LANDIS — A new partnership could help Landis make a big splash in the corporate suitor arena if an agreement can be reached.

Rowan Economic Development Council members recently joined Landis town officials in hosting representatives from the ElectriCities Site Assist team. An ElectriCities program called Smart Sites aims to take properties a step closer to housing major commercial tenants. 

Casey Verburg, a senior economic developer for ElectriCities, and Crystal Morphis, CEO of Creative Economic Consulting, visited Landis to identify and review sites that could be candidates for the ElectriCities Smart Sites program. 

ElectriCities created this program to assist member communities, such as Landis, in preparing shovel-ready industrial sites for economic development.

After a meeting at Landis town hall, which covered various topics including zoning, environmental conditions, highway and interstate access and available utilities, the team toured the community and viewed potential candidate sites. 

The next step will be for the team to review the information gathered to determine if any sites can be recommended for admission into the program. 

“I would like to thank Casey and Crystal for visiting Landis,” Rowan EDC Vice President Scott Shelton said in a release. “They provided valuable insight into how candidates are chosen for the Smart Sites Program, and we hope the information presented today will prove helpful to them. 

“The Smart Sites program offers a tremendous benefit to communities and can help spread the word to prospective companies, site selection consultants, and real estate brokers that Landis and Rowan County are prime locations for business.”

The ElectriCities website explained that it is rare for a company to locate to an undeveloped, unimproved property in today’s environment. Most new and expanding companies expect existing buildings or a prepared site to shorten the time needed for construction. 

With an ElectriCities partnership, Landis would ideally have a leg up on competing suitors.