Photo by Gabriel Vasquez, Las Cruces Bulletin

We find that as economic developers, we are being asked more and more to find localized financing solutions to companies looking at expanding into the region.   This is a significant shift from just two years ago when the primary concerns of clients were workforce labor and real estate.  Therefore it was positive to hear from our banking panelists that they were beginning to see a recovery in commercial lending and it was great to hear from Mr. Hudson how active USDA has been in their lending programs during these challenging economic times.

At MVEDA, we are also looking to identify and work with programs that might assist with business financing needs.  We are also pro-actively marketing and promoting the business assets we have in the region that make us great destination for certain industries.  In mid-March, MVEDA joined the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce and New Mexico State University as part of a delegation that went to Washington, D.C. to promote and support activities at White Sands Missile Range.  In April, MVEDA will be participating in two aerospace tradeshows, Space Access 2010 in Phoenix, and the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.  This is part of MVEDA’s continued support of Spaceport America and growing our commercial aerospace potential.  Finally, in the last week of April, MVEDA will be attending the International Asset Management Council (IAMC) Conference which is made-up of leading site selection consultants and corporate real estate decision makers from throughout the country.

MVEDA’s lead generation is still very active led by the renewable energy cluster which makes up 34% of all of our leads for the year.  This past month showed stronger industry balance in new leads generated with the biggest increase in lead generation found in the business/finance sector.

To recap lead generation activity over the past month, MVEDA generated fifteen new leads compared with ten the last month, thereby showing a very healthy pipeline of projects and interest.   Although alternative energy companies continue to make up over 1/3 of all our leads in the past two months, the overall percentage has dropped slightly and we have seen an increase in the percentage of lead generation within the aerospace and food processing sectors.  We currently have 25 new leads in the pipeline for this fiscal year totaling 2,512 potential jobs and over 1 million square feet of potential real estate needs.

As announced last week, Frontier Airlines stated that they would be closing their Las Cruces reservation center towards the end of this year.  MVEDA has already begun to market the facility as a plug-n-play call center to the site selector community and have currently received two inquiries.

In September, MVEDA attended the Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC) conference in Minneapolis.  This is the premier event for site consultants.  MVEDA co-hosted a site consultant dinner put on by the New Mexico Partnership which received strong attendance.

For the month of October, MVEDA has a very busy marketing and travel schedule consisting of:

• Oct. 12-16: Prospect mission to Washington D.C. to meet primarily with defense related firms and site consultants
• Oct. 20-22: Leonard R. Sugerman Public Forum and ISPCS
• Oct. 26-29: Prospect mission in Los Angeles and attendance at the Solar Power International Show.

Finally, I am happy to say that on September 22, 2009, the County Commission voted unanimously on the passage of the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) in Dona Ana County.