Southern Business & Development magazine’s summer 2008 issue – the most recent – places the Little Rock area at the top of its list of "Hot Markets in a Cold Economy."
"There is no doubt in our minds which Southern market we would place at the top of this list. We’ve all been hammered by the stock market this year. Yet, if Little Rock were a stock, I’d buy shares in it," wrote the magazine’s editor, Michael C. Randle.
"Since 2007, deals in the Little Rock metro (an 11 county region, including the cities of Conway, Hot Springs, North Little Rock, Pine Bluff and others) have surged like never before. Dassault Falcon Jet, Kimberly Clark, ITT Industries and Stanley Inc. kicked the deal parade off in the Little Rock region a couple of years ago.
"Then, a slew of even larger deals followed in 2007 and 2008, including projects announced by India-based Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren ($100 million investment, 300 jobs), Denmark-based LM Glasfiber ($150 million investment, 1,000 jobs) and California-based Hewlett Packard (1,200 jobs). Recession? Don’t tell that to the folks in Little Rock. It doesn’t get much better than this."
Little Rock is followed on the list by San Antonio, Texas, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala.
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