Chattanooga’s stock as a great place for business soared after Expansion Management Magazine ranked it among the top cities in the country for businesses looking to relocate or expand.

The February issue of the magazine calls Chattanooga one of America’s 50 Hottest Cities, based on a survey of 80 prominent corporate site location experts.

"This designation underlines our success in positioning Chattanooga to be considered for major job creation projects," said Trevor Hamilton, Chamber vice president of economic development. "Creating positive perceptions among site selectors placed us in the top 50 and being recognized on this list means we’ll have a chance to compete for even more projects."

The consultants were asked to rank metro areas according to factors such as business environment, workforce quality, training programs, operating costs, incentives, and the ease of working with the local political and economic development community.

The consultants considered all 362 Metropolitan Statistical Areas as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Therefore, the cities that comprise America’s 50 Hottest Cities are in the top 14 percent of all metros in the U.S.

The article notes that the consultants were asked to use their own experiences during the past two to three years to list their choices for the nation’s best cities for expanding and relocating companies.

"The goal," according to the article, "is to get the consultants’ impressions as to which cities are the hottest in terms of attracting expanding and relocating companies. Simply making this list means that these metros, in the eyes of the premier site location consultants, are in the upper tier of cities for expansion and relocation opportunities."

Hamilton notes that building strong relationships with site selectors is a core strategy in the Chamber’s economic development plan. "Since we launched Tell the World!, we’ve courted site selectors at conferences, met with them at their offices, hosted them for red carpet tours of the city and organized briefings from our mayors for them in Atlanta and New York," he said.

The Expansion Management article cites T-Mobile’s decision to build a $16million customer call center here as an example of Chattanooga’s effectiveness in working with site selectors and the companies they represent.

Landing the T-Mobile project was the result of a competitive recruitment process during which the Chamber worked closely with Staubach Company site selection consultants for over a year.

"We provide a turn-key solution for consultants who are gathering information about the Chattanooga region and ensure that both site selectors and their client-companies have a great experience during all phases of the process," Hamilton said. "Chattanooga won the TMobile project through the coordinated efforts of over 30 elected officials, utility providers, economic development organizations, and workforce training institutions, with the Chamber acting as the single point of contact and project manager."

After the announcement that T-Mobile would locate in Chattanooga, the same team continued to work the project that called for the company’s 800 new employees to start taking calls within one year.

Representatives of a host of organizations joined hands to do everything from expediting building permits to formulating a plan to help the company find hundreds of hires. When the 24/7 construction schedule conflicted with local building regulations, the Chamber worked with a very willing City Council to change the ordinance and accommodate the company.

"Chattanooga achieved this Hottest City distinction for three reasons," Hamilton said. "First, we’ve leveraged funding from our Tell the World! campaign to successfully communicate Chattanooga’s business appeal to targeted audiences all over the world. That effort included an aggressive public relations campaign and a specific strategy for building relationships with site selection consultants."

According to Hamilton, the second major reason for achieving the designation is that Chattanooga is the real deal. "We have what businesses are seeking." he said. "The city and county have collaborated with the state and federal government to develop Enterprise South into a premiere industrial park.We also have an excellent workforce, and schools that just keep getting better. Add to that our internationally recognized revitalization efforts, which provide the cornerstone for an exceptional quality of life, and you have the complete package."

Lastly, Hamilton points out that site selectors find it easy to work projects in Chattanooga because there’s just one point of contact—the Chamber. "They know we deliver a responsive, professional economic development program," Hamilton said. "And because all of our economic development partners work as a team, we can get them the information they need very quickly. We don’t just say, ‘We’re the Can-Do Community,’ we prove it."