What Has to Happen Before an Economic Development Project Gets Built
Alabama had a record year in 2025: $14.6 billion in new capital investment and 9,388 job commitments across 234 projects, according to the Governor's Office. (Governor's Office, Jan. 2026) Headlines like that make economic development look like a series of announcements.
Behind every announcement is a long sequence of decisions, most of them invisible to the public, that had to line up first. And for every project that is announced, others stall or quietly go elsewhere. In our experience, they rarely fail on a single issue. They slow down because several workstreams are moving on different timelines and nobody is coordinating them.
This is a practical walkthrough of those workstreams, written for companies, developers, landowners and communities preparing for a project.
1. The site has to be real
A site that looks ready on a map can carry months of hidden work. Before a company commits, it needs confidence on:
Control and title. Who owns the land, is it under option, and are there title issues, easements or mineral rights to resolve?
Zoning and land use. Is the intended use allowed, or will it require rezoning, variances or annexation?
Environmental and physical conditions. Wetlands, floodplains, protected species, prior contamination, geotechnical conditions and topography can all add cost and time.
Access. Road capacity, interchange access, rail service and, for some users, proximity to a port or airport.
Communities that have done this work in advance compete better. Alabama recognized that with the Game Plan legislation signed in 2023, which created the SEEDS site-development program. Through early 2026, SEEDS grants and required local match had invested $138 million across 77 sites, with 28 rural counties receiving support. (Governor's Office, Feb. 2026)
2. Infrastructure has to be confirmed, not assumed
Power, water, wastewater, natural gas, broadband and transportation can decide a project as quickly as the land itself. The questions that matter:
Is there enough capacity today, or does it require new lines, substations, treatment capacity or road improvements?
Who pays for those improvements, and on what schedule?
How long will design, permitting and construction take relative to the company's start-up date?
Utilities and public infrastructure owners need to be in the conversation early. A project that discovers a two-year lead time on electrical capacity after site selection has a serious problem.
3. Government has to understand the timeline
A typical project touches several levels of government: a city or county commission, an industrial development board, utility boards, state economic development and environmental agencies, and sometimes federal permits. Each runs on its own calendar.
A project schedule that ignores board meeting dates, public notice periods, permit review times or budget cycles will slip. The fix is simple to describe and hard to do: map every required decision, who makes it, what they need and when they meet, and work backward from the company's target date.
4. Incentives have to fit the project
Incentives are a tool, not a strategy. In Alabama, the main state tools include the Jobs Credit and Investment Credit, and the Alabama Department of Commerce publishes incentive commitments alongside projected 10- and 20-year returns on investment. (Alabama Department of Commerce) Local governments may offer additional support, and AIDT, the state's workforce training agency, provides customized training and assessments at no cost to employers and trainees. (AIDT)
Incentives work best when they are:
Matched to the project's real needs, such as training, infrastructure or upfront capital
Negotiated with an understanding of the performance commitments that come with them
Coordinated with the company's tax, legal and accounting advisers
Treating incentives as the whole conversation is a common mistake. Communities and states also weigh the site, workforce, infrastructure and timeline, and so should companies.
5. Workforce has to be planned, not hoped for
Companies need confidence they can hire and train the people they need. That means understanding the local labor pool and commuting patterns, engaging training partners like AIDT and community colleges early, and being realistic about wages and ramp-up schedules.
6. The community has to be ready
Local boards, landowners, neighbors and community leaders will shape how a project is received. Concerns about traffic, water, noise or land use can surface late and derail a schedule. Understanding those interests early, and addressing them honestly, prevents surprises.
7. Someone has to own execution
The strongest projects have a clear owner of the overall timeline who can see where one workstream is blocking another. Without that, each party manages its own piece: the engineer manages the site, the utility manages capacity, the lawyer manages the agreements, and nobody notices that the critical path runs through a board meeting that is two months away.
Where projects most often stall
Infrastructure lead times discovered after the site decision
Permits and approvals started too late
Misaligned expectations between the company and local officials about incentives or timing
Community opposition that was not anticipated
No single coordinator across public and private participants
A checklist before a project goes public
Site control, zoning and environmental status confirmed
Utility capacity and costs confirmed in writing
Every required public decision mapped to a date
Incentive structure understood, including commitments
Workforce and training plan in place
Key local leaders briefed
One person accountable for the overall schedule
How Fideo helps
That coordination is what Fideo does. We help companies, developers and communities align government, infrastructure, incentives and stakeholders so promising projects become executable ones. Learn about our economic development work or start a conversation.
