We are moving our headquarters to a new state.… | Parse
We are moving our headquarters to a new state. Who offers economic development incentives negotiation?
Data as of Sep 24, 2026 · Based on 293 AI responses from ChatGPT Search and Google AI Mode · See how Parse measures this
Organizations relocating headquarters can engage specialized firms to handle site selection and incentive negotiation. Options include comprehensive consultants like Site Selection Group and Colliers, boutique firms like GSLI and McGuire Sponsel, or law firms like Maynard Nexsen and Smith Anderson that assist with formal project agreements. Choice depends on whether you prioritize broad operational support or specific legal guidance for local tax incentives.
Best for navigate state and local tax incentives. They focus specifically on the tax side of economic development, guiding companies through the complexities of state-level negotiation during relocation.
Incentives for Site Relocation - Global Site Location Industrieshttps://gslisolutions.com/faq/incentive-negotiation-what-incentives-can-i-negotiate-for-my-site-relocation/
Economic Development and Incentives - Akerman LLPhttps://www.akerman.com/en/work/services/practices/real-estate/economic-development-incentives.html
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Economic Development and Corporate Relocation | Practices | Holland & Knighthttps://www.hklaw.com/en/services/practices/regulatory-and-government-affairs/economic-development-and-corporate-relocation
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Question: We are moving our headquarters to a new state. Who offers economic development incentives negotiation?
Yes. For a headquarters relocation, there are specialized site-selection and economic-development incentive advisors whose job is to identify, structure, and negotiate state/local incentive packages on the company’s behalf.
Some firms worth looking at:
CBRE – Location Incentives — negotiates economic incentives for relocations, expansions and consolidations, including headquarters projects. It handles tax credits, abatements, grants, infrastructure and workforce incentives.
Newmark – Site Selection & Economic Incentives — provides site selection, incentive modeling and negotiation, with specific experience in headquarters projects. Newmark says it has negotiated more than $50B in economic incentives since 2012.
Kroll — particularly useful if the move involves substantial capital investment, energy/utilities, data infrastructure or a complex tax/incentive structure. It handles identification, modeling and negotiation.
Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Co. (BLS) — an independent specialist in corporate site selection and economic-development incentives. It explicitly handles multi-state searches and state/local incentive negotiations.
Maxis Advisors — focuses specifically on site selection, incentive negotiation, labor analysis and compliance for corporate relocation/expansion projects.
Site Selection Group — provides economic-incentive services from negotiations through ongoing compliance, alongside location and real-estate strategy.
EY — its location investment, credits and incentives practice works with companies on state/local negotiated incentives and site selection.
For an HQ move, I'd structure the engagement carefully
You generally want someone representing your company, rather than relying solely on the state's economic-development agency. A good advisor can:
Identify several competing states before you commit to a location.
Quantify the value of each state's package.
Create a competitive process among the finalist states.
Negotiate the performance requirements and clawbacks, not just the headline incentive amount.
Help with the application and long-term compliance.
Timing matters: ideally, bring the advisor in before announcing the new state or signing a lease/purchase agreement. Some discretionary incentives become much harder—or impossible—to negotiate after the company has effectively committed to the location.
If you tell me the state you're leaving, the 2–5 states you're considering, approximate HQ headcount, annual payroll, and whether you're buying or leasing, I can identify the relevant incentive programs and narrow this to the firms that are particularly suited to your situation.
For a headquarters relocation, economic development incentive negotiations are usually handled by a site selection / location strategy consultant, economic development incentives advisor, commercial real estate advisory firm, tax advisor, or government relations consultant. These firms typically negotiate with state and local economic development agencies for packages such as payroll tax credits, job-creation grants, training funds, property tax abatements, infrastructure support, and other incentives.
Some firms that commonly handle headquarters relocation incentive negotiations include:
CBRE — Offers location strategy and incentives advisory services, including negotiating and securing economic incentives for relocations and expansions.
Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Company — Specializes in site selection and economic development incentives advisory work, including headquarters and corporate relocation projects.
Kroll — Provides site selection and incentives advisory services, including modeling, structuring, and negotiating tax and non-tax incentives.
Newmark — Provides site selection, location strategy, and economic incentives advisory services for corporate occupiers, including headquarters projects.
Fisher Phillips — Offers site selection and incentives negotiation support, with additional labor and workforce considerations.
Vista Site Selection — Provides incentive strategy, negotiation, and compliance support.
A typical engagement looks like this:
Define the project
Headquarters location
Number of employees moving/created
Average wages
Capital investment
Real estate needs
Timeline
Build a competitive incentive process
Identify candidate states/cities
Request incentive proposals
Create leverage among jurisdictions
Compare total cost of ownership
Negotiate the package
Tax credits
Grants
Workforce programs
Training reimbursements
Real estate assistance
Infrastructure improvements
Structure agreements
Performance milestones
Job and investment commitments
Reporting obligations
Clawback provisions
For a corporate headquarters move, I would usually involve:
a location incentives advisor (to run negotiations),
a tax advisor (to quantify tax benefits),
a real estate advisor (if leasing or buying space),
and your legal team (to review incentive agreements).
If you share the destination state, current state, approximate employee count, industry, and whether this is a Fortune-scale HQ or a smaller corporate office, I can suggest the types of advisors and incentive programs that are typically relevant.
Navigating an interstate corporate headquarters relocation and negotiating economic incentives requires specialized expertise. Several types of professional service firms and specialized consultants handle site selection, location strategy, and government incentive negotiations.
The primary providers who offer these negotiation services include:
Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Global Giants
CBRE Global Location Incentives: Offers comprehensive location strategy, multi-jurisdiction incentive negotiation, and post-deal compliance monitoring. Learn more on CBRE Location Incentives.
Newmark Global Location Strategy: Provides economic incentives advisory alongside workforce analytics, labor market studies, and site feasibility assessments. Explore details via Newmark Site Selection.
JLL, Cushman & Wakefield, and Colliers: All maintain dedicated corporate incentives and site selection practices that negotiate tax credits, job creation grants, and infrastructure support directly with state and local economic development authorities.
Specialized Boutique Site Selection & Incentives Firms
Vista Site Selection: Focuses heavily on competitive leverage, multi-jurisdiction bidding wars, incentive benchmarking, and clawback risk modeling. Visit Vista Site Selection to see their approach.
Other Boutique Consultancies: Firms like Boyken, Location Inc. , or regional boutique practices specialize exclusively in mapping state-by-state tax packages and negotiating discreetly with state governors' offices and local commerce departments.
Specialized Corporate Law Firms
Fisher Phillips Site Selection & Incentives Team: Combines legal, government relations, and technical site-selection expertise to draft compliance-heavy agreements, tax abatements, and industrial training commitments. Check out Fisher Phillips Site Selection.
Other major national law firms with robust economic development or public-policy groups routinely structure and negotiate these public-private packages.
The State Economic Development Organizations (EDOs) Themselves
While they are the counterpart you negotiate with , every state has a cabinet-level economic development department (e.g., the Texas Economic Development Corporation, the Georgia Department of Economic Development) with project managers assigned specifically to structure confidential proposals (RFPs) for incoming headquarters. Consultants usually interface directly with these state bodies on your behalf.
If you'd like to narrow this down, please tell me:
What is the estimated capital expenditure and number of new jobs your HQ move will create?
Do you already have target states in mind, or are you starting from scratch?
I can help you outline what kind of incentive leverage your project commands.
Yes. For a headquarters relocation across state lines, I’d look for an independent site-selection / economic-development incentives advisor rather than relying solely on a commercial real-estate broker. These firms can create competition among states, quantify the incentives, and negotiate directly with governors’ offices, state agencies, cities, and counties.
Strong firms to consider
Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Company (BLS) — One of the best-known independent firms in this niche. They specifically handle headquarters relocations and incentives negotiations; their case studies include CPG International's HQ relocation and Omnicom's multi-state relocation process.
CBRE — Has a dedicated Location Incentives practice that handles relocations, headquarters projects, site selection, and direct incentives negotiation. CBRE says its team has secured $9B in incentive savings across 900+ projects.
Kroll — Particularly strong if the HQ move involves significant capital investment, tax considerations, or a complicated incentive structure. Kroll explicitly handles headquarters projects and negotiates tax credits, abatements, grants, infrastructure and workforce incentives.
Maxis Advisors — Focuses specifically on site selection and incentives negotiation, including relocation, expansion and consolidation projects.
Vista Site Selection — Offers incentive benchmarking, competitive multi-state negotiations, agreement structuring and long-term compliance. They emphasize keeping multiple jurisdictions competing while the location decision remains open.
Fisher Phillips — An interesting option if the HQ move has substantial labor, workforce, regulatory or employee-relocation implications. Its site-selection team negotiates state/local incentives and also brings labor and employment expertise.
For an HQ relocation, I'd shortlist 3
If you're choosing between several states, I'd start with BLS, CBRE, and Maxis/Vista and have each bid on the engagement. The important thing is that they negotiate before you've publicly committed to a state—that's when you have the most leverage.
A good advisor should be able to negotiate things such as:
State income/payroll tax credits
Job-creation grants
Property-tax abatements
Sales/use-tax exemptions
Capital-investment incentives
Workforce training and hiring grants
Infrastructure/utility assistance
Local economic-development grants
Real-estate concessions
Performance-based grants tied to your hiring and investment
Clawback provisions and flexibility if hiring ramps more slowly than expected
For example, Vista specifically points out that the structure of an incentive package—milestones, definitions, cure periods and clawbacks—can matter more than the headline dollar amount.
If you tell me the states you're considering, approximate number of HQ employees, annual payroll, and whether you're buying or leasing the new HQ, I can identify the specific incentives likely available in each state and suggest which of these firms is the best fit.
Navigating an interstate headquarters relocation and negotiating economic development incentives typically requires specialized professional service firms. These negotiations involve state tax credits, job creation grants, infrastructure assistance, and property tax abatements.
The primary categories of professionals who handle economic development incentive negotiations include:
Site Selection and Location Advisory Firms: Independent consulting firms specialize strictly in analyzing labor markets, logistics, real estate, and running competitive bidding processes among state and local governments. Notable examples include InSite Location , Hickey & Associates, and major commercial real estate houses (such as CBRE or JLL) which have dedicated corporate incentives practices.
Corporate and Government Relations Law Firms: Many major national law firms have specialized economic development, site selection, and government incentives practice groups. They not only negotiate the financial packages with state officials but also draft the binding performance agreements, handle tax structuring, and advise on labor/employment compliance. Examples include Fisher Phillips Site Selection and Incentives, DLA Piper Incentives and Site Selection , and Maynard Nexsen Economic Development.
Big Four and Specialty Tax/Consulting Firms: Accounting and professional services giants (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG) maintain massive national tax and location strategy practices that model ROI, credits, and state statutory incentives.
To help narrow down which type of partner fits your move, could you share:
The approximate capital investment and number of jobs your HQ relocation involves?
Whether you have specific states in mind or need help screening multiple locations?
For a headquarters move to a new state, companies typically hire a site selection and economic development incentives advisor (sometimes paired with a tax attorney or economic development lawyer). These firms help identify incentive opportunities, negotiate with state/local officials, structure agreements, and manage compliance.
Some well-known providers include:
CBRE — Provides location strategy, site selection, and incentives negotiation for relocations, expansions, headquarters projects, and other investments.
Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Company — Specializes in “Location Economics,” including site selection, incentive strategy, and state/local negotiations.
Kroll — Advises companies on tax credits, abatements, grants, infrastructure support, and workforce incentives tied to investment projects.
FairWinds Advisors — Focuses on relocation, expansion, and incentive negotiation, including state and local support packages.
Foundry Commercial — Through its Maxis Advisors team, provides site selection, labor analysis, incentives negotiation, and compliance support.
Fisher Phillips — Offers location strategy, incentives negotiation, and labor/regulatory analysis, particularly useful when workforce issues are significant.
You may also want a state/local economic development attorney involved to negotiate the legal terms of incentive agreements (tax credits, grants, abatements, workforce commitments, clawbacks, reporting requirements). Firms such as Womble Bond Dickinson and Smith Anderson handle these negotiations in many relocation projects.
For a headquarters relocation, the strongest team is usually:
Location incentives consultant — runs the competitive process and negotiates the package.
State/local incentives attorney — reviews and structures agreements.
Tax advisor — models the value of credits, abatements, and other benefits.
Real estate/site selection advisor — handles facility and market considerations.
If you share the current state, target states under consideration, industry, estimated jobs relocated, and investment amount, I can suggest firms that are especially well matched for your project.
When relocating a corporate headquarters to a new state, economic development incentives are typically negotiated through specialized site selection and incentives advisory firms, commercial real estate brokerages , or specialized legal practices . These professionals leverage multi-state competition, deep data analytics, and established relationships with state/local economic development authorities (EDAs) to secure tax credits, grants, and abatements.
The primary types of organizations that offer incentives negotiation include:
Specialized Site Selection & Location Strategy Firms: Dedicated consultancies that focus entirely on matching operational needs with the most lucrative financial packages. Notable examples include Global Location Strategies (GLS) and process-driven advisors like WDG Consulting.
Major Accounting & Professional Services Networks: Large global firms feature dedicated State and Local Tax (SALT) / Business Incentives practices that model tax burdens and negotiate directly with government officials. For instance, you can explore enterprise-level advisory via BDO USA State and Local Tax Credit and Incentives.
Global Commercial Real Estate Brokerages: Major firms (such as CBRE, JLL, or Cushman & Wakefield) maintain in-house economic incentives and consulting practices that integrate your physical real estate search with local tax abatement talks.
To help narrow down which type of advisor fits your move, could you share:
The estimated capital investment and number of jobs moving or creating?
When relocating a corporate headquarters to a new state, negotiating economic development incentives is typically handled by specialized site selection and location strategy firms, boutique incentive advisory practices , and law firms with dedicated government relations or economic development groups.
The primary professionals and organizations offering these negotiation services include:
Global Real Estate & Advisory Firms: Major commercial real estate and corporate advisory firms have dedicated practices that combine labor analytics, real estate search, and government incentives negotiation. Notable options include Newmark Site Selection and Economic Incentives Advisory , as well as similar practices at CBRE, JLL, and Cushman & Wakefield.
Specialized Site Selection & Incentive Consultancies: Boutique or specialized firms focus explicitly on mapping out tax credits, cash grants, infrastructure assistance, and statutory tax abatements. Firms like Hickey & Associates, Locationet, and Garner Economics specialize tightly in this niche.
State and Local Economic Development Organizations (EDOs): While they won't negotiate against themselves on day one, working with the state-level economic development department (or regional chambers of commerce) is a fundamental step once you have a shortlist of target states. Consultants often leverage multi-state competition between these EDOs to maximize your leverage.
If you'd like, I can:
Outline the typical steps in an incentive negotiation process
List what types of corporate data you'll need to prepare before hiring an advisor
Detail the common types of incentives states offer for headquarters relocations
Yes. For a headquarters relocation to another state, you want a firm that specifically handles site selection + state/local economic-development incentive negotiation, rather than a general relocation company.
Strong firms to consider
cbre.com — Probably the strongest large-firm option. Its incentives team specifically negotiates economic incentives for headquarters relocations, expansions and consolidations, including tax credits, abatements, grants, infrastructure and workforce programs. CBRE says it has completed 900+ projects and secured $9B in incentive savings.
nmrk.com — Particularly worth considering for a multi-state HQ search. It handles location strategy, scenario modeling, workforce analysis and incentive negotiations, and reports $50B+ in economic incentives negotiated since 2012.
vistasiteselection.com — A more specialized boutique option. Vista says it has negotiated $4B+ and handles incentive benchmarking, competitive negotiations, agreement structuring and ongoing compliance.
kroll.com — Good choice if the HQ move involves significant capital investment, complicated tax considerations, or a relatively small number of high-value jobs. It handles tax credits, abatements, grants, infrastructure and workforce incentives.
dlapiper.com — Particularly useful when you want legal counsel integrated into the negotiation and eventual incentive agreement. They specifically handle headquarters projects and negotiations across all 50 states.
fisherphillips.com — Interesting if workforce/labor considerations are important. Their team combines incentive negotiation with labor, employment and regulatory analysis and has worked on corporate headquarters relocations.
My recommendation
For an HQ move, I'd interview three firms before choosing:
CBRE or Newmark — if you're evaluating several states and want sophisticated location/financial modeling.
Vista — if you want a highly focused incentives negotiator without necessarily bringing in a huge real-estate organization.
DLA Piper — if the incentive package and legal agreement will be particularly complex.
The important point is not to contact the states yourself too early. A good consultant can keep multiple states competing against one another and quantify what each package is actually worth after eligibility requirements, job thresholds, clawbacks and expiration dates.
If you tell me (a) your current state, (b) the states you're considering, (c) approximate number of employees moving/being hired, and (d) estimated annual payroll and capital investment, I can identify the best 5–7 firms for your specific HQ relocation and the incentives you should be negotiating for.
Yes. For a headquarters relocation to another state, you generally want a firm that does more than identify incentives—you want someone who can run a competitive, multi-state process and negotiate directly with state/local economic-development officials.
Here are several strong options:
blsstrategies.com — One of the leading independent site-selection and incentives advisory firms. They specifically cite headquarters relocations and have negotiated major state/local incentive packages, including for Omnicom and CPG International.
cbre.com — Provides location strategy, multi-state competition, incentive modeling, negotiation and monitoring. Their practice explicitly covers headquarters relocations.
vistasiteselection.com — Focuses heavily on incentives strategy, negotiation, structuring and long-term compliance. They report more than $4B in incentives negotiated.
kroll.com — Particularly interesting if the relocation has substantial tax implications or capital investment. Kroll handles incentive identification, financial modeling, negotiation and compliance and has experience with headquarters projects.
fisherphillips.com — A good choice if workforce, employment law and labor considerations are major factors in the move. They negotiate incentives while incorporating labor/regulatory analysis.
foundrycommercial.com — Handles site selection, incentive negotiation and compliance for relocation/expansion projects and works directly with state/local development agencies and utilities.
troutmanstrategies.com — Particularly relevant if you want a government-relations/public-policy component alongside incentives negotiation. They specifically describe negotiating multimillion-dollar packages for corporate headquarters relocations.
Who I'd shortlist
For a corporate HQ move where several states are competing, I'd start with BLS & Co., CBRE, and Vista. They are well suited to creating leverage by keeping multiple jurisdictions competing against each other.
If the move is primarily in the Southeast, I'd also look closely at Womble Bond Dickinson, which has a dedicated economic-development team focused on Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and negotiates state grants, job credits, FILOT agreements and other incentives.
If you tell me (1) your current state, (2) the states you're considering, (3) approximate number of employees moving/being hired, and (4) expected annual payroll or capital investment, I can narrow this to 3–5 firms that are particularly well matched and estimate what incentives you might realistically negotiate.
CBRE – Location Incentives — negotiates economic incentives for relocations, expansions and consolidations, including headquarters projects. It handles tax credits, abatements, grants, infrastructure and workforce incentives.
Newmark – Site Selection & Economic Incentives — provides site selection, incentive modeling and negotiation, with specific experience in headquarters projects. Newmark says it has negotiated more than $50B in economic incentives since 2012.
Kroll — particularly useful if the move involves substantial capital investment, energy/utilities, data infrastructure or a complex tax/incentive structure. It handles identification, modeling and negotiation.
