ­ NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/nyregion/mercedes­benz­usa­to­move­headquarters­from­new­jersey­to­georgia.html?_r=0 3/3

“It could be a very big deal because you are talking about an impact thatgoes beyond the loss of the jobs at Mercedes to the local vendors who servicethe company, your small business, your restaurants, your dry cleaners,” Ms.Schepisi said. “There were discussions to offer sizable incentives to retainMercedes in its current form within the state. But you can’t go beyond a placewhere it doesn’t make sense from a net positive perspective for the state.”

© 2015 The New York Times Company

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By Dow Jones Business News, January 06, 2015, 07:15:00 PM EDT

By Jeff Bennett, Laura Kusisto and Cameron McWhirter

Daimler AG is moving down south, uprooting Mercedes-Benz USA's headquarters from its longtime perch in

New Jersey with plans to relocate it to an Atlanta suburb.

Wooed by lower costs, proximity to a Mercedes-Benz factory and government incentives, the German luxury

car maker in July will begin moving about 1,000 U.S. personnel to a temporary facility and later move to Sandy

Springs, Ga.

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The operation, which includes staff working on the Sprinter van business and the Smart mini car lineup, will

permanently move into a new building erected on a 10-acre site in the same city.

Daimler executives turned down a significant inventive package from New Jersey to keep its U.S. headquarters

in Montvale, where it had been running operations since 1972. Now the second-largest luxury car brand in the

U.S. behind BMW AG, Mercedes is joining several other auto makers to have moved operations and corporate

headquarters to the South to take advantage of low union membership in right-to-work states, low corporate

taxes and easy access to well- maintained highways, rail lines, ports and airports.

"We think the infrastructure in the States has changed," Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said in an

interview on Tuesday. "The South is much more relevant than it used to be. We think it's like a new start, a

rejuvenation of our company to make that move."

A small group of employees will continue working in New Jersey, the company said.

John Boyd, principal of the Boyd Company Inc., a Princeton, N.J.-based site selection consultant, said that

New Jersey has the country's most appealing incentives policy in his assessment, but it was outweighed by the

cost-savings and convenience of moving to the U.S. South. He said that the move would reduce Mercedes-

Benz's costs, including real estate, energy and property taxes, by about 20%.

Daimler and Georgia state officials declined to provide details on how much the luxury auto maker would

receive in tax incentives to make the move. Mercedes has a plant in Alabama, which builds about half the

vehicles sold by the German auto maker in the U.S. and is expected to reach an annual output of 300,000

vehicles by 2016.

Last April, Toyota Motor Corp. said it would relocate the majority of its U.S. operations to a new campus in

Plano, Texas.

Commercial real-estate firm JLL Inc., which helped Toyota in its site selection, is assisting with Mercedes-

Benz's relocation.

South Korea'sKia Motors Corp. opened a plant near Columbus, Ga., in 2010. A year later Volkswagen AG

opened a plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. Other operations include BMW's plant in South Carolina and Hyundai

Mercedes-Benz USA Confirms Move to Atlanta Area--Update - NASD... http://www.nasdaq.com/article/mercedesbenz-usa-confirms-move-to-atla...

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Motor Co.'s plant in Alabama. The Georgia port in Brunswick is one of the nation's leading importers of new

automobiles.

Outside of the auto industry, Mercedes-Benz joins corporations based in Atlanta, including Coca-Cola Co.,

Delta Air Lines Inc., United Parcel Service Inc. and Home Depot Inc.

The move would be a welcome boost to the metro Atlanta area, which has struggled since the recession and

still has an unemployment rate above the national average.

Officials with New Jersey'sEconomic Development Authority didn't respond to requests for comment. New

Jersey was in the running until the end, according to a person briefed on the matter. Other sites included

Tampa, Florida; Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas and Plano, Texas.

Mercedes-Benz's decision to move as many as 1,000 jobs from the state is "another body blow for new jersey's

labor markets," said Joseph Seneca, a Rutgers University economist. The company said several operational

areas would remain in Montvale and Robbinsville, N.J.

New Jersey has retooled its incentives policy in the last year, giving companies outside of urban areas more

ready access to tax breaks. But the state's recovery from the downturn has proven slow and uneven.

Recently billboards pleaded "Bergen County (hearts) Mercedes-Benz #Please stay."

Mr. Boyd said that companies are showing an increasing willingness to relocate their corporate headquarters

as well as manufacturing and back office facilities. For Mercedes, the move to an urban center could help give

the car maker a more appealing image to young consumers, he said.

"It became apparent that to achieve the sustained, profitable growth and efficiencies we require for the decades

ahead, our headquarters would have to be located elsewhere," said Mercedes-Benz USA Chief Executive

Stephen Cannon. " That brought us to Atlanta."

Mr. Zetsche also pointed to the easier access to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport which is the

world's busiest airport in terms of passengers.

Christina Rogers contributed to this article.

Write to Jeff Bennett at [email protected]

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01-06-151915ET

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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By Margaret Newkirk and Brian Chappatta - Jan 8, 2015

Mercedes-Benz USA is applying to borrow $93 million through a sale of municipal debt to build its new

Atlanta-area headquarters, part of a package of incentives the carmaker may get for leaving New Jersey.

The development agency for Fulton County, home to Atlanta, voted Jan. 6 to proceed with negotiations on

incentives for the unit of Daimler AG (DAI) as part of its relocation, the authority’s executive director, Al

Nash, said in a phone interview.

If the plan is approved by the county economic-development authority, the agency would issue taxable

revenue-backed bonds for the project, Nash said. The deal may find stronger demand in the $3.6 trillion

municipal-bond market, which has been shrinking since 2011, than in the $6.1 trillion market for company

securities, said Burt Mulford at Eagle Asset Management.

“A $100 million corporate bond deal is relatively small, whereas the average deal for the municipal market

is significantly less,” said Mulford, who helps oversee about $2 billion of munis in St. Petersburg, Florida.

If Mercedes offered the debt itself, “it might not be as well-received.”

The Fulton County authority would take ownership of the headquarters’ land and lease it to

Mercedes-Benz for 10 years, in a deal that would reduce the the Germany luxury automaker’s property

taxes for the same period.

“It’s very preliminary,” Nash said. “They would have to decide what they want to do, there would be a

public hearing and then we would approve it or deny it.”

The Daimler unit announced its headquarters move from Montvale, New Jersey, this week. The Georgia

Department of Economic Development will unveil the state’s contribution to the incentive package on Jan.

12, according to an e-mail from a spokeswoman, Stefanie Paupeck Harper.

Mercedes would join Spelman College in Atlanta, charter school Amana Academy and the Georgia Tech

Athletic Association in borrowing through the county development authority, data compiled by Bloomberg

show.

Mercedes-Benz USA Seeks Bonds for New Georgia Home: Muni Credit ... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2015-01-07/mercedes-benz-usa-s...

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The carmaker’s move is a blow to New Jersey and Governor Chris Christie, who has said high property

taxes are driving out business. It’s also the latest signal that the U.S. auto industry is centered in the South,

instead of the Midwest and Canada. BMW AG, Mercedes, Nissan Motor Co. (7201) and Volkswagen AG

have plants in the region. Porsche and Nissan have also located headquarters there.

The carmaker’s U.S. manufacturing plant is in a town outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and it ships out of a

port in Brunswick on Georgia’s coast.

“First they moved in the manufacturing, then they bring in the white-collar jobs,” said John Boyd, a

principal in Princeton, New Jersey, with The Boyd Company, which advises companies on relocation.

Mercedes expects to bring 800 employees to the new site, according to documents filed with the county

agency that also specified the size and tax status of the proposed borrowing. There are several locations

under consideration for the headquarters, according to the company.

Industrial-development bonds, issued by local agencies on behalf of private companies, are the riskiest

corner of the municipal market. While most muni debt is backed by state and city tax revenue or public-

utility fees, the project securities often depend on the success of a single site.

Examples of projects funded with such debt include a power plant serving the shuttered Revel Casino in

Atlantic City, New Jersey, a central Florida facility that converts sewage into fertilizer and a Noah’s Ark

theme park that’s fighting with Kentucky to keep promised tax incentives.

Mariella Kapsaskis, a Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman in New Jersey, said she’d forward questions about the

bond issue to the carmaker’s legal department, because the company hasn’t chosen a specific location for

the new headquarters.

To contact the reporters on this story: Margaret Newkirk in Atlanta at [email protected]; Brian

Chappatta in New York at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at [email protected] Mark

Tannenbaum, William Selway

®2015 BLOOMBERG L.P. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Richard Craver/Winston-Salem Journal | Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2014 9:50 pm

Another international automaker is considering moving its

U.S. headquarters to the Southeast, in this instance

Mercedes-Benz USA, according to multiple media

reports,

And once again, North Carolina sites may be playing the

role of leverage for the company with its preferred choice,

which appears to be Atlanta.

The media reports, which began Tuesday, have the

automaker moving from Montvale, N.J., where it has been

based since 1972 and has about 1,000 employees.

The Record of Bergen, N.J., citing several unidentified

sources, said Atlanta has emerged as the top choice for a

proposed 150,000-square-foot facility. It reported Thursday that negotiations have renewed with N.J.

legislators about keeping the headquarters in place. A decision could be made as soon as January, the

newspaper reported.

Other cities listed in media reports or by site-selection consultants are Raleigh, Savannah, Ga., and

Jacksonville, Fla. The Charlotte Observer reported that several North Carolina cities are under

consideration.

One potential positive on North Carolina’s side is that Daimler AG subsidiaries have several operations

in the state, including Thomas Built Buses in High Point and Daimler Trucks in Mount Holly and

Gastonia.

The Record said Mercedes-Benz USA may be offered between $40 million and $50 million in local and

state incentives in Georgia.

A Mercedes-Benz USA spokesman said the company “does not comment on rumor or speculation.” John

Lassiter, chairman of the state’s new public-private economic development partnership, declined to

comment to The Charlotte Observer.

The Associated Press, citing N.C. economic development recruiting documents and emails, said in

September that North Carolina offered Toyota Motor Corp. about $107 million in incentives to move its

North American headquarters and more than 3,000 jobs from Southern California to Charlotte.

Even though the incentive offer was twice as much as what Texas and a Dallas suburb offered, Toyota

AP Mercedes Benz

Mercedes-Benz USA has been based out of

Montvale, N.J. since 1972.

Report: Mercedes-Benz USA mulling headquarters move to N.C. or Geo... http://www.journalnow.com/business/report-mercedes-benz-usa-mulling...

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selected the Texas site in part because of factors that include no corporate and income tax, as well as

direct flights to Japan. Mike Michels, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., said its decision

was based on several factors: incentives, geography, transportation, cost of living and educational

opportunities.

Travel connections to Mercedes’ home in Stuggart, Germany, via Frankfurt, may also work in Atlanta’s

favor.

“Beyond cost savings, international air service through Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson is a real key here,”

said John H. Boyd, a principal at The Boyd Co., a corporate site-selection firm in Princeton, N.J.

“Frankfurt is served by several carriers out of Atlanta, including Delta, Luftansa, KLM, AirFrance.

“It’s probably no accident Raleigh-Durham International Airport has been doing all it can in recent

months to get nonstop service to Frankfurt.”

Boyd said another factor going against North Carolina — the lack of an auto industry cluster — is

probably the biggest chagrin of its governors and Commerce secretaries since the 1980s. During that

time, North Carolina has been a runner-up on U.S. manufacturing plants for at least Mercedes-Benz,

BMW and Toyota.

“North Carolina has NASCAR, but really does not have an auto industry pedigree,” Boyd said.

“It might have been different if BMW went to North Carolina 20 years ago instead of Spartanburg, but it

did not and an auto industry cluster around that coveted project at the time never materialized in North

Carolina.”

Boyd said don’t discount New Jersey’s ability to keep the Mercedes-Benz headquarters now that its state

legislature is galvanized.

“New Jersey has some of the most compelling incentives in the country in its economic development

arsenal,” Boyd said.

“Its Choose NJ industry-attraction organization, private like what North Carolina has begun, has a track

record of pulling out all the stops and achieving some impressive 11th-hour successes,” such as

Panasonic, Campbell Soup, Lockheed-Martin and Subaru.

“You can be sure that Gov. (Chris) Christie is also doing all he can to retain this trophy employer in the

state,” Boyd said.

Boyd said another nuance is “the branding factor.”

“Mercedes is fighting tooth and nail with BMW, Audi, and Cadillac for the young, smart, educated

buyers, the millennials, if you will.” Boyd said.

“That turf fight is being fought over the series of new more affordable, entry-level models being

introduced by all of these companies.

“Above and beyond the quantitative cost factors and international air service, Mercedes may feel its

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branding might be enhanced by a move to a younger, high-growth, high- tech market like Atlanta.”

[email protected]

(336)727-727-7376

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Tampa was a finalist for Mercedes relocation

Thursday, January 8, 2015 1:33pm

TAMPA — Rick Homans has been keeping a big secret, and now it can now be told:

Tampa was one of the finalist cities for the relocation of Mercedes-Benz's U.S.headquarters.

The German luxury automaker ended months of speculation Tuesday when it announcedthat it had picked an Atlanta suburb as the site of its new U.S. headquarters, which iscurrently in New Jersey.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Tampa was a finalist, as were Charlotte, N.C., andPlano, Texas.

Homans, the CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp., had beenworking on the deal under a confidentiality agreement since Aug. 1. That's when EnterpriseFlorida, the state's economic development arm, told him that Mercedes wanted Tampa tosubmit a proposal.

"The fact that we end up as one of four finalist cities under consideration, I think, is a hugefeather in our cap," Homans said. "We're competing with the best of the best for the best ofthe best.

"You have to get into the playoffs to get to the World Series, and we were solidly in theplayoffs this time around."

Getting a big-name company to relocate to the bay area is No. 1 on the wish list of every politician, business leader and economic developmentofficial in the region.

It's also become the personal mission of Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, who plans to build a new corporate headquarters for a Fortune500 company to be named later as part of his $1 billion redevelopment plan.

Vinik announced his grand design last month. But Homans said Vinik's team joined Tampa's clandestine pitch months ago and tried to sellMercedes on his new development.

"There will be other opportunities," Homans said, "but this validates that this is a community that's worthy of consideration — seriousconsideration — for a brand-name corporate headquarters. It fuels our efforts even more."

Later this year, Mercedes will reportedly leave its U.S. home of 43 years in Montvale, N.J., and move its 1,000 employees to a temporary locationbefore setting up shop permanently in Sandy Springs, Ga.

The stakes for such relocations are high. Mercedes' 1,000 U.S. jobs, for example, is a fourth of the record 4,532 the EDC said it helped bring toTampa in fiscal year 2014.

But corporate relocations have also turned into an expensive arms race of sorts between municipalities who ply companies with public incentivesand tax breaks. The New York Times estimated that Mercedes is getting up to $50 million from Georgia — and New Jersey countered.

The reality, according to corporate site selection expert John Boyd Jr., is that the Atlanta region was always going to be Mercedes' top choice.

It's closer to the southeastern U.S. auto industry, the automaker's Alabama factory and its key shipping hub, Port of Brunswick in south Georgia.Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is also a global hub with nonstop flights to Stuttgart, Germany, the home of Mercedes'multinational parent company, Daimler AG.

Despite Atlanta's advantages, Boyd said it's still a good sign that Mercedes asked Tampa to apply and put the city on its short list. Homans saidsources told him that Mercedes officials even made a clandestine visit to Tampa.

"They were kind of blown away by the beauty of the city," he said. "They were surprised by the quality of the neighborhoods, the quality of life."

Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer

Associated Press

Mercedes-Benz ended months of speculation on Tuesday when itannounced that it will move its U.S. headquarters from Montvale, N.J., toan Atlanta suburb. Tampa was one of the finalist cities for the relocation.

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Homans said it comes down to the right fit. Tampa didn't fit Mercedes' needs. That's why it's so important for economic development officials tounderstand the needs and psychology of companies they choose to go after.

"We need to look at the world through their eyes," he said.

The kinds of companies that Homans said might be interested in relocating to Tampa may be those looking to "revitalize" themselves with achange of scenery.

Contact Jamal Thalji at [email protected] or (813) 226-3404. Follow @jthalji.

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From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2015/01/06/mercedes-benz-to-invest-100m-in-atlanta.html

Jan 6, 2015, 1:09pm EST Updated: Jan 6, 2015, 1:21pm EST

Urvaksh KarkariaStaff Writer- Email | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn

Mercedes-Benz USA will relocate its headquarters to Atlanta this summer — a move that will createabout 1,000 jobs and cement the Southeast as the auto industry's center of gravity.

For the city, which has been on a growth sprint, landing the German luxury automaker is thelargest economic development coup since United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) relocated tothe area in 1991.

On Dec. 16, Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported Mercedes-Benz USA's (MBUSA) plans torelocate its headquarters from Montvale, N.J., to Atlanta. Georgia competed with Texas, NorthCarolina and Florida for the project.

See Also

Mercedes-Benz to join other prominent international headquarters in AtlantaMercedes-Benz to rank as one of Atlanta's top headquarters wins everMercedes-Benz HQ win will buff Georgia's image as top state for business

Mercedes will invest about $100 million in a more than 200,000-square-foot build-to-suitheadquarters. The company is eyeing four sites in the Central Perimeter and Alpharetta, Ga.

The Southeast has become an emerging threat to the Midwest's domination as an auto industryhub, as Nissan, Toyota, Kia and Volkswagen put plants in low cost, union-free Southern states.Now, the corporate offices are following.

Earlier this year, Toyota Motor Corp. said it will relocate its U.S. headquarters from Torrance, Calif.,to Plano, Texas. Nissan Motor Co. in 2005 moved its North American headquarters fromGardena, Calif., to the Nashville, Tenn., area.

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Mercedes move to Atlanta is likely to have a domino effect in northern New Jersey, home to BMWand Volvo U.S. headquarters.

"The next conversation will be at BMW," site consultant John Boyd said. "The clock is now ticking."

Beyond the demographics — the Southeast has younger, growing populations — and the marketrealities — auto manufacturing especially for the imports have coalesced in the union free South, isthe issue of soaring taxes in the Northeast hubs.

"The property and personal income tax in Bergen County is a major major prohibitive businessclimate factor," Boyd said. The personal income tax in New Jersey is 10 percent, compared withAtlanta's 6 percent.

Metro Atlanta is also an attractive site for corporate headquarters, with a globally connectedairport, a deep pool of knowledge workers and a low cost of doing business.

Atlanta won out because of its lower cost and the ability to retain and recruit talent to, Boyd said,adding Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. has more direct flights to Germanythan any other airport in the United States.

Southern states, including Georgia, have also been aggressive with tax incentives as a way to drawcorporate expansions and relocations.

Atlanta is a top East Coast sales market for Mercedes. The automaker also uses the Port ofBrunswick near Savannah to ship its vehicles from. Mercedes builds C-class and SUVs in Vance,Ala.

Next year, Porsche Cars North America Inc. will open a $100 million headquarters atAerotropolis, a 130-acre mixed-use development near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta InternationalAirport.

Porsche will move from its Sandy Springs, Ga., headquarters to a 26-acre campus that will includea 150,000-square-foot office tower and a test track.

The Atlanta pick could also be about branding as Mercedes competes with Audi and BMW formillennial buyers with lower-priced models.

Boyd compares the Mercedes move to Cadillacs relocation from tired Detroit to trendy Soho inManhattan .

Atlanta, unlike Montvale, is associated with a young and hip image that Mercedes wants tocultivate, Boyd noted.

There's a marketshare battle for younger Millennials," Boyd said. "Atlanta has the image of a newerfresher city than Montvale."

Urvaksh Karkaria covers Technology.

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DAIMLER  is planning to move south, uprooting Mercedes-Benz US headquarters from itslongtime perch in New Jersey to an Atlanta suburb.

Wooed by lower costs, proximity to a Mercedes-Benz factory and government incentives, the Germancarmaker in July will begin moving about 1000 US personnel to a temporary facility and later to SandySprings, Georgia.

The operation, which includes staff working on the Sprinter van business and the Smart mini-car line-up,will permanently move into a new building on a 4ha site in the same city.

Daimler executives turned down a significant incentive package from New Jersey to keep its USheadquarters in Montvale, where it had been operating since 1972. Now the second-largest luxury car

JEFF BENNETT AND LAURA KUSISTO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL JANUARY 08, 2015 12:00AM

Daimler head Dieter Zetsche unveils the Mercedes-Benz F015 concept vehicle at CES in Las Vegas. Source: Supplied

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brand in the US behind BMW, Mercedes is joining several other carmakers to have moved operationsand corporate headquarters to the south to take advantage of low union membership in right-to-workstates, low corporate taxes and easy access to well-maintained highways, rail lines, ports and airports.

“We think the infrastructure in the states has changed,” Daimler chief executive Dieter Zetsche said.“The south is much more relevant than it used to be. We think it is like a new start, a rejuvenation of ourcompany to make that move.” A small group of employees will continue working in New Jersey, thecompany said.

John Boyd, principal of the Boyd Company, a New Jersey-based site selection consultant, said NewJersey had the country’s most appealing incentives policy in his assessment, but it was outweighed by thecost-savings and convenience of moving to the south. He said the move would reduce Mercedes-Benz’scosts by about 20 per cent.

Daimler and Georgia state officials declined to provide details on how much the company would receivein tax incentives. Mercedes has a plant in Alabama, which builds about half the vehicles sold by thecompany in the US and is expected to reach an annual output of 300,000 vehicles by 2016.

Last April, Toyota said it would relocate most of its US operations to Plano, Texas. South Korea’s Kiaopened a plant near Columbus, Georgia, in 2010. A year later Volkswagen opened a plant inChattanooga, Tennessee. Other operations include BMW’s plant in South Carolina and Hyundai’s plantin Alabama.

Outside of the auto industry, Mercedes-Benz joins corporations based in Atlanta including Coca-Cola,Delta Air Lines, United Parcel Service and Home Depot.

The move would be a welcome boost to the metro Atlanta area, which has struggled since the recessionand still has a jobless rate above the national average.

Officials with New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority did not respond to requests for comment.

New Jersey was in the running until the end, according to a person briefed on the matter. Other sitesincluded Tampa, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Dallas and Plano, Texas.

Mercedes-Benz’s decision to move as many as 1000 jobs from the state is “another body blow for NewJersey’s labour markets”, said Joseph Seneca, a Rutgers University economist. The company said severaloperational areas would remain in Montvale and Robbinsville, New Jersey.

New Jersey has retooled its incentives policy in the past year, giving companies outside urban areas moreready access to tax breaks. But the state’s recovery from the downturn has proved slow and uneven.

Mr Boyd said that companies were showing an increasing willingness to relocate their corporateheadquarters as well as manufacturing and back office facilities.

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Thursday, 08 January 2015

Mercedes‐Benz Latest to Leave New Jersey Owing to High Taxes

Written by Bob Adelmann

The rumors swirling around the Mercedes‐Benz headquarters in Montvale, New Jersey were confirmed by the company’s U.S. president, Stephen Cannon, on Tuesday: It would move its U.S. headquarters from Montvale to Atlanta, starting in July. The move would affect about 1,000 employees, about half of whom would

likely be offered the opportunity to move with the company.

The decision to move was based on the high‐cost and high‐tax environment in New Jersey compared to Georgia, although one had to read between the lines of the company's official statement to ferret that out:

New Jersey has been a wonderful home to our U.S. operations for our first 50 years, and still is today. The state has worked tirelessly with us as we evaluated our options.

Ultimately, however, it became apparent that to achieve the sustained, profitable growth and efficiencies we require for the decades ahead, our headquarters would have to be located elsewhere.

That brought us to Atlanta.

Cannon added that it would be a nice place to live for those working in Montvale willing to relocate: "Atlanta offers a strong quality of life, terrific schools and wonderful cultural and recreational opportunities."

And lower taxes. Much lower taxes. According to the Tax Foundation, in its October report “Ranking the Best and Worst States for Business Taxes,” New Jersey came in last, while Georgia ranked 36th. A careful look at that report revealed that a primary incentive for the company is that New Jersey ranked 41st in “Corporate Tax Rank” while Georgia ranked 8th.

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Even that isn’t the whole story. The Tax Foundation analyzed more than 100 tax variables in five different categories, including: corporate, individual income, sales, property, and unemployment insurance taxes. About New Jersey, the foundation noted,

New Jersey, for example, suffers from some of the highest property tax burdens in the country, is one of just two states to levy both an inheritance and an estate tax, and maintains some of the worst‐structured individual income taxes in the country.

Combined, these result in New Jersey’s tax burden on each taxpayer being twice that of Georgia’s: $6,675 for hapless New Jersey taxpayers compared to just $3,237 for Georgia’s.

The move by Mercedes‐Benz just made economic sense. Said the report’s authors:

Taxes matter to businesses, and those places with the most competitive tax systems will reap the benefits of business‐friendly tax climates….

When a state imposes higher taxes than a neighboring state, businesses will cross [that] border.

When New Jersey Governor Chris Christie first learned that Mercedes‐Benz was considering moving, he moved heaven and earth to keep it in Montvale. He and his chief economic development officer met several times with Cannon, offering him incentives, tax deferrals, and other subsidies, estimated to be between $40 and $50 million over the next few years, if he would stay. The company’s payroll and property taxes amount to nearly $1 million a year to Montvale, not to mention the economic ripple effect of supporting businesses nearby. But to no avail. Said Cannon:

[Christie] brought his Economic Development head with him. He said: “What’s it going to take?”

I said, “Look, this isn’t about us trying to chase the biggest pile of incentives, because that [is] not the driver [behind the decision].” In fact, incentives, when you look at the whole picture, it’s just a small piece. We’re making a 50‐year decision, and a pile of incentives in Year One, Two or Three over a 50‐year decision doesn’t’ make a gigantic impact.

Indeed. Mercedes‐Benz’ parent company, Daimler AG, generates total annual revenues worldwide approaching $150 billion, so such incentives hardly matter. Also, offering such incentives often hides the true state of affairs in New Jersey. As the Tax Foundation noted:

Lawmakers create these deals under the banner of job creation and economic development, but the truth is that if a state needs to offer such packages, it is most likely covering for a woeful business tax climate.

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A far more effective approach is to systematically improve the business tax climate for the long term to improve the state’s competitiveness.

New Jersey’s lawmakers, however, apparently have little interest in creating a more competitive environment. The state has ranked at the very bottom of the Tax Foundation’s ratings for three of the past four years, while ranking 49th in 2013.

This has resulted in numerous other major companies doing the same math as Mercedes‐Benz, and moving off to better climates. In 2007, New Jersey boasted that it hosted 24 Fortune 500 companies, while that number dwindled to 21 in 2014. This despite efforts intended to stem the outflow that, according to the ChooseNJ.com website, including a “bi‐partisan Red Tape Commission to cut the bureaucracy, a new public/private Partnership for Action organization to help attract and retain new businesses, and “lower taxes to make it easier to establish and grow a business and create jobs.”

Businesses aren’t buying the hype. In 2013, Hertz, the car‐rental company, moved its headquarters — and its 550 jobs — from Park Ridge, New Jersey, to Estero, Florida. Last summer Sealed Air Corporation (the Bubble Wrap maker) announced its plans to move its headquarters from Elmwood Park, New Jersey, to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Mercedes joins a number of other carmakers who have also done the math and come to the same conclusion: Georgia is cheaper. Porsche is building its new headquarters near Atlanta’s Hartsfield‐Jackson Airport while Kia is building its first U.S. manufacturing facility 75 miles west of Atlanta.

After all is said and done, and Mercedes‐Benz completes its new $75 million headquarters in 2017, it will reduce its overhead by a breath‐taking 20 percent a year, according to John Boyd, an advisor on corporate relocations. He added: “This move to Atlanta is far bigger than any incentive program” that Christie could offer.

Although taxes aren’t the only consideration in such a massive move, they play a key factor. Working in Georgia’s favor is its airport with direct flights to Frankfurt, Germany, close by Daimler AG’s world headquarters in Stuttgart. There are also those “terrific schools”, its “strong quality of life,” and its “wonderful cultural and recreational opportunities.”

And half the taxes.

A graduate of an Ivy League school and a former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine

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JANUARY 7, 2015, 11:36 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015, 6:28 AM

BY HUGH R. MORLEY

STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD

Forty-five years after New Jersey’s manufacturing industry began its decline, as companies started moving their factories to the South, there

are signs that the state’s corporate sector may be going the same route.

Tuesday’s announcement by Mercedes-Benz USA that it plans to move its corporate headquarters from Montvale to metro Atlanta followed

similar announcements in the last 18 months by Hertz of Park Ridge, which moved to Florida’s Gulf Coast, and Sealed Air of Elmwood Park,

which is moving to Charlotte, N.C.

So now three Fortune 500 companies, along with nearly 2,000 jobs, are moving or have moved to Southern locations that years ago would

likely not even have been considered by corporate executives.

Though they cited reasons for their moves specific to their business or industry, it’s clear that the South now holds an attraction that it once

did not. A variety of factors are in play, including lower taxes and operating costs, an improved quality of life and a stronger workforce.

“I don’t think it’s a tidal wave yet,” said James Hughes, dean of the Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy at Rutgers University. But

change is clearly afoot, he said.

“What’s changed is the perception of the South,” he said. “After the first frontier companies moved there, they proved that there is no

problem securing a high-quality workforce, and that people would migrate there if there were good jobs available.”

To be sure, many companies have left New Jersey for other destinations. New York’s Rockland and Orange counties, for example, still

attract a good number of companies, including Hunter Douglas and Croton Watch Co. recently. Yet the lure of the South appears to be

growing.

John Boyd, a principal at The Boyd Co. in Princeton, an adviser on corporate relocations, said there has been a key perception change in the

executive suite.

“Historically, head office has been off the table, in terms of finding a cost-efficient location,” said Boyd. “That’s where the executives lived.

They were happy to relocate the hourly workers to a small town in the South. But they would rather stay in Upper Saddle River,” he said.

Now, he added, “corporate headquarters are in play like never before.”

That’s partly the result of globalization, which has forced companies to cut costs wherever they can, Boyd said.

“In the old days, if you were in Bergen County, you wanted to be competitive with Rockland County, or Allentown, Pa.,” he said. “Now

companies in Bergen County have to be competitive with Wales and Spain and Brazil.”

Part of the change in perception, said Hughes and other experts, stems from improvements in quality-of-life factors – such as restaurants,

museums, arts centers — in Southern cities, such as Charlotte and Atlanta, creating a sophisticated, cosmopolitan lifestyle. Education levels

have also improved in the South, providing a better pool of talent that companies can pay less because of the lower cost of living, experts

said.

For example, the percentage of the workforce that has a college degree is now slightly greater in Fulton County, where Mercedes-Benz is

planning to move, than in Bergen County – 48 percent to 47 percent. The percentage is only slightly lower, 42 percent, in Mecklenberg

County, N.C., where Sealed Air is heading, although the percentage is significantly lower, 32 percent, in Collier County, Fla., the new home

of Hertz.

Mercedes-Benz said its move would bring the company headquarters closer to its Southeast customer base, the port in Brunswick, Ga., and

its Alabama manufacturing facility. Yet Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler AG, parent of Mercedes-Benz USA, also

said the company was energized by the new opportunities in the South.

“We think the infrastructure in the states has changed,” Zetsche told the Wall Street Journal. “The South is much more relevant than it used

to be. We think it is like a new start, a rejuvenation of our company to make that move.”

The South has been the destination for New Jersey manufacturers for decades because of lower operating costs and lower wages for a

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non-union workforce. While manufacturing declined in the ’70s and ’80s, New Jersey’s white-collar workforce flourished as companies such

as Mercedes-Benz – which moved into Montvale in 1972 – found the state a lower-cost alternative to New York City.

New Jersey has lost ground since its heyday of the ’80s and ’90s, however, as taxes have risen, Hughes said. And major industries have

downsized.

Comparing property taxes, the median real estate tax bill in 2013 was about $2,500 in Fulton County, and about $2,100 in Mecklenberg and

Collier counties, census figures show. Bergen’s median property tax bill in 2013 was $9,600.

Bergen’s median home price of $435,000 in 2013 had gone up by 74 percent since 2000, according to census figures. The median home

price in the three Southern counties ranged from $177,000 to $260,000, rising at slower rates.

“The South has changed dramatically,” said Jim Johnson, professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business

School in Chapel Hill, N.C., who said the region has the fastest growing population in the nation. That provides a strong consumer base and

a sizable workforce, he said.

“One of the things that happens is, when you look at people who leave the Northeast to be educated in the South – they rarely come back

North,” he said. “So you have a huge talent base.”

Staff Writer Dave Sheingold contributed to this article. Email: [email protected]

© 2015 North Jersey Media Group

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From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2015/01/06/mercedes-benz-to-invest-100m-in-atlanta.html

Jan 6, 2015, 1:09pm EST Updated: Jan 9, 2015, 9:06am EST

Urvaksh KarkariaStaff Writer- Email | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn

Mercedes-Benz USA will relocate its headquarters to Atlanta this summer — a move that will createabout 1,000 jobs and cement the Southeast as the auto industry's center of gravity.

For the city, which has been on a growth sprint, landing the German luxury automaker is thelargest economic development coup since United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) relocated tothe area in 1991.

Mercedes' decision to move from sleepy Montvale, N.J. to frenetic Atlanta was about attracting thetalent needed to be "competitive for the next 50 years," MBUSA President and CEO StephenCannon told Atlanta Business Chronicle in an exclusive interview Tuesday afternoon.

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"For a brand like Mercedes-Benz — a top 10 global brand — we felt very strongly that we neededto align our brand with a growing brand, and we see Atlanta as a growing brand," Cannon said,anointing Atlanta as one of the South's "premier cities."

On Dec. 16, Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported Mercedes-Benz USA's (MBUSA) plans torelocate its headquarters from Montvale, N.J., to Atlanta. Georgia competed with Texas, NorthCarolina and Florida for the project.

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Mercedes will invest about $100 million in a more than 200,000-square-foot build-to-suitheadquarters. The company is eyeing four sites in the Central Perimeter and Alpharetta for theheadquarters project, which is expected to be ready in 2017.

The Southeast has become an emerging threat to the Midwest's domination as an auto industryhub, as Nissan, Toyota, Kia and Volkswagen put plants in low cost, union-free Southern states.Now, the corporate offices are following.

Later this year, Porsche Cars North America Inc. will open a $100 million headquarters atAerotropolis, a 130-acre mixed-use development near Hartsfield-Jackson AtlantaInternational Airport. Last year, Toyota Motor Corp. said it would relocate its U.S.headquarters from Torrance, Calif., to Plano, Texas. And in 2005, Nissan Motor Co. moved itsNorth American headquarters from Gardena, Calif., to the Nashville, Tenn., area.

"The Rust Belt was once the center of gravity for the auto industry; now it's the Southeast," siteselection consultant John Boyd said. "The (Mercedes) move punctuates that."

Atlanta's strategic location puts the city in between Mercedes' largest U.S. production plant inTuscaloosa, Ala. and the Port of Brunswick, it's largest import facility. The relocation "helps us tooptimize our footprint in the United States," Cannon said.

Atlanta landed the Mercedes headquarters from a short list that included Dallas and theCharlotte/Raleigh region, because of the region's "top-shelf" infrastructure (Hartsfield-JacksonAtlanta International Airport) and its quality of life.

"We're living in an environment where it's all about talent," Cannon said. "Offering the best qualityof life attracts the best talent."

The Atlanta pick is about branding as Mercedes competes with Audi and BMW for millennialbuyers with lower-priced models, consultant Boyd said.

He compared the Mercedes move to Cadillac's relocation from tired Detroit to trendy SoHo inManhattan. Atlanta, unlike Montvale, is associated with a young and hip image that Mercedes wantsto cultivate, Boyd noted.

Talent — and access to mass transit — also drove Mercedes' site selection in Atlanta.

The Central Perimeter offers an appealing balance of suburban and urban living environments,located in between the family friendly northern suburbs and the Millennial-rich in-townneighborhoods.

"Folks concerned with houses and schools can locate north and commute south," Cannon said. "TheGen-Yers who want that urban living... can take a short MARTA ride (to work)."

Mercedes, represented by real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, initially eyed six sites inCentral Perimeter, Alpharetta and Cobb County before trimming the list to the current four sites —three in the central Perimeter and a "back-up" in Alpharetta,

While Mercedes expects many of its employees to live in Alpharetta, that site — which is not servedby MARTA — would be inconvenient for the Millennials in Buckhead and Midtown, Cannon said.

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The relocation process, which began six months ago, will involve Mercedes taking temporary spaceover summer.

The decision to build a single office tower or a campus, will hinge on the chosen site.

"If the parcel is small, that will make us go vertical," Cannon said. "And, if we have a little bit moreacreage we can go a little bit more horizontal."

Mercedes move to Atlanta is likely to have a domino effect in northern New Jersey, home to BMWand Volvo U.S. headquarters.

"The next conversation will be at BMW," Boyd said. "The clock is now ticking."

The Southern migration of foreign automaker headquarters is driven by a maturing industry.

When these companies first entered the U,.S. decades ago, they had just sales and marketingoutposts, noted Karl Brauer, senior analyst with Kelly Blue Book. That meant the automakers couldput their headquarters in glamorous metros such as New York and Los Angeles," .

As these foreign automakers ramp up domestic manufacturing with new plants, logistics requirethem to relocate their headquarters closer to their manufacturing hubs, Brauer said.

He cites Toyota leaving California for Texas, and rumors of Honda considering bailing on SouthernCalifornia for Ohio, where it has a large plant.

"I would not be surprised if BMW, Volvo or Subaru (Mercedes' North Jersey neighbors) relocate tothe Southeast, if not in Atlanta." Brauer said.

Beyond the demographics (the Southeast has younger, growing populations) and the marketrealities (auto manufacturing especially for the imports have coalesced in the union-free South), isthe issue of soaring taxes in the Northeast hubs.

"The property and personal income tax in Bergen County is a major prohibitive business climatefactor," Boyd said.

For Mercedes, the decision to move was, in part, driven by where it was. The company has been inits north New Jersey headquarters since the early 1970s. Mercedes had outgrown the building,which Cannon said was at the end of its useful life.

"Rather than just continue to add onto this current investment, we said 'why don't we widen ouraperture and take a broader look at an opportunity that this might present?' " Cannon said. It was"a once-in-50-year opportunity to evaluate our position in New Jersey."

After that, things moved fast — the process took about six months. Just before Thanksgiving,Cannon pitched his relocation recommendation to the Mercedes board.

"Atlanta brought their A-game," Cannon said, noting, "You guys have a top-flight economicdevelopment team."

New Jersey didn't exactly roll over when it heard Montvale's second-largest private employer wasconsidering walking out. Gov. Chris Christie, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, got personally

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involved and met with Cannon before Christmas.

"New Jersey wanted to make sure that they weren't going to let us go without a fight," Cannonsaid. "And, they did exactly that."

Urvaksh Karkaria covers Technology.

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1/13/2015 State of the State: Christie praises incentives, omits Transportation Trust Fund | NJBIZ

http://www.njbiz.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150113/NJBIZ01/150119922/State­of­the­State:­Christie­praises­incentives­omits­Transportation­Tr… 1/2

State of the State: Christie praises incentives,omits Transportation Trust FundJanuary 13. 2015 5:13PM

Namedropping recent incentive­driven projects involving the likes of Subaru and the Philadelphia 76ersin Camden and Forbes Media in Jersey City, Gov. Chris Christie said in Tuesday's annual State of theState address that the streamlining of incentives under the Economic Opportunity Act has “better targetedthem to areas of our state that need investment most.”

Gov. Chris Christie delivers his State of the State address Tuesday.

“And the verdict is in — and the early returns from the Economic Opportunity Act show that it isworking to attract and retain businesses,” Christie said.

But drawing on the recent announcement made by Mercedes­Benz USA that it plans to leave its BergenCounty corporate headquarters for Atlanta, Christie said that even the most attractive incentive offeringscannot stand alone in attracting and retaining businesses.

“Economic incentive laws help, but lower taxes are better,” Christie said. “We will not win the fight tokeep and create good paying jobs for our middle class families in New Jersey unless we lower taxes.”

Christie noted that he has previously vetoed four income tax increases and vowed to do the same to anyadditional increases put before him.

RELATED: Christie to deliver State of the State amid low poll marks, presidential questions

That stance earned Christie high marks for his speech from members of the business community.

John Boyd Jr., principal of the Princeton­based Boyd Company, said Christie’s decision to lead “with thevery telling departure of Mercedes powerfully framed the decline of the (New Jersey) business climateover the past 30 years.”

“The reality is that politics matter (and) his pledge to hold the line on taxes is essential,” Boyd said. “Ourclients not only want to see property tax reform and pension reform, but they are concerned about newregulations like mandatory paid sick leave. Our clients want to make HR decisions like paid sick leave ontheir own, not dictated by politicians in Trenton.”

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1/13/2015 State of the State: Christie praises incentives, omits Transportation Trust Fund | NJBIZ

http://www.njbiz.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150113/NJBIZ01/150119922/State­of­the­State:­Christie­praises­incentives­omits­Transportation­Tr… 2/2

New Jersey Chamber of Commerce President Tom Bracken applauded Christie for pledging to fightfurther income tax hikes and for giving a “realistic assessment of the state’s job and economic growthduring his years in office.”

“We absolutely agree with the governor, because we have been advocating for both less­intrusivegovernment and lower taxes for a long time,” Bracken said.

“The governor has the right diagnosis when it comes to high taxes hurting our business climate,” NewJersey Business & Industry Association President Michele Siekerka added. “Lowering taxes is the cure,and there is no better place to start than with the state’s estate and inheritance taxes.”

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Christie struck a noticeably national tone in addressing other broad economic challenges, attempting todraw parallels where he could between New Jersey­based and national issues.

He used the rest of the address to touch on topics ranging from improvements in Camden to pension andprisoner reform.

But in what some who listened to him speak Tuesday in the Assembly Chambers perceived to be glaringomissions, Christie declined to mention anything pertaining to the state’s depleted Transportation TrustFund or the turbulent local economy in Atlantic City, where an unprecedented four casinos closed downin the past calendar year.

"The governor had the chance to accurately acknowledge the state of our state,” said Gordon MacInnes,president of liberal think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective. “Unfortunately, he passed on theopportunity.”

“Gov. Christie did not even try to spin away five years of failed policies in his address,” said New JerseyWorking Families Executive Director Analilia Mejia. “He simply ignored them. New Jerseyans don’tneed platitudes about bipartisanship. We need real solutions for our state’s sluggish job growth, sky­highforeclosure rate and a botched Sandy recovery. Instead of offering speeches without substance or chasingpresidential aspirations at Cowboy games, the governor should focus on reversing policies that havebenefited the state’s wealthiest residents and corporations at the expense of nearly everyone else.”

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www.NJBIZ.com

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The Boyd Company, Inc. Princeton, NJ www.theboydcompany.com 800-974-BOYD