The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce was named one of the top 10 economic development groups in the country for 2014 by Site Selection magazine.
The Chamber and the other groups were cited in four areas: jobs, capital investment, jobs per capita and investment per capita.
Additional criteria include the creativity of economic development strategy, scope of project activity and the ability to accurately document the link between the group and real results.
Other groups making the list are located in Nashville, Chicago, Houston, Louisville, Cincinnati, Richmond, Va., Charlotte, N.C., Pittsburgh, and Spartanburg, S.C.
Charles Wood, the Chamber's vice president for economic development, said officials see the magazine's notice as a result of the commitment by the business group's investors and its partners at the city and Hamilton County to aggressively prepare for investment prior to the recession.
He said that preparation resulted in job creation for Chattanoogans and "we're obviously pleased with this national recognition."
Patty Rasmussen of Site Selection said that corporate leaders looking to expand last year were eyeing more than just incentives or inexpensive land. She said that workforce, logistics infrastructure and proximity to customers were common themes, in addition to livability.
"Livability is an important differentiator and communities that invest in quality of life infrastructure are seeing that investment pay off," Rasmussen said in a statement.
Each economic development group was asked to cite three top projects that generated the most impact to the community. The Chattanooga Chamber named Volkswagen's expansion in which the automaker is spending $600 million at its Enterprise South industrial park plant and adding 2,000 jobs to produce a new sport utility vehicle.
"We are proud to be making the new midsize SUV here," said Christian Koch, CEO of VW's Chattanooga operations.
Other Chattanooga projects cited were Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United's new $62 million distribution center creating 43 jobs, as well as Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior's $65 million manufacturing plant and its 185 jobs.
Site Selection, published by Conway Inc., named its top groups as part of the magazine's annual "Best to Invest" rankings.
The rankings include the top 10 metropolitan groups and honorable mentions, and the top 20 micropolitan groups.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.