Baker Tilly job projection supports economic benefits of Midwestern development project

Client background

Real estate developer operating in the Midwest

The business challenge

Baker Tilly was contracted by private developer clients to create a preliminary jobs projection demonstrating the economic impact of a proposed project in Indiana that included over 2 million square feet of commercial, hotel, medical, multi-family housing, office/life science, and flex/light business uses on over 200 acres of land in a high-traffic corridor. This large development project was expected to generate a significant job and wage impact. The clients were looking to support a request for incentives from the city.

Strategy and solution

Baker Tilly began the process of estimating temporary construction employment, initial permanent jobs created at the site, as well as new direct, indirect, and induced jobs created as a result of inter-industry purchases and spending in the local supply chain by defining the economic laborshed for the project. The economic laborshed was identified using a 45-minute drive-time analysis, which represents the area within which the majority of new job creation and economic benefits resulting from the project would accrue. Industry data was used to estimate the number of initial jobs created based on the square footage of each of the various uses being developed at the site. The analysis found that the development would create 4,635 initial jobs and 8,048 total jobs, representing a significant economic development impact for the region.